The peer-to-peer family office network has new leadership in New Zealand and Australia.

Chicago-headquartered Family Office Exchange has appointed Peter Roach as its market leader for Australia and New Zealand.

Roach will succeed Melissa James, who will continue as co-facilitator of the FOX family enterprise council meetings, FOX said in a statement today. 

FOX said Roach is well known in the family office sector and he previously held the role of chief executive officer of the Fairfax family office, Cambooya Services, from 2000-2012, and during that period he was also non-executive director of Rural Press Limited, Landis+Gyr AG and various other boards associated with the family’s media and private equity interests.

In addition to Cambooya Services, Roach has worked with one of Australia’s largest banks to expand its family office services.

In his new role, Roach will be responsible for expanding the FOX membership base in the region, as well as guiding families and advisors on global best practices, while his predecessor James will continue to jointly run the twice annual FOX family enterprise council meetings with him.

“[Roach’s] experience will benefit our members and attract new members to our council peer group,” said Alexandre Monnier, president of FOX. 

Late last week, FOX said it has appointed Vincent Hayes as a new director of member development, signalling a further drive to add to its numbers. Hayes serves as an ambassador for FOX, which is an international membership organization for over 8,000 family enterprises and their advisors, in reaching out to new members, promoting the networking, advice and education benefits provided by the FOX membership. 

Among previous announcements, FOX in September unveiled the agenda for its 2016 FOX Fall Forum, which is taking place November 2-4 in Chicago. This year's Fall Forum is entitled “Strengthening the Partnership”.

In April, FOX issued a report showing that more than two-thirds of family offices engaged in direct investing in 2015. Although family offices have for a long time now been making direct investments in private companies, it has been widely reported that the trend is accelerating.