Family-Capital Liquidity Governance Board Adviser

The mandate

Three generations draw on a common capital pool whose liquidity is described differently in investment reports, trust schedules and family distribution plans. Unfunded private-credit and real-asset commitments have grown, a founder-related operating company relies on a support guarantee, and much of the readily saleable wealth sits in one listed holding with tax and signalling consequences. Upcoming property, philanthropy and succession payments now fall inside the same eighteen-month window, yet the council has never agreed which needs outrank optional reinvestment.

The adviser will help the council frame a family liquidity constitution rather than a portfolio sales list. The work must distinguish legal obligations, approved distributions, customary support, contingent guarantees and discretionary opportunities; expose where the same asset is implicitly reserved twice; and test the time needed to realise public, private and directly held assets without assuming quoted value equals spendable cash. Tax, control rights and confidentiality should appear as constraints, not disappear inside a haircut.

The cadence is one monthly council session in Geneva, a fortnightly preparation call with the chair and treasury lead, and two focused manager-review days. The adviser will review a rolling eighteen-month obligation map, interrogate capital-call and distribution assumptions, and present one severe but plausible family-event scenario each month. Sensitive branch-specific data will be received only through the agreed trustee channel and will not be circulated into the investment office’s ordinary reporting pack.

The adviser has no line authority and carries no executive responsibility for investments, treasury, trusts, distributions or operating companies. The role cannot trade securities, call capital, move funds, amend guarantees, determine tax positions, promise family payments or mediate inheritance disputes. The council retains priority decisions; trustees retain fiduciary acts; management produces records and executes authorised steps. Advice must show where a recommendation depends on counsel, valuation or family consent.

The appointment lasts nine months. Any extension requires a unanimous minuted council resolution describing unfinished governance work and a fresh conflict review. The adviser must disclose relationships with family members, portfolio companies, banks, external asset managers, trustees, wealth advisers and potential transaction counterparties. Recusal applies where independence could reasonably be questioned, and neither product placement nor transaction-dependent compensation is permitted.

Why the board wants this voice

Family directors naturally protect different time horizons, beneficiaries and operating-company relationships, while investment staff are rewarded for deploying rather than reserving capital. That makes an apparently technical liquidity discussion inseparable from governance. A seasoned independent adviser can turn implicit preferences into explicit priorities and stress consequences without seeking asset-management, financing or transaction work.

What you will own

• Challenge the eighteen-month map of capital calls, distributions, guarantees, philanthropy, property needs, taxes and operating-company support.
• Separate legally binding, council-approved, customary, contingent and discretionary cash uses so priority disputes become visible.
• Test asset realisability for concentration, market depth, tax, control, lock-ups, notice periods, valuation uncertainty and family signalling.
• Facilitate agreement on reserve layers, commitment pacing, guarantee capacity, distribution gates and escalation thresholds for exceptional needs.
• Present severe family-event and market scenarios showing who decides, which information is required and what becomes unavailable.
• Maintain a confidential advice ledger covering assumptions, branch-sensitive inputs, unresolved disagreements, recusals and council determinations.
• Deliver the liquidity constitution, governance calendar, indicator set and handoff brief for trustees, treasury and investment leadership.

Candidate qualifications

• Has advised a substantial family office, trust-owned investment group or private-capital board across multiple generations and legal vehicles.
• Understands private-fund commitments, direct assets, guarantees, concentrated holdings, trust distributions, liquidity facilities and tax-sensitive sales.
• Can distinguish market liquidity from legally, operationally and relationally spendable cash in a family governance setting.
• Has facilitated contentious capital-priority decisions without drifting into family therapy, legal advice or delegated investment management.
• Demonstrates rigorous confidentiality practices for branch-specific beneficiary, trust, operating-company and succession information.
• Can evidence independent judgement free from product placement, financing origination, manager selection and transaction-contingent economics.

Non-negotiables

• Can attend monthly Geneva council sessions and both manager-review days while maintaining secure fortnightly preparation.
• Will disclose all family, trustee, manager, bank, portfolio-company and counterparty relationships before reviewing sensitive materials.
• Brings multigenerational private-capital governance experience; conventional private-banking relationship management is insufficient.
• Will not solicit assets, arrange financing, broker transactions or use confidential family circumstances to pursue adjacent mandates.

1. 49 words maximum. How would you distinguish an expected family payment from a binding obligation in the liquidity constitution?
2. 49 words maximum. Which feature makes a listed family holding less spendable than its quoted market value suggests?
3. 49 words maximum. Describe a conflict that would require recusal even when no transaction fee is payable.