Family Office
FOX Looks To Expand Beyond Family Offices

Family Office Exchange is eyeing a broader market that includes wealthy individuals and a bigger presence abroad and in New York City, according to FOX president John Benevides.
Family Office Exchange wants to expand beyond just families.
“We’re focusing more on wealthy individuals who do not have a family office,” FOX president John Benevides told Family Wealth Report in an interview at the organization’s headquarters in Chicago. “We’re getting a lot of calls and they are facing the same transition issues as wealthy families. A wealthy guy with $20 million can benefit from our knowledge.”
FOX’s move to “transmitting the breadth of our knowledge to a broader market,” will include an increased presence abroad and in New York City, Benevides said.
The organization plans to increase staff at its London office, where it is hosting a Global Family Council meeting for selected international members today.
Domestically, FOX has been working with about 60 families who are opposed to the proposed regulation of single family offices in the Financial Reform bill which is currently being hammered out in Congress.
“They are concerned because family offices may have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and may have to disclose a myriad of information about the family, its activities and their private investment holdings,” Benevides said.
The families want to convince Congress that the “unintended consequences” of the legislation would lead to a loss of privacy, crushing compliance requirements and burdening the SEC with a slew of exemption requests from the family offices.
Increased fees
Despite industry speculation that membership retention has become more difficult, Benevides said “I don’t think it has been any more of an issue than it has ever been.”
Some members clearly took a long hard look at what FOX had to offer as the for-profit organization steadily increased its pricing over the last several years to a range that is now between $15,000 and $70,000 depending on the size of the family office and the services it requires.
“The good news,” Benevides said, “is that families concluded they are receiving more value for a higher price.”
Nor has FOX, now 21 years old, felt threatened by its competition.
“People tend to be more collaborative than competitive,” Benevides noted.
The Family Wealth Alliance in nearby Wheaton, Illinois has staked out its own arena, he said, adding that the newest entry in the field, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based Family Office Association, appears to be focused more on family offices in its home state.
FOX also continues to emphasize its in-depth research.
Studies on branding and measuring the success of family offices will be released in the fall, and the organization’s founder and chief executive, Sara Hamilton, completed a book on leadership and legacy in families, which will also be published in the fall.