Jeff Bezos’ father recently made waves by appointing a chief executive to run his wealth. But the real story is broader: the ultra-rich are increasingly recruiting top Wall Street talent to run their private fortunes.
In September, Mike Bezos brought in Valeria Alberola — who previously worked for Walmart heir Ben Walton — to lead his Miami-based family office, Aurora Borealis Nezos. The appointment signals a major build-out to help manage an estimated $40 billion across several generations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Inside the family office ecosystem, though, this hardly raised eyebrows.
Michael Kosnitzky, who co-leads Pillsbury’s Private Client & Family Office practice, told Business Insider that families have been quietly hiring investment professionals for years. He said advisers like him have long been pulled in to help identify candidates and design compensation packages that keep them.
The Bezos move fits a global trend. Family offices — once administrative centres run by tax specialists and lawyers — have become sophisticated, investment-driven organisations. Increasingly, they’re structured like compact hedge funds or private equity shops, making direct investments, co-investing with peers, and building their own venture and real estate platforms.
As a result, families are tapping former bankers, fund managers, and private-equity executives from firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to run these operations. Data from JPMorgan’s 2024 Global Family Office Report illustrates the shift: half of all family offices worldwide now have an external CEO or president, rising to nearly two-thirds among those overseeing more than $1 billion.
Why the hiring pattern is changing
Kosnitzky points to three forces driving this professionalisation:
- Fresh liquidity. A surge in IPOs and business exits has created large pools of capital that need institutional-level management.
- A new generation of founders. Younger billionaires, often self-made, prefer direct investment strategies over traditional private banks.
- Club deals. Families increasingly join forces to invest in startups and private deals, reducing fees and avoiding conflicts of interest.
With more capital in motion and more families acting like investors rather than passive allocators, governance has tightened too. JPMorgan reports that 73% of family offices now operate with formal oversight structures such as boards or investment committees.
Why Wall Street CEOs fit the role
Running a family office is not a typical executive job. It requires financial expertise, but also diplomacy, discretion, and the ability to navigate entrenched interpersonal dynamics.
CEOs often oversee everything from investment strategy to philanthropy, art collections, and legacy planning. They must work with long-serving staff who hold institutional memory, manage sensitive family dynamics, and balance emotional considerations with financial decisions.
Kosnitzky notes that the most effective leaders blend strong investment judgment with emotional intelligence. They recognise that wealth management in this context is about more than returns — it is about stewardship, continuity, and values.
The value exchange
Billionaires want the rigour of institutional investing without the bureaucracy. They are building small, highly capable teams — 82% of family offices operate with one to three senior leaders — and compensating them like fund managers, often with a share in the upside.
For many on Wall Street, the appeal is obvious: no quarterly earnings pressure, a longer horizon, and the chance to shape a legacy rather than just a portfolio.
For families, bringing in seasoned professionals represents a way to scale sophistication, retain control, and build an enterprise that can endure across generations.
In today’s landscape, leading a family office may be one of the most complex, high-trust roles in finance — and increasingly, one of the most coveted.
