(Bloomberg) — The head of a family office group owned by Fidelity Investments’ parent company has departed as competition intensifies among money managers for access to the investment firms of the ultra-rich.
Jennifer Richardson, who started working as a consultant for the Forge Community almost a decade ago before becoming its head in 2022, is now a freelance coach for business executives and family offices, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Richardson didn’t respond to a request for comment. An automated reply from her email account said, “Fidelity has decided to go in a different strategic direction with the leadership of Community,” and directed all future inquiries to a senior Forge staffer.
The US fund giant plans in coming months to announce a new head of the group, whose membership includes more than 1,700 family offices, according to Fidelity spokesperson Anjelica DePhillis. The new executive will also oversee Finteract, a similar community serving financial advisory professionals, she said.
Forge caters to single-family offices, the typically discreet managers for the financial affairs of the super-rich that are increasingly playing influential roles in global business.
The nonprofit group, which focuses on the US, grew out of Fidelity inviting eight family office executives to meet together in 2011. Forge has since expanded into a network for exchanging ideas, accessing industry research and attending events, with members asked to sign a code of conduct to maintain confidentiality and not solicit investments from each other.
That initiative helped position Fidelity in the family office business over the past decade, but Wall Street giants such as Apollo Global Management Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have also courted the deep-pocketed investors, boosting competition. A UBS Group AG survey of 320 family offices this year found each represented about $2.6 billion of private wealth on average, with roughly half their portfolios tied up in North American investments.
Forge is also facing a growing number of rivals within the family office industry, including SFO Alliance, a London-based group set up in 2020 for discussing investment opportunities that has expanded to more than 1,000 members worldwide.
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Earlier in her career, Richardson worked in business development roles at corporate travel firm Carlson Wagonlit Travel and WebMD, according to her LinkedIn profile. She became became head of Fidelity’s so-called Center of Excellence overseeing its Forge and Finteract communities in late 2023.
Forge’s other executives in recent years include Brian Broadway, the former head of a US family office who joined in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.