Kristi Kuechler, senior managing director for The Institute for Private Investors, a prominent New York-based networking and educational organization for wealthy families, will become the first president in the organization’s 18-year history on 4 January, Family Wealth Report has learned.

The announcement was made by Charlotte Beyer, the  IPI’s founder and chief executive, at the organization’s annual year end forum in New York on Tuesday.

Ms Kuechler, a five-year veteran of the organization, will remain based in San Francisco.

She said she would stress “continuity” of the organization’s  business model of investment education and “helping families make better decisions.”

Ms Kuechler earned her stripes by helping to boost IPI membership to over 1,100 investors and 140 firms as well as building up IPI’s content to include over 50 programs.

She also helped initiated and organized IPI’s year-end forum, which debuted last year.

The theme for this year’s forum was “Doing Diligence,” and featured a format allowing IPI members to hear presentations by competing wealth managers and then ask tough questions.

The wealthy investors appeared to have “moved past the shock of last year,” said one wealth management executive who attended the forum.

“They seem ready to move forward and are looking for a silver lining,” the executive said.

Ms Kuechler agreed – to a point. “Some are quite ready to move ahead, but  others are staying on the sidelines,” she said.

Investors at the forum also expressed “skeptical about the promise of alternative investments,” Ms Kuechler said, and wanted to know how wealth management firms are really different from each other.