Independent family office consulting for families and the offices that serve them: clarifying decision rights, separating ownership, family and operating roles, and building governance that holds as the family widens. Zoom Riddle advises on organisational governance and structure, not on investments, tax or legal matters.
Family office consulting on governance, decision rights and structure around the family and its wealth. Independent advisory, offered worldwide, online.
A family office sits where wealth, family and professional management meet. Owners, relatives, executives and outside advisers all have a stake, and the question of who decides what is rarely written down. In the early years one person holds the answers. As the family widens and the office adds staff, advisers and entities, the answers start to pull apart.
The strain usually shows before anyone names it. Roles overlap, informal arrangements that worked for the founding generation are not understood by the next, and reporting reaches different branches of the family unevenly. These patterns are organisational rather than financial. They respond to clear decision rights, agreed forums and written expectations, ideally put in place while the family is still aligned rather than after a disagreement.
As a family office consultant, Zoom Riddle focuses on governance, decision rights and the structure around the family and the office. It does not give investment, tax, legal or regulatory advice, and does not manage or advise on assets; those questions sit with the family’s own licensed advisers. For perspectives on Swiss family offices, see the Zurich market page.
Zoom Riddle’s advisory is offered worldwide. Our in-house methodology is designed to be applied to any organisation, wherever it is based, and engagements are run online.
Four things an independent family office consultant looks at.
Who decides what between owners, family members and the executives who run the office.
How the family, the office team and outside advisers divide responsibilities, and how each is held to account.
How responsibility passes between generations without the office depending on one person’s knowledge.
What each branch of the family sees, how often, and who decides what is shared.
Reflections from real work on founders, governance and the limits of personal attention.
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Evidence-led reading on founders, decision rights and governance.
Family office consulting, as Zoom Riddle offers it, focuses on how a family office is organised and governed: who decides what, how the family, the office team and outside advisers work together, and how continuity is protected. It does not cover investment, tax or legal advice.
No. Wealth management concerns the assets. Family office consulting of this kind concerns the organisation around them: governance, roles, decision rights and continuity. The two sit side by side, and Zoom Riddle works only on the organisational side.
Typically when the office adds people, entities or family branches, when a generation changes, or when decisions keep stalling over who is entitled to make them. Reviewing early is easier than after a disagreement.
No. Zoom Riddle is an independent advisory consultancy focused on organisational governance and structure. Investment, tax, legal and regulatory questions belong with the family’s own licensed advisers.
A single-family office serves one family; a multi-family office serves several. The organisational questions differ: in the first the challenge is usually family decision rights, in the second it is also how the office treats the interests of several families fairly and consistently.
An independent adviser is not aligned with one branch of the family, one executive or one provider, and can ask the questions family members find hard to ask each other.
Yes. Switzerland concentrates many family offices, private banks and asset managers, and Zoom Riddle’s perspectives on that market are on the Zurich page. Advice is offered online, worldwide.
Yes. Zoom Riddle is an independent advisory consultancy. Services can be delivered remotely, and we accept requests from organisations wherever they are located. The methodology applies to any organisation, anywhere.
Related advisory: All advisory services · Family business advisor · Corporate governance consultant · Organisational design consultant. Perspectives: Governance in growing organisations · Organisational alignment · Family offices in Switzerland.
If this describes your family office, register your interest. Zoom Riddle welcomes expressions of interest from organisations seeking advisory support in strategy execution, business governance and organisational performance. Organisations interested in future engagements are invited to register their interest. Enquiries will be retained for consideration when consultations begin, with follow-up subject to the contact preferences provided.
