Meet the 2024 Nominees for the FFI Board of Directors

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Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

July 26, 2024

T

he FFI Board of Directors provides strategic vision and oversight for the development of the organization. Over the past few months, the 2024 Nominating Committee has solicited suggestions for nominees and interviews with potential candidates have been held. The Committee is pleased to announce the following nominees for four-year terms on the FFI Board of Directors. Voting will be conducted by electronic ballot, which will be sent to FFI members on August 30. New board members will take office following the annual meeting, which will be held virtually on November 4 at 9:30 AM Eastern Time.

Meet the 2024 Nominees

Foo Mee Har

Foo Mee Har has been the CEO of the Wealth Management Institute (WMI) since 2015. Under her leadership, WMI has become a leading institution with over 20,000 enrollments, serving professionals, business families, and regulators across Asia. WMI heads the Global-Asia Family Office (GFO) Circle, enhancing capabilities and community in the family office sector. Additionally, WMI leads the Asia Centre for Changemakers, fostering a pipeline of active changemakers and positioning philanthropy as a strategic asset class to address Asia’s pressing issues.

Ms. Foo is also a Singapore Member of Parliament. She chairs the Public Accounts Committee and serves on the Government Parliamentary Committees for Finance, Trade and Industry, and Education.

Her career began in management consulting, followed by two decades in a leading international bank, holding senior positions across Asia. She holds a BSc in Occupational Psychology (1st Hons) from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Statement of Purpose

Since joining the FFI network in 2018, I have been consistently impressed by the expertise of its members, the relevance of its research, and the coverage of its programs. If given the opportunity to serve on the FFI Board, I look forward to connecting the FFI community with the family office ecosystem in Singapore and Asia. With the growth of family wealth in the East, there is a significant opportunity to leverage the research and expertise of FFI members to strengthen FFI’s impact in Asia, fostering a vibrant and engaged community.

Together with the FFI Board, I hope to contribute to the continued growth of the FFI community by leveraging my experience in leading Asia’s top institute for practicing professionals and my senior leadership roles in the private sector.

Nicholas Jacob

Nicholas Jacob is a partner in the Forsters Private Wealth team, having qualified as an English solicitor in 1982. He advises on sophisticated private wealth planning, succession planning, the protection of the family business, the avoidance of family disputes, estate and trust planning, taxation coordination, and all aspects of international family governance.

He is a trusted advisor to a number of globally significant families and is well recognized for his understanding of family governance psychology. He heads a team dealing with family governance and has a particular focus on acting for families in Asia. Chambers & Partners HNW guide has called him “the godfather of Asian Family Governance work.” He lectures throughout the world on family governance issues.

Nick is a founder member of STEP and has been its longest serving director. He has also served on its Family Business Special Interest Group.

Statement of Purpose

Having served my term of office on the STEP Board, and followed the success of FFI for many years, I wanted to become more involved in an organization much more focused on family enterprises, and to meet more like-minded inspirational people working in that field. What I particularly value about FFI is the broad church of advisors with different but complementary skills.

It would be an honor to serve on the FFI Board, if elected, to support the organization’s continued development and collaboration, to support potential growth in Asia, to seek to bring together skilled practitioners operating in the field. I want to continue to encourage the excellent research carried out by FFI members in order to ensure that the massive transition of business wealth taking place over the next few years is well supported with relevant skills and expertise, and to contribute my own experience. Members of FFI must be key to that transition.

Rania Labaki

Rania Labaki, PhD, FFI Fellow, is professor of finance and family business at EDHEC Business School and director of the Family Business Chair. She is a Family Business Fellow at Cornell University and an editor of Entrepreneurship Research Journal. A trusted advisor of family businesses throughout the world, Rania has bridged the latest research with best practice in support of succession, responsible ownership, and governance. She has shared her insights to audiences in over 50 countries including the European Parliament and in top academic and media outlets.

Rania holds a PhD in Management Sciences from the University of Bordeaux, FFI Advanced Certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising, and the Certificate of Women Leadership Development from the University of Oxford. Awards recognizing her contributions to the field include the FFI Barbara Hollander Award (2020), the FFI Best Family Business Review Article Award (2014), and Best Unpublished Research Paper (2012), as well as the FBU induction into the Family Business Hall of Fame (2023) and the Schulze Publication Award by EiX (2022–2023).

Statement of Purpose

By thriving to ensure the development of the family enterprise field, FFI has built a passionate community that I had the opportunity to actively join in 2009. I hope to further advance FFI’s vision and community by serving on its Board. My purpose is deeply rooted in the values of service, engagement, and collaboration, and my belief in the power of community.

Building on my expertise as a family business scholar, Chair director and practitioner, I am dedicated to contribute to an influential FFI community on different levels, including:

An engaged and vibrant community that embraces and stimulates the rising generation, supported by innovative initiatives of inclusive and collaborative environments.

An educated community that makes a meaningful impact on family enterprise sustainability, fostered by diligent work promoting FFI’s presence on the global stage and accelerating cross-cultural exchanges and partnerships.

An expert community that inspires the global discourse on family enterprise, by building bridges that transcend disciplinary and institutional boundaries and encourage meaningful connections between various stakeholder groups.

I wish therefore to enhance our collective knowledge and drive forward the global agenda of family enterprise research and practice.

2024 Nominating Committee

Thank you to the FFI members who participated in this process and especially to the 2024 Nominating Committee for its selection of these candidates:

Patricia Angus, co-chair
Angus Advisory

Jeff Cobb, co-chair
Tagoras

Farida El Agamy
Tharawat

Linda Murphy
University College Cork

Dennis Oteng
Ravens Consulting GH

Debbie Bing, ex officio
CFAR

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Previous Edition

In this issue of FFI on Friday, we are pleased to announce the pre-conference sessions and the main conference closing keynote at the 2024 October conference in London. Three pre-conference events will be held on Wednesday afternoon, before the Opening Reception on Wednesday night. We then kick off the main conference on Thursday morning with keynote Dava Sobel. Two days of educational sessions and networking follow before the conference ends on Friday afternoon with a closing keynote by Sir Andrew Likierman.