Fidelity Hires New Head of 1,700-member Family Office Network

When you’re here, you’re family.

Fidelity has hired an industry veteran to lead one of the world’s largest professional networks of family offices catering to the uber-rich. Kimberly Sheehy will head Fidelity’s Communities Center of Excellence, a unit that includes the 1,700-member Forge Community, and Finteract, a peer-to-peer platform for financial advisors. The center offers access to industry research and events, among other professional connections, and members must sign a code of conduct to maintain confidentiality.

The appointment comes as competition over family offices ramps up among Wall Street’s heavyweights, with the average single-family office in the US overseeing some $2 billion in assets, according to Deloitte. “I am thrilled for this role,” Sheehy told the Daily Upside in an email, adding she’s ready to “hit the ground running” next year.

Family Ties

Money managers for the super wealthy offer a wide range of financial and lifestyle services, like tax filing, estate planning, asset management — or even dog-walking. They’re also increasingly taking on larger roles in the economy from managing billions of dollars on a family’s behalf to making strategic investments in private equity or M&A deals. It’s quickly become a major opportunity for the world’s largest investment firms:

• In November, Goldman Sachs revamped its family office platform with an “à la carte service solution” designed to meet targeted client needs and preferences.
• JPMorgan launched a dedicated practice to support its Private Bank’s largest clients and their family enterprises last year.
• Over the past two years, Apollo Global Management has been building up a unit to target family offices of the super wealthy.

There are some 3,180 family offices in North America, but Deloitte projects there will be more than 4,000 by 2030. Assets at single-family offices are also expected to surge 73% to $5.4 trillion over the same timeframe, from just $3.1 trillion today.