2025 Global Alts New York: Family Office Investment Strategies – Why US Is Still King

At the 2025 Global Alts New York Conference, Jenny Heller of Brandywine Group Advisors, Bei Saville of Advance Treasury/Fingerboard Family Office, Matt Hershey of Marron Capital, and Sid Malhotra of Kactus Capital spoke on the Family Office Investment Strategies panel. They shared how their offices are navigating the challenges of today’s private markets, identifying compelling new areas for capital deployment, balancing US and global exposures, and evolving GP/LP relationships to drive long-term value.

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Jenny Heller, CFA - President & CIO - Brandywine Group Advisors:

• Jenny has been the CIO at Brandywine for about 13 years.
• Brandywine is a client-owned multi-family office with approximately 16 billion in assets, founded in the early 90s.
• It is unique because two of their largest families founded the office and are still the majority owners. They are also a trust company, holding over 90% of their assets in trust, acting as actual trustees.
• This structure results in an extremely sticky capital base and a long-term horizon. They rarely take on new families and have had about the same 15 families for many years.
• They pool their assets, managing them "a little bit like a taxable endowment" into "a couple of very simple vehicles," which simplifies the investment process for Jenny.

Bei Saville, CFA, CAIA - CIO - Advance Treasury; Fingerboard Family Office

• Bei is the CIO for Advance, which is a New York-based single-family enterprise and family office.
• The family has been a media family in New York for hundreds of years, and they still hold operating assets within a holding company structure.
• On the financial investment side, their portfolio is much more globally diversified and managed more like an endowment model, primarily investing via funds.
• They also work very closely with trusted partners to engage in longer-term, meaningful opportunities for investment.

Matt Hershey, CFA - CIO - Marron Capital:

• Matt is the CIO of Marron Capital, the family office for Donald B. Marron and his family.
• Donald Marron has a legacy in financial services and private equity, having been the chairman and CEO of Paine Webber and the founder of Lightyear Capital.
• Marron Capital generally follows a "more or less typical endowment style approach," but also engages in some direct investments.
• Being a US-based family, they are "a little more probably tax aware".

Sid Malhotra, CFA, CPA - CIO & Co-Founder - Kactus Capital:

• Sid is the CIO and co-founder of Kactus Capital, where he has been for about 10 and a half years.
• It is a single-family office for a private equity executive.
• Kactus Capital invests across both public and private markets. Sid notes that, "contrarian to what most people would think," they "actually invest extensively in private markets," despite the principal's background in private equity.
• Having been in the family office space since 2008, Sid has "seen a good amount of evolution in the space".

Navigating the Lack of Distributions in Private Markets

The discussion began with the challenge of a lack of distributions in private markets, noting that averages over the last couple of years are "50% below longer term averages".

Jenny Heller:

• Brandywine has coached their families to commit approximately the same amount to private equity every year to avoid large swings, which allows them to remain relatively steady.
• They also conducted a secondary sale of some "tail assets" about five years ago to maintain a more balanced distribution profile, though the current environment remains challenging.
• Jenny views the current environment as an opportunity to "lean into managers that may have been access constrained" due to others slowing their commitments. This is particularly true for managers with longer distribution profiles, like those in venture capital.
• She emphasizes careful underwriting, focusing on the quality of returns and understanding if marks are based on "multiple expansion or if people are actually underwriting to real organic revenue in EVA growth" rather than just DPI (Distributed to Paid-In Capital).
• Brandywine has also explored picking up existing portfolio managers at discounts in the secondary market, with limited success.
• They have, however, invested at the margin in "zombie funds" (funds at the tail end of their life with single asset opportunities) where GP carry can be restructured for attractive returns, taking advantage of GPs eager to divest tail-end assets.
• Jenny expresses skepticism about the secondary opportunity set as a whole, but finds "bits and pieces around the margin that are really interesting".