TUESDAY,
ZÜRICH,
IFG Europe Conference 2022 —Family Governance: Empowering Beneficiaries Through Inter-Generational Planning
About IFG
The mission of the Institute for Family Governance (“IFG”) is to implement strong governance that endures. This is achieved by empowering beneficiaries through inter-generational planning. Our values are serving families through: (i) open discussion, (ii) multi-disciplinary collaboration and (iii) know how exchange among families and the trusted advisors who serve them. View the About IFG page for more information.
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
IFG Europe 2022 Agenda
8:30 AM
REGISTRATION & BREAKFAst
9:00 AM
WELCOME & Introductions
9:10 AM
Walking the Talk: How to Implement Shared Vision and Values in a Family Enterprise
Peter Leach, Peter Leach Associates
10:00 AM
How to Avoid Litigation Among Family Members: Lessons Learned
Basil Zirinis, Sullivan & Cromwell
Farida El Agamy, Tharawat
Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch, General Counsel, Ringier, Moderator
10:50 AM
BREAK
11:20 AM
Designing and Implementing Your Family Business Board
Dr. Babetta von Albertini, IFG Chair & General Counsel, ATM Capital Partners
Christopher Oughtred, G5 of William Jackson Food Group
12:10 pM
21st Century Cross-border Planning: Importance of Family Governance — Case Studies
Dr. Gunter Mühlhaus, Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek
Alessandro Bavila, Maisto e Associati
Dr. Kinga M. Weiss, WalderWyss, Moderator
1:00 PM
LUNCH & Discussions
2:00 PM
Governance and Trans-Generational Value Creation: Practical Lessons from 30 Years of Research
Prof. Thomas Zellweger, University of St. Gallen
2:50 PM
BREAK
3:10 PM
How to Proactively Involve the Next Generation: What Works and What Doesn’t?
Samuel Bonsey, G3 of Keller Enterprises
Christopher Oughtred, G5 of William Jackson Food Group
Dr. Maja Baumann, G4 of the Vontobel Family, Moderator
4:00 PM
Keynote: What Comes After the Sale of the Operating Business? — Leadership and the Importance of Purpose: What We Did Wrong and Lessons Learned
Matthew Fleming, G5 of the Fleming Family
4:45 PM
Concluding remarks
5:00 PM
Cocktail Reception sponsored by Pol Roger
chair & Vice-chair
Babetta von Albertini, Ph.D. | IFG Chair
Babetta is the Chair of the Institute for Family Governance. She is an expert on family governance and U.S. tax law and has advised large domestic and international families on their governance and succession planning for approaching twenty years. Babetta is also the General Counsel of ATM Capital Partners, a single family office. Prior thereto, she was with Withers (a global trusts and estates law firm) for nine years, and Shearman & Sterling (a capital markets law firm) for three years, living and working in New York, London, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Babetta is a dual-qualified common law/civil law attorney (admitted to the bars of New York and Zurich, Switzerland) and holds both a Tax LL.M. and a Corporate LL.M. from NYU, as well as a Ph.D. in law from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She is a former Vice Chair of STEP New York and served for three years as elected U.S. representative on the STEP Global Council (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).
Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D. | Vice-Chair
Dennis, a San Francisco-based advisor to families about family business, governance, wealth and philanthropy, is Senior Research Fellow at BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors. He is author of Borrowed from Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprises; Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations; Stewardship in your Family Enterprise: Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across Generations and Working with the Ones You Love. His global insights have led to teaching or consulting engagements in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The Family Firm Institute awarded him the 2017 International Award for service, and in 2005 he received the Beckhard Award for service to the field. In 2020 he was awarded a special commendation as an individual thought leader in the field of wealth management by the Family Wealth Report. He has a BA degree in Philosophy, MA in Management, and Ph.D. in sociology, all from Yale University, and professor emeritus of organizational systems and psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco.
advisory board
Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch | Ringier
Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch is a Member of the Group Executive Board of Ringier AG, a leading Swiss media company with media, entertainment and digital marketplaces operations in 20 countries. As Group General Counsel and Head Corporate Center he manages a broad range of Ringier‘s corporate operations. Before joining Ringier in 2020, he had been a litigation partner with a leading Swiss business law firm and a member of their management committee for many years.
SPEAKERS
Peter Leach | Peter Leach Associates
Peter has more than 30 years’ experience of advising multigenerational family enterprises. Previously Peter was the founder and leader of the private client practice group for a big four accounting firm in London. Now in private practice, he is also a Special Advisor to BDT & Company.
Basil Zirinis | Sullivan & Cromwell
Basil Zirinis has been a partner in S&C’s Estates and Personal Group since 1994 and leads its international private client practice from London and New York. He represents individuals, fiduciaries and family-controlled businesses throughout the world in a broad range of matters, including domestic and international estate and trust planning, family business governance and transition, estate and trust administration and litigation. He speaks regularly at international conferences regarding U.S. and international tax and estate planning.
Basil also has extensive experience in trust and estate litigation and has been involved in many of the leading litigations in this area in the last 25 years in the United States and abroad. Basil was named as a leading Trusts and Estates lawyer in Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom, Chambers UK ,Chambers HNW, Chambers USA and Chambers Global. He has been a trustee of the Leeds Castle Foundation and a member of the board of trustees of the American Foundation for the Blind.
Farida El Agamy | Tharawat
Farida El Agamy is an attorney-at-law practicing in the UAE and Switzerland, an entrepreneur, and governance expert. Farida was the founding general manager of the Tharawat Family Business Forum, a private network for family-owned companies in the MENA. She is also a second generation family business member, Editor-at-Large of the Tharawat magazine, and a Director both at Target Developments LLC and Orbis Terra Media LLC (her family’s firms in Switzerland). In 2019 she joined her two co-founders to establish Kyma, a company focused on developing sustainable solutions. Ms. El Agamy holds a MA in Law from the University of Freiburg, Switzerland and was admitted to the Bar in 2009.
Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch | Ringier
Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch is a Member of the Group Executive Board of Ringier AG, a leading Swiss media company with media, entertainment and digital marketplaces operations in 20 countries. As Group General Counsel and Head Corporate Center he manages a broad range of Ringier‘s corporate operations. Before joining Ringier in 2020, he had been a litigation partner with a leading Swiss business law firm and a member of their management committee for many years.
Babetta von Albertini, Ph.D. | IFG Chair
Babetta is the Chair of the Institute for Family Governance. She is an expert on family governance and U.S. tax law and has advised large domestic and international families on their governance and succession planning for approaching twenty years. Babetta is also the General Counsel of ATM Capital Partners, a single family office. Prior thereto, she was with Withers (a global trusts and estates law firm) for nine years, and Shearman & Sterling (a capital markets law firm) for three years, living and working in New York, London, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Babetta is a dual-qualified common law/civil law attorney (admitted to the bars of New York and Zurich, Switzerland) and holds both a Tax LL.M. and a Corporate LL.M. from NYU, as well as a Ph.D. in law from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She is a former Vice Chair of STEP New York and served for three years as elected U.S. representative on the STEP Global Council (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).
Dr. Gunter Mühlhaus | Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek
Dr. Gunter Muehlhaus advises private clients and family businesses concerning succession during lifetime and after death, establishing endowments and family companies as well as inheritance disputes before state courts. His areas of expertise also include consultation services for private banks, asset managers and family offices in conjunction with estate planning for their clients.
Alessandro Bavila | Maisto e Associati
Alessandro is a partner of Maisto e Associati, and is an Italian lawyer with consolidated expertise in international taxation, personal and estate planning, trusts and taxation of individuals. He is visiting lecturer at the LL.M. program of the University of Amsterdam and is regularly invited as speaker at conferences and seminars on tax topics. He is an international fellow of ACTEC (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel) and has been appointed member of the Scientific Committee of Step Italy (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) since 2021. Before joining the Firm, Alessandro was IFA researcher at IBFD in Amsterdam. He holds an LLM in Tax from the University of London and is admitted to practice in Italy.
Dr. Kinga M. Weiss | WalderWyss
Kinga is a partner and co-chair of the Private Clients team of Walder Wyss. She primarily devotes her time to domestic and foreign private clients, banks and family offices. Her areas of expertise include both private clients and entrepreneurs in matters of inheritance law, including marital property law, relating to estate planning, business succession and execution of wills. Kinga was a member of the Expert Commission on the revision of the Swiss Private International Law Act on inheritance law and chairs the Schulthess Juristische Medien Ltd.'s conference on succession law and current case law in Switzerland. She is also an international fellow of ACTEC (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel).
Prof. Thomas Zellweger | University of St. Gallen
Thomas holds the Chair in Family Business at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland, where he is Vice-President Faculty & Research, the Director of the Swiss Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and of the Center for Family Business. Thomas' research has received several international awards and has been published in the leading management journals such Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal, amongst other outlets. His research is discussed in the international media such as in The Economist, Forbes and the New York Times. His international textbook entitled "Managing the Family Business: Theory and Practice" received the best book of the year award by the European Academy of Management in 2018.
Samuel Bonsey | G3 of Keller Enterprises
Sam is the Executive Director of The ImPact, a global network of families committed to aligning their assets with their values, and making more impact investments more effectively. Sam was the first employee of the The ImPact and has led the development of the organization. In 2015, Sam was recognized by Forbes as a “30 Under 30” Social Entrepreneur. He is also a member of the board of directors of their family office, Keller Enterprises, including the investment committee and governance committee, with legacy investments in oil, gas, timber and agriculture. Sam is a distinguished graduate of Harvard College.
Christopher Oughtred | G5 of William Jackson Food Group
Christopher is a director of the William Jackson Food Group Ltd., one of the United Kingdom’s largest food groups, originally founded in 1851. One of five fifth generation family members who worked in the family’s business, the William Jackson Food Group was recognized in 2017 with the Ernst and Young Family Business Award for Excellence in the UK. Christopher, a life patron and former chair of governors at Pocklington School, was also a founding trustee and director of the Institute for Family Business.
Dr. Maja Baumann | 4th Generation of the Vontobel Family and Member of the Board of Directors of Vontobel Holding AG and Bank Vontobel
Maja is a member of the 4th generation of the Vontobel family and a director of Vontobel Holding AG and Bank Vontobel AG. In addition, she is a partner with the law firm SwissLegal, advising Swiss and international clients on corporate law and good corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate matters. Maja holds a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich as well as an LL.M. in Corporate Law from New York University and is admitted to the Bars of Zurich and New York. She is a member of the committee of the Chamber of the Specialist SBA in Real Estate and Construction Law, a member of the board of directors of Swisspearl Group AG, GRAPHA-Holding AG and several other family holding companies as well as the chairwomen of the foundation council of the charitable Vontobel Foundation and the Zoo Zurich foundation.
Matthew Fleming | G5 of the Fleming family
Matthew Fleming is a G5 of the "James Bond" family that also used to hold a stake in London based Robert Fleming (which owned 50% of Jardine Fleming, the Hong Kong based merchant bank, and a JV with US based T Rowe Price called Row Price Fleming). A former army officer, Matthew joined the family firm in 2012 after thirteen years as a professional cricketer, where he also played for England. Matthew has held various positions within the family business, including Managing Partner of Fleming Media and Director of Ian Fleming Publications and James Bond Enterprises. He currently also serves as the Head of Family Governance and Succession at Stonehage Fleming and is responsible for helping families develop and implement plans for passing on their legacy to subsequent generations.
Know How
2022 PRESENTATIONS
IFG Pre-conference Workshop (Zurich): How to Successfully Adapt Governance over Six Generations: A Case Study
Peter Leach, Peter Leach Associates
Christopher Oughtred, G5 of William Jackson Food Group Ltd.
Presentation: How to Successfully Adapt Governance Over Six Generations—A Case Study
Walking the Talk: How to Implement Shared Vision and Values in a Family Enterprise
Peter Leach
Mission, vision and values have been a mantra for family businesses for several decades now. These ideas describe why the business exists (mission), what the family wants to achieve (vision) and how it will act and conduct itself (values). It is one thing, however, to present a framed mission, vision and values statement on the boardroom wall - it is quite another to 'walk the talk'. In the past two years alone, the global pandemic has tested many family businesses with all manner of unfamiliar decisions, risky propositions and potentially uncomfortable trade-offs. Families have been discovering the extent to which their mission, vision and values truly act as their 'north star', or turn out to be skin deep only. Peter will explore how the most successful business families forge a mission, vision and values set that sustains them through even the most challenging periods, as well as what to do if the words on the wall and the realities on the ground no longer align.
Presentation: Walking the Talk: How to Implement Shared Vision and Values in a Family Enterprise
How to Avoid Litigation Among Family Members: Lessons Learned
Basil Zirinis, Farida El Agamy, and Dr. Manuel Liatowitsch
The panel will discuss common causes of conflict among family members and from there identify key factors to prevent conflict and avoid protracted litigation.
Presentation: How to Avoid Litigation Among Family Members: Lessons Learned
Designing and Implementing Your Family Business Board
Dr. Babetta von Albertini and Christopher Oughtred
Babetta will lead a practical, interactive discussion on designing and implementing an effective family business board. Topics will include how to design a first-time active board and will address typical fears and misconceptions of controlling owners, particularly the reluctance of bringing in independent board members. Babetta will also speak about how to maximize the value of an active family business board as the company evolves over time. Key aspects will include: (i) determining the role of a family business board; (ii) understanding the skills and experience needed to help the business (filling the gaps through a board matrix, etc.); (iii) the board/family connection and how to select family members and independent members for the board, and; (iv) how to develop family members for board service through education and practical training.
Presentation: How to Design and Implement an Effective Family Business Board
21st Century Cross‐Border Planning: Importance of Family Governance — Case Studies
Dr. Gunter Mühlhaus, Alessandro Bavila, and Dr. Kinga M. Weiss
Kinga, Alessandro and Gunter will provide a comparative analysis of how to structure family businesses and adopt best family governance practices from a legal and tax perspective in cross-border cases.
Presentation: 21st Century Cross-Border Planning: Importance of Family Governance – Case Studies
Governance and Trans‐-Generational Value Creation: Practical Lessons from 30 Years of Research
Prof. Thomas Zellweger
In his presentation, Thomas will discuss the recipes of success of business dynasties, hence families that create massive value over multiple generations via the control of firms. Based on recent research, Thomas will challenge some of the established wisdom about the topic.
Presentation: Governance and Trans-Generational Value Creation: Practical Lessons from 30 Years of Research
How to Proactively Involve the Next Generation: What Works and What Doesn’t?
Samuel Bonsey, Christopher Oughtred, and Dr. Maja Baumann
The handover of a family business from one generation to the next one is always a critical moment for the business' continuity. New generations bring in new ideas and keep the business fresh and up-to-date and, thus, ensure its survival. However, on the one hand, the handover should not come as a rupture or a completely unknown taks for the next generation and, on the other hand, the ideas of the next generation are needed much earlier than only at the moment when they get in charge. The family members on the panel are from different generations and will discuss the biggest challenges they faced and face in the involvement of the / as the next generation, strategies used to tackle these challenges, their personnel successes and failures in the intergenerational exchange as well as their learnings.
What Comes After the Sale of the Operating Business? ‐ Leadership and the Importance of Purpose: What We Did Wrong and Lessons Learned
Matthew Fleming
What comes after the sale: An operating business can be a unifying factor for a family. As long as the business is owned, the family has a shared purpose. But what happens when the operating business is sold? Is there any reason for a family to stay together? Matthew will share the experiences of his family upon the sale of their interest in Robert Fleming, the London based merchant bank. Once the family business was sold, the challenges of mere liquid wealth became apparent.
Lessons learned: One mistake made by the post-sale leadership was too much emphasis on financial structuring and returns, which caused enormous pressure for the family. Matthew will share the lessons he and his family learned about leadership, values, and the importance of finding a new shared purpose for the family.
REGISTRATION
Registration
USD 450 for IFG Members
USD 550 for Non-Members
Membership
Annual Membership
$125
Learn more about IFG
Cancellation Policy: All cancellations must be in writing. If you are unable to attend, a substitution may be made at any time. Registrations cancelled before October 1, 2019 will be refunded in full, less a $100 USD administrative fee. Registrations cancelled between October 1, 2019 and October 31, 2019 will receive a 25% credit towards another IFG conference within a year’s period. No refunds or credits can be issued for cancellations after October 31, 2019. No-shows are subject to the full fee.
Financial Aid: Financial aid is available upon request. Please contact: info@ifgworldwide.org.
info@IFGworldwide.org
Institute for Family Governance Ltd.
1815 Palmer Avenue, Unit 2D
Larchmont NY 10538
United States
212-682-6113