Transitioning From an Operating Family to a Family Office. Our Family

Transcription

1 Transitioning From an Operating Family to a Family Office Doug Wilwerding Peter Begalla Our Family Three generations (fourth on the way) G-1 & G-2 involved in the business Doug is the only child of G-1 Third generation involved in wealth management/growth and philanthropy Lauren (27) teaches British Lit at Boston College and husband Dr. Jamie Cohen (Boston) Chloe (24) teaches art at The Commonwealth School (Boston) Faith(22) teaches dance at Linx Academy (Boston)

2 Our Business Accent Service Company (to become Omnium Worldwide, Inc.) founded in 1969 by Ronald C. Wilwerding as a consumer collection agency Doug R. Wilwerding joined the business in 1986 Doug spun off a new entity in 1990 (Accent Insurance Recovery Solutions) In 1998 Doug purchased G-1 remaining interest in LBO 2007 company was sold to West Corporation The Decision to Sell We loved our business and loved running it We loved our team Both top line and bottom line were growing persistently The market was turning and we could see the long-term headwinds coming in 2006 due to sub-prime credit exposure of our clients The industry has shrunk 60% since that time due to economic and regulatory pressures We exercised the discipline of looking at the business as an asset ~ not just a legacy which was really hard to do We decided as a family to take advantage of extraordinary valuations and a frothy M&A environment allowing us to avoid the inevitable economic and regulatory downturn that was coming Hardest decision I have ever made. Turned out great for our family and I still wrestle with the decision periodically. While the acquirer did well with the business it never regained its momentum

3 Transitioning from Business Owners to a Financial Family G-1 realized their liquidity event in 1998 G-2 and G-3 realized their liquidity event in 2007 Ages of G-3 at the time 18, 14, 13 Different focus: much of what was part and parcel of running the business has to be incorporated into the family office Vast majority of family assets was the business We had not prepared ourselves or our family for life after being an owner/operator As an only child my challenge was to bring G-1 and G-3 together under one umbrella along with G-2 (Elaine and me) to build one family office and one perspective on wealth management, growth and philanthropy This is a work in progress Need to Know What We Don t Know Leading a family office is different than being a CEO Find advisors and guidance Family Office Exchange and the FOX Owner/Operator Council~ my peers taught me a lot Vogel Consulting ~ moving from a corporate accounting advisor to family office accounting advisor Migrating from primarily corporate counsel to estate planning and wealth management counsel Foster Family Advisors/David Martin ~ wise counsel and a confidant on family preparation and education

4 We Identified Our Mission Education As a business owning family our daughters were not exposed to the value of our asset~ the business Upon liquidation which monetized the company stock held in trust for them we began the process of education on a variety of topics Dollars and cents Tax planning Estate planning Risk management Investment objectives and discipline Costs of the family office FO decision making and governance Timing is everything: The prenuptial agreement discussion

5 Welcome Reception