WE family offices hires

Global advisory firm WE Family Offices has appointed three industry experts to its team of professionals. Bruce Arella will join the global firm as a partner and head of real estate investing and will be responsible for serving US-based clients. Joseph Kellogg and Elaine King are joining the Miami office.

PRESS RELEASE

WE Family Offices, founded in January of 2013 by Managing Partners Maria Elena Lagomasino, Santiago Ulloa and Michael Zeuner, continues to make an impact in the wealth industry by attracting top-tier talent searching for an independent setting to advise clients. WE Family Offices provides retainer-based independent advisory services to clients. This model can be a very different experience for advisors coming from traditional firms where sales of investment products can be intermingled with advice. As further evidence of leading wealth professionals’ preference for a flat-fee only platform, WE Family Offices announces the hiring of three industry experts to its team of professionals. Attracted to WE’s innovative and transparency-focused platform, each brings extensive wealth management experience to the firm, which has recently surpassed $2 billion in assets under management.

“WE Family Offices’ mission is to serve as our clients’ advocate, providing independent advice without any regard to sales of product. Each of these individuals joins the firm with a long track record of advocating for and advising wealthy families, and we are fortunate to have them join our team.”

Family office veteran Bruce Arella will join the global firm as a partner and head of real estate investing and will be responsible for serving US-based clients. He will join the firm’s Strategic Investment Committee and Implementation Committee and will be based in WE’s newly opened Manhattan office.

In addition, the firm has recently hired Joseph Kellogg and Elaine King to join its Miami office. Mr. Kellogg comes on board as the firm’s wealth planning executive to work with clients and their external tax and estate planning professionals. Ms. King joins as director of family education and governance to advise client families and develop educational programs, content and learning events on topics including succession planning, financial literacy, and mission and strategy.

New partner Bruce Arella echoes the firm’s commitment to providing independent advice to UHNW clients saying, “The unique business model and approach of WE Family Offices helps clients look at their wealth strategically, as they would any business or enterprise. They stay in control of their wealth, while we provide them with the support and services they need. The more transparent, retainer-based service model is something I looked long and hard to find and represents the leading edge in family wealth management.”

Managing Partner and CEO Maria Elena Lagomasino comments, “WE Family Offices’ mission is to serve as our clients’ advocate, providing independent advice without any regard to sales of product. Each of these individuals joins the firm with a long track record of advocating for and advising wealthy families, and we are fortunate to have them join our team.”

WE’s unique approach is based on the principle that families who successfully sustain their wealth across multiple generations manage the family wealth as they would a business enterprise. The family establishes the mission, purpose and objectives of their wealth, and WE provides the tools they need to organize, execute and manage their wealth in the way that benefits them the most. WE helps family clients to build their wealth enterprises.

About Bruce Arella

Prior to his role at WE Family Offices, Bruce was president of the New York office at GenSpring Family Offices. In this role he worked with family office clients, on a variety of wealth management issues such as asset allocation, investment policy creation, investment management and strategic multi-generational planning. Prior to GenSpring, Bruce served as managing director and director of manager research at Orion Capital Management LLC., a multi-strategy fund of funds linking economic cycles to hedge fund strategy allocation, which included global macro, distressed, equity long/short, and arbitrage strategies. Bruce also served on the firm’s Investment Committee, recommending strategy limits, overall asset allocation and economic research. Prior to joining Orion, Bruce was founder and portfolio manager at Ardent Fund Management LLC, an equity long/short hedge fund. Bruce actively managed the portfolios gaining first hand experience in risk management, proper use of leverage, and importance of an efficiently managed hedge fund.

About Joseph Kellogg

Previously, Joseph provided wealth-planning services for international private clients of UBS AG (Miami) and of HSBC Private Bank (Miami). In 2002, he opened and managed the Miami representative office for the Amicorp Group providing corporate and fiduciary structures to both corporate and private clients. From 1997 to 2002, Joseph worked with the Citco Group of companies and was based in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and later in the British Virgin Islands. He is the chairman of the Miami branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Planners, a professional association.

About Elaine King

Before joining WE Family Offices, Elaine served as vice president of Bessemer Trust’s $75 billion family office group. Prior to that, she served as managing director of LFG, director of Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust’s Wealth and Well-Being Planning Institute, investment manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Coutts Latin America Division and investment manager of Citigroup’s $13 billion advisory service group.

About WE (Wealth Enterprise) Family Offices

WE Family Offices is a global advisory firm for ultra-high net worth families. Our practice is centered around advice and our pricing is retainer-based, and fee-only. WE is not affiliated with any financial service company and is compensated only with client fees.

Contacts
Wealth Matters Consulting
Rosemary B. Denney, 561-379-7673
RBD@WealthMattersConsulting.com