Personalized consulting with an experienced team to help you find, evaluate, and select the optimal advisor for your wealth
Wealth management options come in many forms in today’s world. Families such as Bezos or Zuckerberg hire a dedicated team to manage their personal interests, known as a Family Office.
For families that fall somewhere on the spectrum below this level of wealth, the goal remains the same as those working with a Family Office: Find an advisor that has a practice dedicated to families with a very similar situation as yours, commonly known as a Multi-Family Office (MFO). This model allows the advisors to cover multiple families with the same level of sophistication, expertise, and care, but at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated Family Office.
Sonder Partners was created to help you find that advisor. Our service is free for our clients, and we are only compensated by the MFOs in our network when there is a successful outcome. We realize that everyone is unique in their own way and are confident that finding the right MFO that is specific to your criteria will have a significant impact on your life, freeing up your time and creating wealth so that you can live your life with peace of mind.
The Most Valuable Advice is Customized
Sonder Partners works with individuals and families at various levels of wealth who are interested in leveling up their traditional services and capabilities to a more personalized experience with an independent wealth management firm, multi-family office or outsourced chief investment office
Families with net worth of $10-50M. Very complex profile including issues related to executive compensation, restricted stock, and estate planning. Significant coordination around tax obligations/management, alternative investments, and other owned assets including multiple homes. Families begin considering add on capabilities like bill pay and property management services.
Families and individuals with a net worth of $50M – $500M which is typically tied to large concentrations of public or private stock through business ownership, executive leadership, or from a successful career as a professional investor. These families and individuals benefit from highly sophisticated and customized tax strategy and planning needs requiring specific technical expertise and a more holistic effort across asset structuring, tax planning and investment advisory functions. Some families at this level of wealth start considering additional non-investment services around real estate management, household staff management, aircraft management, bookkeeping, administrative coordination, and security issues. For families and individuals wanting to explore a more holistic approach across all financial aspects of their lives, Sonder Partners can help them explore the unique landscape of both commercial and organic MFOs.
The wealthiest families in the world who have established their own single family office, hiring staff with specific expertise in areas that the family needs. There is a wide spectrum of how SFOs execute on bSonderof their families with some choosing to insource certain functions, outsource other functions, or find a custom hybrid solution in between. For families contemplating outsourced solutions, Sonder Partners can help them discretely explore the top outsourced solutions in the market across both MFO and OCIO firms in a way that is thoughtful, efficient, organized and objective.
• Cash Management
• Asset Allocation Strategy
• Manager Due Diligence
• Private Equity
• Growth Equity
• Venture Capital
• Hedge Funds
• Private Credit
• Direct Investments
• Co-Investments
• Custom Indexing Solutions
• Tax Loss Harvesting
• Inflation Protection
• Hedging Strategies
• Structured Notes
• Correlation Analysis
• Risk Scenarios / Testing
• ESG / Impact Investing
• Legacy Investments
• Leisure Assets
• Capital Markets
• Consolidated Reporting
• Estate Strategy & Execution
• Trust Structuring
• Asset Titling
• Corporate Trust Services
• Tax Strategy (forward and back)
• Vertical Slice Planning
• QSBS Stacking
• ISO, NQSO, RSU Management
• Options Exercising Strategy
• Variable Prepaid Forwards
• Private Stock Strategies
• Public Stock Strategies
• 83(b) Elections
• 10b5-1 Planning
• Secondary Sales
• Family Limited Partnerships
• Profit Interests
• Budget & Cash Flow Analysis
• What-If Analysis
• 1031 Exchanges
• Gap Analysis
• Coordinate 3rd party firms
• Real Estate Acquisitions
• Business Formation Strategy
• Lending & Other Credit Solutions
• Pre-transaction Planning
• Insurance Analysis
• Insurance Financing Solutions
• PPLI
• Bill Pay
• Property Management
• Staff Management & Payroll
• Private Aviation
• Record Management
• Mail Consolidation & Scanning
• Bookkeeping
• K-1 Management
• Cap Calls & Distributions
• Family Governance
• Next Gen Education
• Succession Planning
• School & Tuition
• Charitable Foundation
• Philanthropy
• Community Engagement
• Board Development
• Mail Scanning & Tagging
• Travel Logistics & Coordination
• Networking Opportunities
Co-Founder / Managing Partner
Jason has over 15 years of experience working with both Single and Multi Family Offices (MFOs). Prior to starting Sonder Partners, Jason co-founded Dynasty Financial Partners where he incubated over 40 leading MFOs and later led the consulting efforts providing ongoing support to their principals and clients throughout the US. This included advising MFO founders and their teams on how to build their own practice, structure investment committees, design compensation plans, equity ownership, technology selection, operations, compliance, cybersecurity, and many other areas. Jason helped grow the Dynasty network of advisors to over $50 billion in client assets while there. Jason is also a member of the strategic advisory board of Simple, a Global Family Office Network based in Copenhagen, which has allowed him to work with some of the leading single family offices around the globe. Prior to his experience in the Family Office world, Jason had a unique opportunity to work in Major League Baseball where he was Director of Baseball Operations for the Arizona Fall League and Director of Florida Baseball Operations for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jason is a graduate of Bates College with a BA in Economics and currently resides in Kennebunkport, Maine with his wife and two daughters.
Co-Founder / Managing Partner
Before starting Sonder Partners, Chad was a partner and CFO/COO at Nosara Capital, a London and New York-based venture capital firm that invests in online marketplaces globally. He was closely involved in the founding of Nosara Capital in 2018 and helped grow the firm to ~$300M in AUM across multiple funds and SPVs. Having worked closely with a handful of founders from Nosara’s most mature portfolio companies, Chad identified a unique opportunity to better address how company founders and first gen wealth creators in general go about finding a Multi-Family Office advisor which led him to start Sonder Partners with Jason. Prior to Nosara, Chad was a member of the Consumer Retail and Financial Sponsors Investment Banking teams at Barclays where he advised on equity and debt financings, leveraged buyouts and M&A transactions. Prior to Barclays, Chad worked at W. P. Carey on the Domestic Investments Team, and Lehman Brothers in their Private Investment Management Group. Chad holds a BA in Economics from Trinity College and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Chad lives in Darien, CT, with his wife and four boys.
Assets Managed
Cumulative assets under management across all Multi Family Offices in our network.
Years of Experience
Our team’s combined years of experience in the financial services industry working and consulting for top-ranked advisors in areas related to ownership structure, performance reporting, compliance, financial planning, M&A, alternative investments, compensation, and many others.
Wealth Management Firms Vetted
# of independent multi-family offices and wealth advisory firms vetted.
Partner Firms
Select # of Multi-Family Offices, RIAs and OCIO’s on-boarded or in late-stage diligence. Our network of firms is focused on serving a select number of families and individuals with $10M-$2B in Net Worth.
National Reach
# of advisors inside our Multi Family Offices that we have selected to potentially serve our clients on a day to day basis.
Our Advisory Committee
Our Advisory Committee consists of experienced family office professionals who provide us with valuable insights and guidance within the multi-family office world
Brian is a principal at Mack International, a leading search firm that specializes in providing retained C-suite executive search to family offices and investment firms. Brian is also the founder of Excelsior Capital, a real-estate investment firm focused on sourcing real estate investments for individuals and family offices, and has assembled a portfolio of over $600m in real estate assets. Previously, Brian served on the Investment Committee for Solidus, an early-stage VC firm, as well as the board of NextGen Advisory Faculty for the Institute of Private Investors, a program designed to prepare next generation family members for the responsibility of managing family wealth. He has also served on the Advisory Committee for the Southeastern Family Office Forum. Brian is a member of the Southeast regional chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and has served as the Southeast Regional Champion for the Financial Services Network. Brian currently serves on the board of Priam Properties, a real estate private equity firm based in Nashville, TN, and on the board of Sirrom Partners, a single-family office investing across public and private asset classes. Brian is a former practicing attorney, earning his J.D. from Suffolk University and his B.A. from Wesleyan University with Honors.
Janet Joyce Arzt, CFA is Founder and Managing Partner of Parere Advisory, an independent consulting firm advising family offices on infrastructure, development and strategy. Prior to founding Parere Advisory, Janet served as Chief Executive Officer of a newly-launched family office in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she built out and oversaw investments and operations for the family and its businesses. Prior to joining the family office, Janet served as President of Mudrick Capital Management, a $3.5 billion distressed debt hedge fund based in New York City, where she oversaw all non-investment functions and was also responsible for leading strategic initiatives. Janet has also held various roles at other investment firms including multi-strategy hedge fund, York Capital Management, and investment advisor, Morgan Creek Capital Management. She began her Wall Street career in the investment banking program at Merrill Lynch after receiving a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Janet is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and a contributor to Forbes.com. In 2020, Janet was named one of the “Top 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by The Hedge Fund Journal in association with Ernst & Young. Janet also serves on non-profit boards including the Finance Committee of The Women’s Initiative, the Advisory Board of the McIntire School of Commerce and the Board of Directors of the National Charitable Endowment. She is also a guest lecturer at the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Billy is a Partner at Bienville Capital, a $4bn asset management firm based in New York, where he is focused on growing the firm’s current offerings and strategy while optimizing investment returns. Billy is also a co-founder of Clean Climate Fund Management, a private investment strategy focused on the carbon allowance market. Before joining Bienville, Billy was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Stronghold Investment Management, an $800m Dallas-based asset management firm deploying capital across oil & gas, wind, solar and other real asset verticals. Before starting Stronghold Investment Management, Billy was a Co-Founder and CEO of A2 Access, a financial technology firm serving the equity-focused investment community which was sold to a Carlyle Group portfolio company, Dealogic. Prior to this, Billy was a Partner at Hound Partners, a $3.5 billion long/short Tiger Cub hedge fund. Billy began his career at Greenhill as an investment banking analyst focused on Mergers & Acquisitions and Restructuring. Billy is a member of the North Texas Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), is on the Board of North American Helium, and serves on the Advisory Board of Platform Capital, a private investment fund focused on late-stage growth investments. Billy received a BA in History (Magna Cum Laude) from Duke University.
While most important decisions in life (buying a home, choosing a school, hiring a CFO) are made by comparing multiple options to build perspective, there is no good way to do this when choosing who is going to manage your wealth (and many other aspects of your family’s life) for the next 40+ years.
Our business was founded to help clients reduce the time and uncertainty in the complex search process for a family office advisor. Whether you are considering options outside of a traditional bank / broker-dealer or hiring an advisor for the first time, we offer our experience and process in order to help save you time, build perspective, and increase your level of confidence so you can make the best decision for you and your family.
Financial advisors spend a significant amount of time and money to meet with prospective clients and grow their business, which takes resources and attention away from their existing clients. Sonder Partners helps our network of advisors reduce the need for non-client activities, allowing them to focus further on servicing existing client relationships. The best multi-family offices welcome this type of service and the revenue shared with Sonder Partners is typically in-line or below their current client acquisition costs. Over time, better alignment with the right types of clients creates less strain on firm resources, better client service and higher retention.
Should you choose to work with an advisor recommended by Sonder Partners, that advisor compensates us a % of their advisory fee that you pay as a client. It is important to note that Sonder Partners is compensated the same % fee by all the advisors in our network to ensure our objectivity throughout your search process. Additionally, the fee you pay to an advisor will be the same fee whether or not you choose to work with Sonder Partners. This is fundamental to our business and is confirmed in the ADV Brochures at the onset of any relationship with a firm that is regulated as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). On top of the SEC ensuring that RIAs charge clear and consistent fees across their clients, we can also validate that the firm’s fees are consistent across clients by referencing the firm’s stated fee schedule. Lastly, we are compensated so long as you remain a client with the advisor which better aligns our interests with yours and ensures that we are doing everything possible to recommend an advisor that will be with you for the long term. In the event you decide to leave a firm that we recommended for whatever the reason, our fees would end.
There is no cost to you in working with Sonder Partners. There is no obligation to work with an advisor we recommend or to proceed beyond any steps within our process. We are here to provide answers to questions to help identify an advisor that will deliver the greatest amount of value for you and your family. Whether you are able to gain enough insight through our first conversation and subsequently decide to select an advisor on your own, or wish to carry out a 3 month process with one of our firms, you can lean on us as much or as little as you would like. If you walk away thinking that our insights were helpful in your search process, then we have succeeded.
Any information shared during our process is under NDA and will remain completely confidential. Once we have your permission and additional non-disclosures agreements are in place between you and our partner firms, will we set up a secure shared drive to share your information with the advisors we recommend.
All multi-family office firms go through a rigorous due diligence process before Sonder Partners will recommend them to any potential clients. We consider multiple objective data points, including: total clients, # of employees, # of advisors, advisor to client ratio, average AUM per client, client minimums, AUM growth, client growth, types of clients served, client references, centralized resources and accessibility, advisor team structure, team credentials, compensation and incentive model, MFO lineage, prior experience, fee competitiveness, services offered, reporting software, specialties, investment approach and philosophy, investment committee structure, asset allocation process, manager selection process, and access to other investment opportunities.
In addition, given our clients often choose to work virtually with their family office, we physically visit each office as part of our due diligence process. This allows us to spend time with the firm’s full staff to assess how they operate as a team and take a deeper dive into the following areas of their practice:
i. Investment Management
ii. Financial Planning & Tax Structuring
iii. Family Office Services
iv. Technology
v. Compliance Practices
vi. Internal Communication
vii. Customer Complaints or Regulatory History
As a final stage of diligence, the MFOs in our network are screened by our independent Advisory Committee comprised of experienced family office industry professionals before we decide to engage in a partnership with that firm.
