When HF Capital LLC launched in 2020, the organization faced an immediate challenge shared by many newly formed family offices: how to build meaningful engagement across a growing multigenerational family while simultaneously defining the office’s role, culture and long-term purpose.
For Camille Johnson, helping answer those questions has become the center of her work. Johnson serves as family liaison of HF Capital, the Knoxville-based family office that manages capital on behalf of the Haslam family. The office was established following the Haslam family’s transition away from Pilot Corp., which was founded by James A. Haslam II in 1958 and operated the Pilot Flying J travel and fuel centers.
HF Capital invests across operating companies, private and public managers and multiple asset classes and geographies. For example, James’ son James “Jimmy” Haslam III, who formerly served as CEO of Pilot Flying J, owns the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise and co-owns the Milwaukee Bucks NBA franchise. The office also maintains investments in energy and renewable infrastructure businesses including Silicon Ranch and Arizona DF Renewables.
Johnson joined HF Capital in 2022 after previously working with members of the family in another role. At the time, she had limited familiarity with the family office world itself. “My first question was, ‘What’s a family office?’” she recalls, with a laugh.
Today, her role focuses heavily on designing systems that strengthen communication, education and engagement across four generations of family members ranging in age from one to 95. HF Capital currently serves 43 family members. Johnson describes her work through what she calls the “three E’s”: events, education and engagement. Those responsibilities include organizing family meetings, coordinating educational initiatives, building governance participation pathways and helping younger generations understand both the history of the family enterprise and the responsibilities tied to ownership and stewardship.
Pilot Programs
One of the earliest lessons Johnson encountered was the need to avoid treating family engagement as a standardized template. “I thought I would maybe find somebody that had the right program,” she says. “But it had never been done for this family.” That realization reshaped how HF Capital approached governance and engagement. Johnson says the office began focusing less on building a perfect structure and more on creating adaptable systems tailored to the family’s specific needs, personalities and stages of life. “At some point you just start,” she says. “You’ll learn from things that have worked and things that haven’t worked.”
The office’s governance philosophy now centers heavily on flexibility and participation. Family members engage in different ways depending on their interests, schedules and expertise. Some participate deeply in investment-related discussions, while others gravitate toward philanthropy, family events or educational programming. Johnson says meeting family members where they are has become critical to sustaining engagement across generations. “We just recognize that everybody’s in a different life stage and capacity,” she says.
A major part of Johnson’s role also involves helping the family preserve and communicate its history in ways that resonate with younger generations. For example, HF Capital created a Haslam family trivia card game built around stories from the founding and growth of Pilot. The office is also developing a multimedia historical archive and film project designed specifically for internal family education. “We’re really trying to honor all that Mr. Haslam built,” Johnson says.
That emphasis on storytelling supports the office’s broader educational mission. Johnson compares family office education to language learning, where consistent exposure over time builds familiarity and confidence. “The earlier that you start familiarizing them with terms and concepts, the better,” she says.
A Privilege and a Responsibility
HF Capital structures educational programming around investing, stewardship, governance and philanthropy while adapting the material to different generations and levels of financial literacy. Johnson frequently works alongside the office’s investment professionals to ensure presentations and discussions remain approachable and understandable for family members without finance backgrounds. Johnson, who doesn’t have a finance background herself, has a rule of thumb for these presentations: “If I understand it, then you’re good to go.”
The office has also introduced mentorship structures for younger family members attending formal family meetings. Rising-generation participants are paired with members of the HF Capital team who can answer questions during investment discussions and provide context in real time.
Johnson believes that relational trust ultimately drives long-term engagement more than any single governance structure or educational program. “We just want them to feel comfortable coming to us,” she says.
For Johnson, the role combines operational strategy with long-term stewardship. She sees family office engagement work as an opportunity to help younger generations build confidence, understand responsibility and develop stronger connections to the family enterprise. “It feels like a great privilege, but also a great responsibility,” she said. “Are we equipping them with the tools that they need to be successful and thoughtful?”