Who is Brian DeLucia?

Brian DeLucia is a respected family office influencer who specializes in real estate, critical infrastructure, and old economy recurring revenue businesses. His unique ecosystem of resources and experiences combines other family offices, institutional capital, and real-world scenarios to build strategic relationships within the confidentiality framework. Brian aligns shared goals with missions and values. He communicates regularly with attorneys, accountants, advisors, family offices, and asset owners to gather and share intelligence. Additionally, Brian embodies a disciplined philosophy of family governance that aligns with its mission and values to uphold risk management, health, safety, and security of its members. Brian ensures that his family legacy in the real estate industry lives on through his participation in events and conversations. His love for competitive sports demonstrates his desire to thrive in a competitive industry.

What is the connection between Brian DeLucia (“Brian”) and Anne Klein?

The co-authors of “SWITCHING BILLION-DOLLAR CONVERSATION LINES, FAMILY OFFICES & GENERATIONAL SUCCESS.” They were introduced before the 2020 lockdowns. Despite facing various professional, personal, and business barriers, they are keenly interested in family offices, founder-led companies, intergenerational planning, and creating opportunities for others. They recognized that differences and challenges often lead to innovation and unity through shared values, leading to a greater purpose, similar to the history of successful families. They wrote the book to share their knowledge and wisdom with the international family office community and the generational wealth profession in areas that are often a mystery to others through their single and shared experiences and practical insights. Anne Klein’s company name is derived from Brian’s surname, which was switched around and combined with her surname.

Summary

LuciaDeKlein Private Office recently organized an event for boutique advisors, during which we gained insights from Brian regarding family offices. Brian shared his unconventional entry into the world of family offices, drawing on his experience in sports to highlight the importance of team selection in the finance industry. He also discussed different definitions and forms of family offices and the impact of COVID-19 on family office dynamics.

FULL INTERVIEW

Background to the session

We organized an event for boutique advisors to ensure everyone gained insights into important topics. This puts advisors in more crucial roles. It’s not easy to access specific topics, such as family offices. We had the opportunity to interview Brian DeLucia, and here is a summary of our discussion:

The introduction and additional exposure to South Africa

We were introduced to Brian through a mutual connection. During one of his trips, he visited South Africa as part of a U.S. Government delegation. He delivered a keynote speech on leadership and economic development through private capital, indicating a high level of interest in the topic. Brian explained that he entered the world of family offices in an unconventional and non-traditional manner. Despite not having a high-profile banking or academic background, he entered the industry from a sports background, starting his career at Fox Sports during the 1990s to 2000s, covering the National Football League.

How sport influenced Brian’s leadership philosophy

Brian drew on his experience in sports to explain that the process of aligned interests through team selection in the finance industry is similar. Intelligent insights are needed to choose the right teams that align with interests. Growing up in a sports environment highlighted the importance of selecting players who complement each other’s skills, bringing domain expertise and uniqueness to strengthen the team.

Introduction to the world of business

Brian’s curiosity extended to businesses in various industries, including construction. He started at the bottom, learning all aspects of the company, including sweeping the floors to maintain clean job sites. However, he soon realized that he needed to learn different things. Some liquidity events within his ecosystem occurred 15 years ago, shifting his focus to put more structure in place.

Flowing into the family office landscape is as subjective as the definition.

According to Brian, the definition of a traditional family office is subjective. There are many ways to define a family office and various forms of family governance. Some treat it as a standalone office, while others work within virtual family offices or run it as an embedded office, reflecting the spirit of a family office. Virtual family offices have no physical location, but they offer services remotely.

The role of the family office and the family

The family office identifies the values and directives of what a specific family is seeking to accomplish, manages the family’s economic interests and non-financial affairs, sets up the framework for wealth transfer, and prepares the next generation for success in the same industry or elsewhere, utilizing family resources and values.

The evolution of family offices

Brian mentioned that family offices have been around for a long time, albeit more commercialized over the past 10 to 15 years. However, some shifts have happened post-Covid. Families that might have come out of the woodwork several years ago have receded a little over the past few years, opting for smaller groups to have aligned discussions in a more intimate setting.  In the larger gatherings, we have seen a shift to exposing the next generation within families, allowing their children opportunities to network, finding common interests, and empowering this next generation to share ideas.

A world of disruption

Since COVID-19, various families have changed the dynamics around their internal teams, some becoming more professionalized while others reducing headcount. Aftershocks through broken supply chains and geopolitical unrest have family offices revisiting their portfolios to minimize execution risks.  Concurrently, family offices have been faced with increased challenges and vulnerability in protecting their digital footprints and data, which has prioritized strengthening policies and procedures through many daily functions that include multiple layers of security. 

The end

July 2024

Recorded by Anne Klein