Building flexibility into the family office with interim leadership

Family offices are often purpose built to stay close to the work, not to carry every capability they may eventually need. That model can work well—until something changes quickly.

A senior leader leaves. A liquidity event reshapes priorities. A generational transition changes the needs of the family. A technology issue turns out to be a broader problem with reporting, processes, or ownership. Suddenly, the question is not simply who can pick up the work. It is whether the family office should hire for it permanently at all.

Interim leadership can do more than address an immediate gap. Used well, it can give a family office access to capabilities it needs now while preserving flexibility around the long-term organization. That may mean providing continuity through a leadership transition, adding specialized expertise for a defined initiative, helping the family clarify a capability gap before making a permanent hire, or bringing new capabilities alongside an existing leader.

The last scenario can be particularly valuable in family offices, where trust and continuity often matter as much as organizational design. A long-tenured executive may continue to play an important role with the family even as the needs of the office evolve. Rather than replacing that leader, the family office can bring in interim support to add expertise, capacity, or a different perspective around them.

This allows the office to evolve its capabilities without necessarily changing its leadership structure.

Not every capability needs to sit in-house

A first-generation office serving one principal may have very different needs from a multigenerational office supporting several branches of a family. Those differences shape everything from governance and decision making to the roles, capabilities, and leadership structure the office requires.

That makes the mandate a better starting point than a traditional organization chart. What work needs to be done? What capabilities does it require? Which are needed immediately? Which should reside permanently in-house, and which can be accessed externally or for a defined period?

When a new requirement emerges, an interim leader can bring the necessary expertise without forcing a permanent hiring decision before the office knows whether it needs one. Support can be scaled to the situation, from part-time expertise or a defined project to full-time leadership through a transition.

The objective is not simply to avoid adding permanent headcount. It is to understand which capabilities are truly core to the family office and which are episodic, specialized, or better accessed externally. An interim period can provide useful evidence for making that distinction before committing to a permanent structure.

Transitions can clarify the permanent role

Talent needs can change quickly around a few predictable events:

• A CFO, COO, CHRO, or technology leadership transition
• A liquidity event or significant shift in portfolio strategy
• A generational or family structure change
• A decision to centralize or separate family offices
• A major systems, data, or reporting initiative

These moments can create pressure to make a permanent hire quickly. But they can also change what the office needs from the role itself. Responsibilities may have expanded, shifted elsewhere, or become better suited to an external provider.

An interim leader can keep the function moving while giving the family time to work through those questions. As the work gets done, the office can develop a clearer view of which responsibilities require senior ownership, where they should sit, and what capabilities the permanent leader will need.

In one private family office engagement, an interim CHRO provided continuity during a broader organizational transition, giving the family time to determine what the permanent role should look like and how it should fit into the organization.

Interim support can also be valuable when the permanent leader is already in place. A newly appointed executive may inherit a function that requires immediate attention. An experienced interim leader or specialist can take ownership of a defined piece of that work, allowing the new executive to focus on the responsibilities they will lead for the long term.

Technology problems may start with the operating model

Technology is a good example of why it can be valuable to diagnose the underlying need before committing to a permanent solution.

Deloitte’s 2024 global study of 354 single-family offices found that 34% considered themselves underinvested in operational technology and another 38% only moderately invested. Forty-three percent were developing or implementing a technology strategy. But deciding where to invest requires understanding what is actually causing the problem.

A reporting or data problem may appear to require a new system when the underlying issue is unclear ownership, disconnected processes, or an operating model that has not kept pace with the family office. Implementing a new platform without addressing those issues may simply carry them forward.

Operating experience helps uncover the real issue

Process is central to getting the balance of people and technology right, and that balance needs to be revisited as the office evolves. Without that discipline, organizations can end up adding people to manage workarounds or investing in technology without addressing the underlying problem.

That is where an interim leader’s operating experience can add value. Someone who has run these functions can follow the work across teams and service providers, understand where handoffs break down, and bring practical judgment about how the process should work. By helping the team improve those processes while keeping operations moving, the interim leader can address the immediate issue and give the family a clearer basis for deciding what capabilities it needs permanently.

Interim leaders can also challenge assumptions about how work is currently done and clarify where processes, responsibilities, or ownership need to change before the office commits to a technology solution.

One private investment organization brought in outside expertise while preparing for a new COO. The work spanned data, reporting, and requirements across investments, finance, operations, risk, legal, and technology.

A senior leader at the organization said the value came from having an experienced, independent perspective that could challenge assumptions while also understanding how the work got done. Working across senior leaders, the interim executive helped redesign underlying processes and clarify responsibilities.

The value of the work was not simply that it addressed an immediate need. It gave the organization greater clarity about the operating model the incoming permanent COO would inherit: what the internal team should own, what could remain with outside providers, what the COO should lead, and where technology investment would genuinely add value.

Interim support can complement permanent leadership

Interim leadership is not the answer to every capability gap. Where the mandate is already clear, the need is enduring, and the organization has a transition plan in place while it searches for a new leader, moving directly to a permanent hire may make more sense.  

The value of an interim approach is greatest when there is important work to be done but still something meaningful to learn before making a permanent decision. In those situations, the work itself can help the family office test assumptions about roles, responsibilities, capabilities, and the broader operating model.  

Interim support can also complement leaders who are already established in their roles. A new executive may benefit from additional capacity or specialized expertise as they step into the role. A trusted, long-term leader may face a different need: the office has evolved, but replacing that leader is neither necessary nor desirable. In that case, additional expertise can be brought in around them for a defined initiative or to add capabilities the existing team does not have.

Build permanently around enduring needs

Family offices often know where the pressure is before they know exactly what role they need.

Interim leadership can create space to answer that question while addressing the immediate need. As the work gets done, the family can see more clearly which responsibilities require ongoing leadership, where accountability should sit, what can remain with external providers, and what capabilities belong in the permanent organization. That can turn a period of transition into something more useful: an opportunity to make the next permanent decision with better information.

For a lean family office, the goal is to build permanently around what is enduring and stay flexible around what is not.

About the authors

Laura Klein (lklein@heidrick.com) is a partner in the Financial Services Practice focused on interim solutions. She is based in the Boston office.

Renee Neri (rneri@heidrick.com) is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ New York office, leading the firm’s global Family Capital Practice and is a senior member of the Asset Management Sector.