Who’s Your Chief ‘Get It Done Officer?’

Family offices manage all kinds of complex projects, from coordinating the work of outside financial advisors to handling programming and travel arrangements for family retreats. But project management is an underrated skill in family offices.

Of the family offices that said in a risk management survey by Dentons that they were short-staffed, nearly one in five (19%) identified administrative and project management support as a problem area, according to The Evolving Risk Landscape for Family Offices.

“With many family offices, I think there’s not a strong level of project management skills, and that can make families play Whac-A-Mole when it comes to day-to-day operations as well as risk management goals,” says Edward V. Marshall, global head of family office for Dentons.

A lack of project management skills can lead to missed opportunities and miscommunication among family members, among other problems.

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“Project management is a critical skill for family offices, and for all the vendors and service providers and advisors that provide services to family offices, because there are so many different moving parts,” Marshall says. “Somebody has to take control. I tend to call that role the ‘Chief Get It Done Officer.’ Who is going to be that person within the family office, or within the constellation of advisors that a family has?”

Portrait of Edward V. Marshall
Edward V. Marshall is Global Head, Family Office and HNW Group, for Dentons.

About the Author

Margaret Steen

Margaret Steen is the editor of FO Pro, The Family Office Professional. Based in Silicon Valley, she has written for Family Business Magazine for more than 15 years.


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