A spate of hiring brings Wilmington Family Office's U.S. headcount over 70. Wilmington Trust has expanded its family-office practice on the east coast by opening a multi-family office in Connecticut and increasing the number of family-wealth support staff at its Wilmington, Del., headquarters, in New Jersey and in New York. These additions bring Wilmington Family Office's staff to more than 70 across the U.S.

"The combination of the [Wilmington Family Office] on the East Coast and the family office services we provide on the West Coast through Grant Tani Barash & Altman positions us as a leader in this expanding market," says Ted Cecala, Wilmington Trust's chairman and CEO.

Ready, set

Rodney Wood, head of Wilmington Trust's wealth advisory services business, reckons East Coast appointments like those of John Garniewski, formerly director of holding-company services for Wilmington, Del.-based Delaware Management Services, Jay Smolin and Neil Tendler, both formerly with Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown in New York, and the experience and regional reputation of Grant Tani signals the arrival of Wilmington has a national force in the multi-family office space.

"We have attracted a group of seasoned family office professionals who bring a range of specialties and services that are unmatched in the industry," says Wood. "The credentials and experience of our [Wilmington Family Office] staff members, our knowledge of the complex issues that family office clients face, our reputation for objectivity, and our commitment to client relationships give us a competitive distinction in the marketplace."

Wilmington Trust says it gained family-office capabilities when it annexed Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Grant Tani in 2004. Since then, Wilmington Trust says it has "leveraged" the boutique's "expertise to establish a practice capable of meeting the family office needs of clients throughout the United States."

Wilmington Family Office, or WFO, is co-led by managing partners Howard Altman and Allen Snook. Altman is a principal of Grant Tani. Snook is also WFO's COO.

WFO's standard offerings include investment management, wealth and estate planning, tax services, bookkeeping, insurance oversight, transportation and property management, family governance, strategic philanthropy and concierge services.

In a way Wilmington's move into the family-office space is a return to its roots. The trust company is an offshoot of the original family office - long since fragmented - of the industrialist DuPont family.

Wilmington had about $40 billion in assets under management at the end of 2005. Besides its headquarters in Delaware, the trust company and its affiliates have offices in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont. Overseas it has offices in London, Dublin, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands. -FWR

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