Page 38 - Investment Advisor April 2021

Industry Spotlight

What attraction did the firm hold for you? Two products you launched this year address ESG. Is that the
Whenever we look to partner or acquire, the first thing we look main focus of your asset management business?
for is a cultural fit. Whitnell had that unique combination of In great part, but not exclusively. A big part of the reason
deep roots in the local market and experienced advisors. that we have a robust focus on the ESG space is because the
We saw tremendous similarities in our respective stories: Rockefeller family were pioneers in that area and have been
Our firm was [originally] created to serve the needs of the focused on it for decades.
Rockefeller family; Whitnell originated as a single-family It’s an area that’s experiencing significant growth among
office for the Kelly family. The most important part is that clients, particularly in Europe but increasingly in the U.S., too,
we’re very much aligned in our view of the strategic opportu- [especially] with millennials and Generation Z, who care about
nities for family offices. This made it a good fit. climate change and a lot of other issues that are part of the
ESG landscape.
Any other reason why ‘We look for seasoned advisors that have
Whitnell [based in the Regarding your “…
Chicago suburb], was a history of success in growing their ESG Improvers Index,”
right for you? practice, a strong track record of client what’s the difference
[The Midwest] was a between an ESG leader
part of the country that retention [and] a clean compliance and and an ESG improver?
we weren’t in yet. So An improver is a firm
it was natural for us to regulatory background …’ that’s showing the great-
enter. But that wasn’t est improvement in their
what led this. It was that Whitnell comes from similar roots ESG footprint. A leader is already performing well among ESG
and has a similar approach to family office services and benchmarks. We think that investors will increasingly differ-
wealth management. entiate between leaders and improvers.
The market today overemphasizes ESG leaders, while
Where else in the country do you want to expand your footprint? undervaluing improvers. But improvers offer a great-
Our proxy for [location] is the combination of top-tier er potential for generating uncorrelated alpha — excess
financial advisors and high-net-worth and ultra-high- return — over the long term. So we’re focused on improvers
net-worth clients in a particular place who are looking in a lot of our investing.
for [top-level] advice. We follow those pockets of wealth
around the country. You represented former New York Yankees shortstop Derek
Jeter in his 2017 consortium acquisition of the Miami Marlins.
Do you see an inorganic growth strategy as a trend that will Do you personally own a piece of the team?
carry on? I’m part of the ownership of the Marlins. The group is led by
It’s been around for a while — advisors leaving wirehouses Bruce Sherman [chairman] and Derek Jeter, who is the CEO.
to set up their own RIAs [or join other RIAs]. I see no reason
why that won’t continue into the foreseeable future as advi- What was hardest about putting the deal together?
sors keep looking for better ways to serve their clients. This Ensuring that we represented a group of owners that
is particularly true for the most experienced elite advisors could function in a collegial, collaborative way in upgrad-
who are serving clients with complex needs — the advisors ing the franchise and in trying to create excellence.
we’re targeting. Ownership needed to be like-minded in terms of what
we’re going to do and how we’re going to turn the Miami
There are three big components to your firm: Global Family Marlins into a first-class organization — investing in the
Office, Rockefeller Asset Management and Strategic farm system, in younger players, building the team from
Advisory. That seems like a huge undertaking. the ground up and making sure we have a great culture.
It is. But we don’t think the model currently exists [in the So putting a group together that was aligned in that vision
industry], and we’re focused on building it in a way that was the biggest challenge.
we’re uniquely competitively advantaged. We want the
Rockefeller name to be honored by what we build. The Jane Wollman Rusoff is a contributing editor who specializes in
Rockefeller philanthropy helped create a lot of the brand interviews with thought leaders. An author and prolific journalist, Jane
resonance today. is founder of www.FamilyStarProductions.com.

36 INVESTMENT ADVISOR APRIL 2021 | ThinkAdvisor.com