Strategies around distressed debt and private credit were among the top investment topics at the Circulus Family Office Summit, held Sept. 19 in Manhattan. And in between discussions on macroeconomic trends, AITi Tiedemann Global’s managing director, Erik Christoffersen, posed a thought-provoking question to family office professionals in the audience.
“Are systems critical to your investment success? Is talent, operational risk? Are all of these underpinning to your ability to get a great return on the family assets? I really invite you to think, how dependent is your investment success on these other things?”
Access to top talent was a key concern at the conference — hosted by Mintz at the law firm’s high-rise Midtown office space, which offered views of Central Park and the Hudson River. Christoffersen — whose firm produced a study that said 70% of family offices struggle to recruit new talent — urged the audience to prioritize compensation increases for top performers.
“Don’t wait for the talent you have in-house to ask for a raise,” he said. “If there’s someone you really value, delight them and proactively find a way to protect them.”
Keynote speaker Steven Tananbaum said his hedge fund, GoldenTree Asset Management, is fully owned by employees and structures its payout system to build a “collegial” culture.
“Certain firms, you get paid on how well your group does — the alternative group might be more profitable than the long-only group,” Tananbaum said. “That’s not the way we’re set up. Everybody is compensated from the same fund.”
The Circulus event also included panels on fintech and venture capital investing as well as Circulus founder Joe Reilly’s fireside chat with Menai Financial CEO Zoe Cruz. Former Bridgewater executive Rebecca Patterson conducted a wide-ranging chat with Apollo Global’s chief economist, Torsten Stock, as the duo discussed economic markets across the U.S., Europe, China, Japan and India.