Chicago Booth announces new Family Office Initiative
The comprehensive initiative will serve the educational, research and network needs of current and future family office leaders throughout the world.
- October 09, 2024
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business today announced the creation of the new Family Office Initiative (FOI), one of the first comprehensive programs focused on family office leaders at a major academic institution.
Booth’s FOI will support the education, research and networks for current and future family office leaders throughout the world, allowing them to capitalize on the research-driven insights of the school’s faculty, as well as the resources of the initiative’s collaborators.
Today’s family office leaders have distinct needs and dynamics. While most other similar programs tend to focus largely on the family business, Booth’s new FOI exclusively targets the growing and increasingly important family office sector and its leaders.
“For 125 years, Chicago Booth has produced pathbreaking ideas with lasting impact and trained generations of leaders who have helped shape the world of business. The boom in family offices across the world has highlighted a need for education and collaboration opportunities among principals and practitioners,” said Madhav Rajan, Booth dean and the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting. “True to our history, Booth is leading the way by investing resources in a comprehensive program to support the development of family offices, further extending our global reach in this untapped area.”
By leveraging its close connection to Booth’s esteemed faculty and their cutting-edge thought leadership, the FOI will generate interest in family office research and support the development of research insights to benefit the global family office sector. The FOI will also organize events for practitioners and assist in crafting new curriculum for MBA students and Executive Education participants at Booth. Collectively, these efforts will help establish the Booth FOI as a world leader in family office research, education and network.
The Family Office Initiative includes a steering committee and a council of industry leaders and practitioners, featuring, at present, more than 50 family office leaders from some of the most respected family groups in the United States and Europe. These industry experts form the core of the network mission of the initiative, and they include several Booth alumni, including Morrow Bailey, ’10, managing director at HF Capital; Quan Mac, ’05, CEO and CIO of Greenville Asset Management, a family office for a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based family; and Bob Venable, ’96, president and CEO of the Miami Corporation Management, among several other Booth alumni.
“The family office sector has grown markedly in the last twenty years and should continue to grow. As a result, it is now a meaningful part of the investing universe,” said Steven Neil Kaplan, the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “Despite the importance of the sector, there is relatively little research and teaching directed toward it. The Booth FOI will make progress on both fronts. We plan to include a research effort that will help us better understand the sector. And the research will help inform the materials and resources we produce to help family office leaders manage and run their offices.”
Booth is extending its current programming in this space. For nearly 20 years, the school has offered the Private Wealth Management program as part of its Executive Education offerings. John C. Heaton, the Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance at Booth, is one of several Booth faculty members involved with the FOI. He has developed a new MBA course for students interested in this topic—The Family Office. Students who take the course will learn the different roles family offices play, how family offices are structured, how to define goals for investment and distribution, effective leadership, and other important topics. The course will be available for MBA students beginning Winter Quarter 2025. The FOI will support Booth in developing future MBA courses and Executive Education opportunities under this topic.
“There is substantial demand in the market for talented, well-educated family office professionals, insightful family office research, and in particular for an unbiased, non-commercial forum to have a free and open exchange of ideas among family office leaders,” said Paul Carbone, AB ’83, co-founder and vice chairman at family investment firm Pritzker Private Capital, and a member of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees. “Building our initiative on a powerhouse academic platform like Booth also will allow family office leaders to share in the cutting-edge intellectual capital generated at the school and across a leading institution like UChicago. There really are no comprehensive family office academic programs like the one we envision. Booth has the interest, resources and will to quickly become a leader in the growing, dynamic family office industry. That is what makes Booth ideal for this initiative.”
With network being a central part of the FOI, Booth is planning a Family Office Summit in May 2025. The invite-only event will bring together 200 current and future family office leaders to foster a collaborative learning environment free from solicitations and centered on academic excellence. Leveraging the network and strengths of the University of Chicago, the summit will offer a conference experience that stands out distinctly within the industry. An event agenda and list of speakers will be announced later this year.
Contact Booth Media Relations
Marielle Sainvilus
Director of Public Relations and Communications
Phone: 773.531.2894