Brief bios of the nominees are below. Additional information on the nominees can be found in the online ballot.

Please sign in using the username and password shown below. Select up to three of the candidates, completing the ballot before midnight Eastern Time on Monday, September 25, 2023.

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If you have any questions, please contact the FFI office at ffi@ffi.org.

Sincerely,
Patricia Angus, co-chair, 2023 Nominating Committee
Richa Arora, co-chair, 2023 Nominating Committee
Nicholas Jacob
Linda Murphy
Asher Noor
Debbie Bing, ex officio

Jeremy Cheng, FFI Fellow, is Founder of GEN+ Family Business Advisory & Research and is also a doctoral researcher at the Center of Family Business at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Jeremy is Founding Chair of the FFI Asian Circle Virtual Study Group; GEN faculty member; one of the 2020 grant recipients of the 2086 Society; and recipient of the 2021 Barbara Hollander Award. He served global survey and case committees of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project Global Consortium. Jeremy advises a few ethnic Chinese families-in-business, family offices, and professional firms in Asia. His research and practice focus on family governance, family entrepreneurship, and family office.

Helena von der Esch, FFI Fellow and GEN Faculty member, is a senior family advisor at Formue. Prior to her career in advising, she spent 15 years in the publishing industry as a marketing and sales manager, demonstrating profound marketing and brand skills with several management leadership positions within family-owned publishing houses. Mrs. von der Esch entered the family enterprise advisory field through FBN Sweden. She joined the global consultant firm Grant Thornton as advisor to family businesses and was a member of the international group of experts that launched a global program for Grant Thornton family business clients. She is a highly appreciated moderator and speaker, frequently invited to speak about owners, family wealth, and family business, as well as a columnist for the Scandinavian CEO Magazine. She served as Chair on the Board of Directors to Pratham Sweden.

She holds a BA in Philosophy from Stockholm University, and she studied organizational behavior at Pepperdine University, CA, and managing professional services at Stockholm School of Economics Executive School. She trained as a mediator at Strauss Law School, Pepperdine University.

Bilal Zein, ACFBA/ACFWA, is the head of a London Single Family Office he set up in 2001. The SFO covers a wide range of services, namely wealth management, investment strategies and financial planning, governance, tax and trusts, strategic advice, philanthropy, lifestyle, private collections, household management, and concierge services.

He is a C-Level executive across several sectors (engineering, trading, waste management, real estate, and hospitality) throughout the EMEA region, as well as a board member of direct investments. Bilal has a particular interest in family businesses, family dynamics, and governance, along with succession issues. He takes an integrated approach to family wealth management and transfer with risk mitigation. He is an advisory board member of a multi-family club, a Family Office advisory, and a fintech start up.

Bilal holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, an MBA from ESCP, and the IOD’s Diploma. He earned his TEP designation from STEP’s Postgraduate Diploma in Private Wealth Advising and holds FFI Advanced Certificates in both Family Business and Family Wealth Advising.