This is the second in a series of articles by PBY Capital that explores the family enterprise space in Canada.
The FEA program, administered by Family Enterprise Canada, is the gold standard in Canada for certifying family office advisors. The program is designed to assist advisors who already possess technical knowledge from the field and elevate their skills to enhance their ability to serve family enterprise clients.
The program is aimed at advisors who work with business-owning families. It’s a 12-14-month, 80-hour team-based program that combines theoretical ideas with lived experience. Via seven modules, participants learn about family systems, governance, succession, and wealth—but what really sets it apart is the teamwork. During the program, advisors are grouped into teams that work directly with a family to address their unique needs – all while being coached by a seasoned family office advisor.
Once the program is successfully completed, graduates have a new designation: Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA).
The popularity of the FEA designation is undoubtedly on the rise, but why? Canadian Family Offices’ recently sat down with Steve Legler, family legacy guide, to discuss the program and more specifically his role as a family office advisor within the program. Plus, the value of hands-on learning experience that FEA participants receive.
Why is the training involved in the FEA program so important for advisors today?
There’s a huge need for advisors to work on the family stuff—not just the structures and the wealth pieces. Lawyers and accountants have their place, but the assumption that everything takes care of itself once the structures are in place is rarely true.
Steve Legler
Families don’t wake up and say, ‘Let me go find a family enterprise advisor.’ There isn’t always demand, but the need is there. As more advisors are trained, supply starts to meet that need.
Are more advisors enrolling in the program?
Yes. Enrollment is up 34 per cent year-over-year. I’ve also noticed participants are getting younger, which I think is good. Younger advisors relate better to rising-generation family members, and that’s critical.
Is it fair to say the FEA designation is the gold standard?
Yes. Overall satisfaction with the program is in the 90 per cent range. There’s nothing else like it anywhere on the planet.
The content exists elsewhere, but the lived experience—doing a project with a team—is the differentiating factor. That’s what sets it apart, and it’s very hard to replicate.
Tell us about the project component of the FEA program and why is it such a focal point?
When I did the program in 2013, we didn’t have a project team advisor. We were left to our own devices to figure out how we were supposed to do this. The program has evolved, and now each team has a project team advisor.
One of the biggest parts of the whole program, which lasts about 12-14 months, is that each person gets put into a team of four or five people from a variety of companies. They have to find a family, interview all the members, and bring them together for a family meeting where they present recommendations.
What do you enjoy most about the project team advisor role?
I’m working with my seventh team right now, and next week I’m getting my eighth.
I love this role because I get to see a team come together. They know each other, but now they’re forced into an intense relationship where they have to do this multidisciplinary advising.
Most of them have not met with an entire family before. They usually deal with one client—mom or dad—and maybe they know the kids’ names, but they’re not doing intense interviews. They’re also working in a team with people who don’t have the same logo on their business card. It’s an artificial construct, but it puts them into new roles they have to figure out.
How do you typically work with the teams?
Once they’re put into their team, they choose a weekly meeting time and have a standing meeting for the three months of the project. They usually invite their advisor onto the call. Sometimes I’m there for five minutes, sometimes 20, sometimes the whole hour. I probably stay on longer than I’msupposed to. I just find it so interesting.
Because I’ve been through it with a number of teams, I can anticipate where they’re going to run into problems and walk them around those issues.
What kinds of challenges do teams typically encounter?
First of all, they underestimate how much work is involved—just the admin, booking meetings, dividing up the work. Typically, they’re interviewing five to eight family members, and there are four or five people on the team.
Finding a family is another big challenge. Usually, it’s a client or acquaintance of someone on the team. I have a team right now that couldn’t find a family, and Family Enterprise Canada matched them with one. That’s hopefully a direction the program continues—offering families a free consulting project that might cost $30,000 to $50,000 in the real world.
How does the program conclude?
The course ends with what they call Knowledge, Integration and Application. Each team has about two hours to tell the whole story—how they found the family, what the interviews were like, and most importantly, what they learned.
What else do participants learn from the experience?
They learn that in a relatively short period of time—maybe eight to 10 weeks—they can actually help a family start to figure things out.
These families go through this project, their eyes are opened, and they start to organize their challenges and see some directions forward. Every team I’ve ever had has reported that the family was thankful and wanted help continuing.
Do teams ever encounter serious family issues during the project?
Absolutely. I’ve had teams come to me and say, ‘Steve, glad you’re here—we’ve got a problem.’ Things like restraining orders between family members, or major health crises.
In one case, the patriarch’s second wife had a stroke caused by a brain tumor. I told the team that in the real world, you might pause, but in the program you still have to move forward carefully. In that case, it actually made the family more receptive to recommendations.
Disclaimer: This story was created by Canadian Family Offices’ commercial content division on behalf of PBY Capital, a member and content provider of this publication.
PBY Capital Limited is registered as an exempt market dealer, portfolio manager and investment fund manager with Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities, servicing family offices and their professionals. For more information, visit: www.pbycapital.com. The opinions and information provided in this article are solely those of the writer and are not to be construed as personal, legal, accounting, taxation, or investment advice, or as an endorsement of any entity.
Anna Sharratt is a business and health reporter and editor with more than 20 years of experience. Based in Toronto, she has written for Canadian Family Offices since 2021. A regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, she has written for Inc.com, Forbes, Business Insider, Canadian Business, MoneySense, the National Post, The Toronto Star and other publications. She is the former managing editor of smallbiz.ca, health editor of Chatelaine and senior health writer for the CBC.