Aligning the Investment Function and Mandate with the Family's Needs With Karen Harding & Stacey Flier

Karen Harding and Stacey Flier of NEPC, an investment consulting firm, discuss how the investment needs and expectations of families and family offices have changed over their careers, drawing on their experience advising ultra-high-net-worth families. A central theme is the institutionalization of investment management inside family offices and how that trend shapes the way families evaluate the outsourced CIO model. They also cover the benefits and challenges of building investment capabilities internally versus using external expertise, and how family dynamics and generational change affect strategy and governance.

1. The episode traces how family and family office investment needs, preferences and expectations have evolved over time.
2. The growing complexity of the investment function is discussed alongside increasingly sophisticated approaches families take to meet their objectives.
3. The guests explain how institutionalization is reshaping how families organize investment activities and evaluate the outsourced CIO model.
4. They discuss benefits, challenges and considerations in deciding whether to build investment capabilities internally or use external expertise, and how rising-generation priorities influence philosophy and decision-making.