Orchestrating modern wealth

New Zealand's first independent forum on how private individuals and families intentionally organise, structure and manage significant wealth.

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How should significant wealth be structured and managed?

The Family Capital Design Forum brings together private individuals, families and the trusted advisers who support them, to explore the practical realities of managing significant wealth well.

As wealth grows, so does complexity. Questions quickly emerge around structures, governance, decision-making, technology, philanthropy and succession, and how all of these pieces fit together.

Rather than focusing on investment performance, the day centres on the decisions, systems and relationships that support wealth over the long term: the frameworks that help families make better decisions, coordinate their advisers and build structures that are fit for purpose.

The questions we'll explore

Conversations led by family principals and experienced practitioners, with time to discuss your own situation with peers.

  • How should significant wealth be structured?
  • What does an effective operating model look like?
  • Who should be around the table?
  • What should remain outsourced?
  • When does a family office become appropriate?
  • How do different families make decisions?
  • What technology and governance frameworks support good outcomes?
  • What can we learn from families who have already travelled this path?

See the full programme

Who the Forum is for

Designed for private individuals and families responsible for significant wealth, including those who have:

  • Built significant wealth through entrepreneurship or business ownership
  • Experienced a significant liquidity event
  • Built substantial property, investment or private asset portfolios
  • Inherited significant wealth through family structures, trusts or estates
  • Established, or are considering, a family office or philanthropic foundation
  • Are preparing for an intergenerational transfer of wealth or responsibility
  • Are reviewing how they organise, govern and oversee significant wealth

Around 80% of attendees will be families and individuals managing significant wealth. The remaining places are reserved for a small number of carefully selected advisers and partners.

Speakers

Family principals and practitioners who have navigated these questions first-hand.

  • Ruth McKenzie

    Ruth McKenzie

    Host and convenor, Family Capital Design Forum

  • Niki Paramor

    Niki Paramor

    Founder and Director, Leftfield Investments

  • Hamish Edgar

    Hamish Edgar

    Principal, Edgar Capital Family Office

  • Sarah Wells

    Sarah Wells

    Head of Family Advisory, Strategy Partners, Forsyth Barr

More to come. Further family principals and advisers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Meet the speakers

10 February 2027
A full day, from 8.30am registration to networking drinks.
Viaduct Harbour
A private venue in Auckland's CBD. Venue details
NZ$1,295 + GST
Early rate until 1 December 2026, then NZ$1,595 + GST.

A day of considered conversation

Places are limited and offered by application, to keep the room balanced and the discussion candid.

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Ruth McKenzie

Ruth McKenzie

Host and convenor, Family Capital Design Forum

Ruth McKenzie is the founder and convenor of the Family Capital Design Forum and principal of KenzieCo, an independent consultancy working across philanthropy, family office strategy and private capital.

She has spent much of her career working with private wealth, family offices, foundations and advisory firms across Australia and New Zealand, helping organisations build relationships, shape strategy and bring the right people together around complex questions of capital, governance and impact.

Ruth created the Forum to provide a practical, independent environment for families and family office leaders to explore how significant wealth is structured, governed and managed over time.
Niki Paramor

Niki Paramor

Founder and Director, Leftfield Investments

Niki is a founder and director of Leftfield Investments, a family-owned and run investment manager with a portfolio spanning real estate, private equity, listed equities, venture capital and social impact.

Before Leftfield, Niki held various roles in real estate funds management and development, with more than 15 years' experience across a range of asset classes.

Niki holds a Bachelor of Public Communications and a Certificate in Finance and Property Development from the University of Technology Sydney and Finsia.
Hamish Edgar

Hamish Edgar

Principal, Edgar Capital Family Office

Hamish Edgar manages the Edgar Capital Family Office which, alongside various private investments, supports a number of charitable organisations in New Zealand, particularly in the arts, sport, education and health.

His background spans law, investment banking and global portfolio management, including Russell McVeagh in Wellington, investment banking at First NZ Capital and hedge funds in London, before returning home in 2015 with his wife Victoria and their two daughters.

He then established Edgar Capital Family Office, which he continues to lead today.
Sarah Wells

Sarah Wells

Head of Family Advisory, Strategy Partners, Forsyth Barr

Sarah joined Forsyth Barr in August 2026 as Head of Family Advisory, Strategy Partners. She has more than a decade of experience as a strategic adviser to high-net-worth individuals, family businesses and family offices.

She helps families with the complexities of holding, building and transitioning private wealth, working closely with Forsyth Barr investment advisers and a family's wider advisory team on succession strategy, family governance, family office design and review, next-generation preparedness, family enterprise and agribusiness advisory, and business exit and liquidity planning.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago and is a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP). Before joining Forsyth Barr she worked in the private wealth team of a leading international law firm.