Finding Your Why: The Role of a Family Office for Founders
Presented By: UBS
Join an inspiring fireside chat with a seasoned serial entrepreneur and investor as we unravel the profound journey of discovering his "why." This engaging conversation that includes a family wealth advisor will delve into the intricacies of building businesses, navigating market gaps, and strategically crafting generational wealth—including the creation of a family office. Attendees will glean actionable strategies, firsthand experiences, and a roadmap to help them better align passion with profit, fostering not just success, but a lasting legacy. Join us as we navigate one person’s blueprint to transcend the ordinary in the world of business and wealth creation.
Moderator:
Managing Director, Head of the Business Owners and Multigenerational Wealth Client Segments
UBS
James is the Head of both the Business Owners and Multigenerational Wealth Client Segments within the Strategic Client Segments team.
James took on the Business Owners Client Segment upon its creation in 2018 to build an organization that supports business owners and the Financial Advisors that advise them. He has worked with clients on pre-business sale exit planning, such as succession planning, M&A transaction planning, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), and the emotional and self-identity ramifications of exiting a business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, James and his team supported business owners in navigating pandemic programs like the Paycheck Protection Program. In 2023, James’s remit expanded to include the Multigenerational Wealth Client Segment, which includes UBS’s support of wealth transfer and transition strategies between generations and the Rising Gen. James and his team work to bring the best of UBS’s resources to these important client segments.
James has been with UBS since 2006, previously working in the WMA Banking Group to build banking, cash and lending solutions that meet the needs of High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth individuals and the Financial Advisors that support them. James has driven and executed strategies to expand securities-based lending, develop a proprietary credit card tailored to UBS's unique client base and helped to manage UBS’s deposit program, including pricing, sales, and product development programs.
James holds a BS in Finance and Economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Outside of UBS, James is a member of the board of directors and co-treasurer for the Bronx Academy of Letters Foundation, supporting a public middle and high school in the poorest congressional district in the US, and enjoys experiencing travel and cultures different from his own. He also holds FINRA Series 7 license and Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®) designation.
Panelists:
Founder & CEO, TechnologyAdvice
Founder & CEO, 615 Ventures
Rob Bellenfant is the founder and CEO of TechnologyAdvice, a full-service B2B media company and leading provider of media, brand, and demand services. He started TechnologyAdvice in his freshman dorm room in 2006, and it has grown to 600 team members spanning 6 countries.
TechnologyAdvice has been named an Inc. 5000 America’s Fastest-Growing Private Company seven times, and was listed on Inc. Best Workplaces list three times. The company is a seven-time recipient of the Tennessean Top Workplaces Award. Rob has individually received the 2015 Nashville Emerging Leader Award, 2015 UTK Alumni Promise Award, 2019 Nashville NEXT Award, and 2020 Nashville Business Journal 40 under 40 Award.
Rob’s investment interests range from technology and commercial real estate to media and talent development. In addition to TechnologyAdvice, Rob is the founder and CEO of 615 Ventures, a Nashville-based investment firm focused on the acquisition and management of over 700,000 sq. feet of real estate. In 2021, Rob partnered with country music artist, Chuck Wicks, to transform one of Nashville’s historic buildings into the unique, first-of-its-kind Woolworth Theatre, which is home to several high quality entertainment options.
Rob is also involved in various philanthropic endeavors, including the support of organizations like Youth Villages and Best Buddies International. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and four children.
UBS Family Office Design & Governance Strategist
UBS
Mark Tepsich is the Family Office Design and Governance Strategist at UBS. At UBS, he focuses on helping the firms largest clients across the Americas think through their family office both from an initial start, such as post-liquidity event but also more mature family offices looking to evolve. This includes strategizing on their operations, human capital, tech stack as well as governance, such as building investment committees and other governance boards. In short, putting the family in the family office.
For most of his career, he was General Counsel to a multi-generational family at their family office. Here, he focused on new venture creation, private equity, real estate development, as well as counseling the family on the sale of their publicly traded company to Brookfield Asset Management in 2018 for $11.4bn. His entire professional career has solely focused on helping complex and ultra wealthy families navigate the future.