Babetta von Albertini, Ph.D. | IFG Founder & 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 20 years. Babetta currently divides her time between ATM Capital Partners (a SFO), where she serves as General Counsel, and Lansberg Gersick & Associates, where she serves as Senior Counsel. Prior thereto, she was with Withers (a global trusts and estates law firm) for 9 years, and Shearman & Sterling (a capital markets law firm) for 3 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 currently serves as elected U.S. representative on the STEP Global Council (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).

Read the The International Family Offices Journal’s interview with Babetta von Albertini.

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.

John E. Oden | Vice-Chair

John is a Principal and a 30 year veteran of AllianceBernstein, a global investment management and research firm, with approximately US$760 billion under management through 51 offices in 26 countries. He specializes in working with complex global family relationships in the implementation of investment planning and asset allocation advice, and has taken a leading role in the development of the firm’s international private client business. John is a former Chair of the New York Branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), an international organization for professionals involved in cross-border tax and estate matters. He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the China-US Business Alliance, a 13-year-old organization of senior professional advisors in both the US and Asia who have business activities in China. A strong supporter of athletics, John writes and speaks about the sport of boxing. His first book, White Collar Boxing – One Man’s Journey From the Office to the Ring, was published in 2005. It was followed in 2009 by Life in the Ring – Lessons & Inspirations from the Sport of Boxing. He holds BA and MBA degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

David R. York | Vice-Chair

David is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Salt Lake City law firm York Howell & Guymon. He has extensive experience in designing and implementing advanced tax and estate planning strategies for high net worth clients, along with non-profit and business planning counsel. He is a Fellow with the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a member of the Utah State Bar Budget and Finance Committee, and former Chair of the Utah State Bar Estate Planning Section. Noted as a Mountain States Rising Star in Super Lawyers Magazine, Utah Legal Elite in Utah Business Magazine and as a Top-Rated Lawyer in Trusts & Estates with Martindale-Hubbell, David has successfully represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service at all levels (Audit, Appeals, and Tax Court). David is co-author of Entrusted: Building A Legacy That Lasts and Riveted: 44 Values That Change the World. He is also the creator of Rivets™ Core Values card game and Rivets™ Certification Training.

Drew Mason | Advisory Board Chair

Drew Mason currently holds the position of managing partner at Jade Capital Management LLC, a private investment fund focusing on venture and growth capital in China’s financial services sector. Prior to Jade Capital, Drew founded the Technology Sector Group in Asia Pacific for UBS Warburg, formerly Dillon, Read & Co., where he worked from 1994 to 2012 in New York, London and Hong Kong. In addition, Drew was instrumental in the founding of Sohu.com, one of the first Chinese companies to list on NASDAQ. Prior to UBS Warburg, he served as an intelligence officer during Operation Desert Storm for the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Drew currently serves on the board of China Rapid Finance Limited (NYSE: XRF) since 2005, the advisory board of the U.S. Navy League, New York since 2014, and has been a member of the President of Brown University’s China Council since 2010. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his bachelor’s degree in History from Brown University.