Christina Lewis, founder of Beatrice Advisors, in her home office with a portrait of her father, Reginald Lewis.
Cindy Johnson
Christina Lewis had her first asset allocation meeting with her money manager when she was 13 years old.
“I remember the meeting well,” Lewis said. “It was a turbulent time for my family. And [the advisor] was the only one who had the information I needed and [knew] How to talk to myself about this new world I was in.”
This new world came with tragic loss and sudden inheritance. Her father, Reginald Lewis, the founder of food giant TLC Beatrice International and the first African American to build a $1 billion company, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 50. Christina was left with a large fortune and few answers.
Over the next 30 years, Lewis worked with six different institutional asset managers and twelve different relationship managers. Her experience and success in founding her own family office and running two foundations led her to her new venture: a multi-family office aimed at the next generation and people like herself.
“This is about families and their wealth and how people think about them,” she said. “When you are inclusive, when you consider different perspectives, when you empower women, when you empower your children, when you educate your clients, when you give them authority, autonomy and independence, then that is a better way to live. Your family will be healthier, wealthier, happier and more productive.”
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Lewis’ company, called Beatrice Advisors, aims to transform the traditional business of managing wealth for wealthy people and heirs. Cerulli Associates, a market research firm, estimates that more than $84 trillion is expected to be passed from older to younger generations over the next 30 years. Beatrice wants to take a pioneering role in managing the heirs’ assets.
Beatrice Advisors’ goal is to emphasize education and accessibility because many young heirs will be new to wealth management, Lewis said. It will welcome a more diverse group of asset owners in terms of race, ethnicity and gender. And it will require a “holistic approach” to a family’s wealth that takes into account not just their money but also their values, skills and life trajectories, Lewis said.
Because today’s younger generations are more technology-oriented, the consulting firm has worked for years to develop a high-tech dashboard that gives families an up-to-date, unified view of their portfolio and assets.
“We build the dashboard and advise customers, but they drive the car,” she said.
Multi-family offices like Beatrice combine the hyper-personalized and confidential approach of a single family office – managing a family’s assets and logistics – with the shared costs and resources of an investment firm.
In addition to managing investments, multi-family offices typically also handle taxes, trusts, family governance, philanthropy and legal issues. A growing number of ultra-wealthy families are turning to multi-family offices for their expertise in family wealth dynamics and management for generational transition.
Lewis’ personal investment education began at the age of seven when she helped her father manage his stock portfolio. In addition to owning his own business, Reginald Lewis also had a portfolio of personal stocks and appointed Christina as his “broker.”
“In the morning I read the stock charts in the newspaper,” she said, “and at the end of the day, after the market closed, I called to find out the closing price for the evening. And I had this notebook where I recorded everything.”
After her father’s death, she worked with her first money manager to pick stocks and build an aggressive portfolio. Her stock tips include: Disney and Limited, “because we talked about investing in what I know.”
Over the years, their financial advisors changed constantly: companies were bought up and their relationship managers changed from year to year. It’s difficult, she said, to find a wealth manager “who sees you for yourself and not just an appendage of another entity.”
She eventually founded a family office, BFO21, and hired her own team. Beatrice will be separate from BF021, but the team will consist of common members and share best practices, investments and expertise.
Meredith Bowen, a former partner at Seven Bridges Advisors and now president and chief investment officer of Beatrice, said the advisory firm will place a high priority on tax efficiency and tailored tax structures.
“We’re really trying to create an investment infrastructure that’s specific to an individual taxpayer’s situation,” Bowen said.
Beatrice will target clients with net worths between $25 million and $300 million, although Bowen said “the largest families will get a lot from us.”
An active philanthropist, Lewis founded All Star Code, a nonprofit organization that teaches basic web and coding skills to young men of color. She also co-founded Giving Gap, formerly Give Blck, a searchable database of verified Black-founded nonprofit organizations. She is also co-chair of the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation.
Lewis said she hopes to help more families like her own by making wealth advice accessible to a more diverse and younger population.
“When I looked at companies, I wanted them to match the values and style of the customer,” she said. “I feel like [Beatrice] will be diverse and inclusive from the start.”
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2024-06-13 21:37:35
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