THURSDAY
Evelyn Partners
IFG Europe Conference 2026 —Family Governance: Empowering Beneficiaries Through Inter-Generational Planning
european spotlight:
Culture, Communication, and the Importance of Inter-Generational Planning
About IFG
The mission of the Institute for Family Governance (“IFG”) is to implement strong governance that endures. This is achieved by empowering beneficiaries through inter-generational planning. Our values are serving families through: (i) open discussion, (ii) multi-disciplinary collaboration and (iii) know how exchange among families and the trusted advisors who serve them. View the About IFG page for more information.
DATE
Thursday October 15, 2026
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
2026 AGENDA
9:30 AM
sign-in & networking coffee
10:15 AM
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONs
10:30 AM
What Can Trusted Advisors Do to Help Facilitate a Successful Inter-Generational Transfer? — Case Studies
Giulia Cipollini, Withers
Nuno Cunha Barnabé, Abreu Advogados
James von Simson, Evelyn Partners (moderator)
11:30 AM
Keynote sponsored by withers
The Importance of Understanding Family Culture and its Impact on Planning for Future Generations
Peter Leach, Adjunct Professor in Family Business at Imperial College Business School
12:30 PM
Lunch hosted by Evelyn Partners
1:00 PM
Themed Roundtable Discussions hosted by Willow Street
Participants will select a key governance topic for a moderated small group discussion.
2:00 PM
Prevention is Better than Cure: How to Structure your Trusts to Minimize Family Wealth Disputes
Geoff Kertesz, Stewarts
2:40 PM
Deep Dive:
Practical, Research-based Insights for a Successful Inter-Generational Transition: Do’s and Don’ts
Alfredo De Massis, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Business at the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) and IMD (moderator)
Emanuela Musci, G3 & Co-Founder S&O Multi Family Office
Giovanni Caniglia, CEO of Pelligra Group Italia & International (G3 family business)
James Hands, Group General Manager of Strategy & Family Office, Pelligra Australia & International (G3 family business)
3:30 PM
Break
3:50 PM
Deep dive continued
5:00 PM
Concluding remarks
5:10 PM
Cocktail Reception hosted by Maisto e Associati
chair
Babetta von Albertini, Ph.D. | IFG Founder & Chair
Babetta is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Institute for Family Governance. She is an expert on family governance and U.S. tax law and has advised large domestic and international families on their governance and succession planning for approaching twenty years. Babetta is also the General Counsel of ATM Capital Partners, a single family office. Prior thereto, she was with Withers (a global trusts and estates law firm) for nine years, and Shearman & Sterling (a capital markets law firm) for three years, living and working in New York, London, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Babetta is a dual-qualified common law/civil law attorney (admitted to the bars of New York and Zurich, Switzerland) and holds both a Tax LL.M. and a Corporate LL.M. from NYU, as well as a Ph.D. in law from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Babetta served as elected U.S. representative on the STEP Global Council for three years (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), and as Vice-Chair of STEP New York for three years.
advisory board
Prof. Guglielmo Maisto | Milan
Guglielmo Maisto founded Maisto e Associati in 1991. He is a Professor of international and comparative tax law at the Università Cattolica di Piacenza. He is Chair of the European Region of the International Fiscal Association and President of the Italian Branch of the same organization (IFA), member of the Board of Trustees of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) in Amsterdam, member of the Practice Council of New York University (NYU) Law’s International Tax Program and member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. He represents the Italian Association of Industries (Confindustria) at the OECD Business Industry Advisory Committee in Paris. He acted as a consultant to the Ministry for European Community Affairs and was a member of the EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum. He is a member of several law societies and of the editorial board of various Italian and foreign tax legal journals. He usually participates as speaker to several annual tax conferences.
Francesca Boschini | Miami
Ms. Boschini is Director – Head of International Wealth Planning & Head of Insurance Solutions for the Americas at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. Francesca is based in New York and is in charge of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management Americas cross-border and international wealth planning practice and of its insurance planning solutions platform. When working directly with clients, Francesca provides technical assistance on wealth planning and insurance planning matters to U.S. and international families. She works to develop and execute solutions for the complex global wealth preservation, estate and insurance planning needs of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Francesca has over twenty years of experience finding solutions for global wealth preservation and estate planning needs of ultra-high net worth clients. Francesca earned her civil law degree and J.D. from the University of Bologna School of Law in 1997 and earned her LL.M. in 2002.
Mark Summers | Zürich
From Charles Russell Speechlys’ office in Zürich, Mark advises global wealthy families, their businesses and wealth holding structures, and the institutions that service them. He is most noted for advising families resident or investing in multiple highly taxed and regulated jurisdictions such as the US or EU, where they are affected by complex multi-jurisdictional tax and legal issues. Mark is admitted in England and Wales and as a foreign lawyer in the canton of Zürich and the Swiss Federation. Mark is a member of the IBA and the vice-chair of the STEP Public Policy Committee. He is a permanent Swiss resident with his family in the canton of Zug.
SPEAKERS
Giulia Cipollini | Withers
Giulia is the head of the Italian Tax and Wealth Planning Team of Withers. She provides tax and wealth planning advice to families, family offices, entrepreneurs, charities, foundations, artists, talents and athletes. Giulia leads the team that focuses on the Italian "flat tax regime" for new residents. She assists families in setting up legal structures and providing adequate tax, inheritance, trusts and estate planning. Giulia is the head of the Withers global SIG (special interest group) on Continental Europe. She is a member of the board of the Scientific Committee of the STEP Italy Branch and a member of the Philanthropy Advisors SIG Steering Committee.
Nuno Cunha Barnabé | Abreu Advogados
Nuno is a private wealth lawyer based in Lisbon. A senior partner at Abreu Advogados Portugal, he has over 25 years’ experience in advising HNWI’s, family offices, private banking and asset managers on domestic and cross-border individual, estate and wealth taxation and international mobility. In the last few years Nuno has specialized on the generational transition of wealth and family businesses and wealth preservation.
James von Simson | Evelyn Partners
James specializes in advising multi-generational and multi-jurisdictional families on their investments, family governance, wealth preservation, and philanthropic strategies. Having begun his career at Citigroup in 2005 as part of the Mergers & Acquisitions team in Frankfurt, he joined Evelyn Partners in 2016 following the acquisition of Thurleigh Investment Managers where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager. Along with the day-to-day management of investment portfolios, James is also one of the firm’s research specialists with responsibility for Global Equity funds. James is Deputy Chair and Executive Director at STEP, where he also sits on the Professional Standards and ED&I Committees. He also sits on the International Committee at the CISI and the Advisory Council of the UHNW Institute. James holds a BA Dual Honours, Economics & Politics, from Trinity College in Dublin.
Peter Leach | Adjunct Professor in Family Business at Imperial College Business School
Peter is a trusted advisor to business families and family businesses. With over 30 years of experience as a business advisor, teacher and facilitator working with family business owners internationally, Peter is seen as the ‘founding father’ of family business thinking in the UK. Peter has worked with over a hundred business families around the world. Clients appreciate his determination to help them resolve their issues, his depth and breadth of experience within the field, his ability to balance commercial issues with family dynamics and his track record in assisting family businesses transition successfully from one generation to the next. He is Adjunct Professor in Family Business at Imperial College Business School, London, teaching the family business electives on the MBA & MSc programs. Peter also lectures around the world to family businesses and their advisers and at international conferences. He is a frequent writer on family business topics. Peter is the author of Family Businesses: The Essentials (Profile Books) and co-author of Indian Family Business Mantras (Rupa Publishing). He is also a Special Advisor to BDT & Company International LLP.
Geoff Kertesz | Stewarts
Geoff is a partner at Stewarts in London. He specialises in resolving troublesome issues relating to trusts and estates, whether domestic or international. He originally qualified in California and cross-qualified as an English solicitor in 2008. He has experience with cases involving the UK, US, Bermuda, Channel Islands, Cayman Islands, BVI and Hong Kong, among other jurisdictions. Unusually for a litigator, Geoff acts as a trustee, which gives him a first-hand view of the issues facing trusts and trustees. He has also been appointed as an expert witness on matters relating to cross-border litigation.
Alfredo De Massis | Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Business at the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) and IMD
Alfredo is a Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Business at the University of Chieti-Pescara and IMD. He serves as advisor to family enterprises, family offices and policy makers. Ranked as the #1 most impactful family business professor worldwide in the researcher ranking created by Texas State University, as the leading (#1) family business academic globally in a 2024 study published in Small Business Economics, and as the most influential and productive author in the family business research field in the last decade in a recent bibliometric study, he is a Family Capital Top 100 Family Business Influencer and has been inducted by Family Business United into The Family Business Hall of Fame. Alfredo serves on the boards of public and private organizations internationally, including in Italy, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the US, Germany, and the UK. Among various editorial roles, he is an editor of Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, associate editor of Family Business Review, and his research has been cited over 25,600 times and published in the leading academic and practitioner journals. Since 2020 he is the Co-Founder of the first Observatory on Italian Family Offices where he also serves as Chairman of the International Scientific Advisory Board.
Emanuela Musci | G3 & Co-Founder S&O Multi Family Office
Emanuela is the founder of S&O Multi Family Office, based in Bologna, supporting several entrepreneurial families. Values on which S&O is founded are: integrity, independence, transparency, empathy, constancy. Emanuela has 20+ years experience in the investment and Multi Family Office field, having worked for Salomon Smith Barney, in the Washington DC MFO desk, and for her family’s Family Office, where she oversaw portfolio analysis and investment selections. Prior to working in the F.O. space, Emanuela had several years of experience as financial analyst for IFC – World Bank Group and for Intelsat, both in Wahington DC. Since 2007 Emanuela has been in charge of the branch of the family business dedicated to Real Estate Developments in the US. She holds an honor degree in Business Administration from the University of Bologna and a MSF (master of Science in Finance) from the American University, Washington DC, and attended post graduate courses at UCLA. Emanuela is a fervent supporter of lifelong learning, like an Aristotelian transition between potentiality and act.
Giovanni Caniglia | CEO of Pelligra Group Italia & International (G3 family business)
Giovanni is a former professional footballer who also holds a Double Degree in Psychology and Psychophysiology – with a major thesis on Elite Peak Performance, and a Post Graduate Degree in Business Management & Marketing. His 30+ years of international commercial experience across key industry sectors include large scale development and construction, sports and entertainment, tourism and major events. Having a global personal network of political and business key decision makers, Giovanni has been able to develop long-term interpersonal relationships and work with some of the world’s most influential leaders and organisations managing all components of the management mix. Prior to joining the Pelligra Family Group, Giovanni was the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Melbourne, Australia. Combining his global personal and business experience, Giovanni has facilitated corporate investment, trade, and key business delegations throughout Europe, Asia and America.
James Hands | Group General Manager of Strategy & Family Office, Pelligra Australia & International (G3 family business)
James has worked both in Australia and internationally in Asia and Europe over a career spanning more than 20 years. With a background in holistic banking and advisory, James has an acute awareness of the requirements of very sophisticated clients having worked with them across these regions. With specialist knowledge in cross-border trade and investment, James' experience stems from global financial markets and lending roles with leading Australian and international banks. Leveraging both relationship management experience with specialist in-depth exposure to various industry and market dynamics, James has assisted HNW and UHNW individuals and their businesses with their approach to financing, asset allocation, strategic alignment and investment. In 2024, James made his move into single family office management, departing UBS Australia for the Pelligra Family, where he runs the family's family office and oversees key strategic initiatives for the fast-growing group.
Know How
2026 PRESENTATIONS
To access speaker slides, please click on the blue highlighted title for each presentation topic below. For some presentations, links to additional articles and notes are provided.
What Can Trusted Advisors Do to Help Facilitate a Successful Inter-Generational Transfer? — Case Studies
Giulia Cipollini, Nuno Cunha Barnabé & James von Simson
Attorneys and fiduciaries often work with families over decades. During this prolonged time, they can become a trusted advisor of the patriarch or matriarch. Opportunities may arise when the client asks the trusted advisor for their input on an inter-generational transfer, often with the lead-in: "what do other families do in this type of situation". James will lead a discussion with Giulia and Nuno who will each discuss a case study of an inter-generational transfer and will share (i) what went well, (ii) what could have been done better, and (iii) lessons learned.
Presentation: What Can Trusted Advisors Do to Help Facilitate a Successful Inter-Generational Transfer? — Case Studies
The Importance of Understanding Family Culture and its Impact on Planning for Future Generations
Peter Leach
It's all very well having a brilliant structure and a beautifully crafted family charter setting out a rule for virtually any contingency, but will it work in practice? And if it won't, what are the things that are getting in the way and blocking a smooth transition to the next generation and beyond?How do families ensure that they walk the talk of what they have agreed to do, and why is implementation so much harder than the theory? Peter will explore these issues in his opening talk. He will conclude with 3-5 actionable key takeaways.
Presentation: The Importance of Understanding Family Culture and its Impact on Planning for Future Generations
Prevention is Better than Cure: How to Structure your Trusts to Minimize Family Wealth Disputes
Geoff Kertesz
No structure is bulletproof and the question may be more “when” family members will fall out with each other, rather than “if”. But there are practical considerations and concrete steps families can take to minimize the chances of ending up in a costly, potentially public dispute. Not only are there issues to consider when setting up a structure and while running it, but also matters frequently arise when it comes to inter-generational communication. Geoff will share practical, concrete steps that families can take, focussing particularly on communication, governance, and putting the right people in the right roles. He will conclude with 3-5 actionable key takeaways.
Presentation: Prevention is Better than Cure: How to Structure your Trusts to Minimize Family Wealth Disputes
Practical, Research-based Insights for a Successful Inter-Generational Transition: Do’s and Don’ts
Alfredo De Massis, Emanuela Musci, Giovanni Caniglia & James Hands
Alfredo will lead an interactive discussion with a distinguished panel of family business leaders on one of the most critical moments in the life of any enterprising family: inter-generational transition. Combining cutting-edge research with practical experience from multi-generational family businesses and family offices, Alfredo, Emanuela, Giovanni and James will explore how families can successfully navigate succession, preserve unity, and build long-term continuity across generations. The discussion will provide both strategic insights and practical guidance for families preparing for leadership and ownership transition, with a particular focus on communication, governance, and common pitfalls that can undermine continuity. Alfredo, Emanuela, Giovanni and James will conclude with 3-5 actionable key takeaways.
Presentation: Practical, Research-based Insights for a Successful Inter-Generational Transition: Do’s and Don’ts
REGISTRATION
Registration
$550 for IFG Members
$650 for Non-Members
Membership
Annual Membership
$250
Learn more about IFG
Financial Aid & Cancellation Policy: All cancellations must be in writing. If you are unable to attend, a SUBSTITUTION MAY BE MADE AT ANY TIME. Registrations canceled within 30 days of registration, will be refunded in full. Registrations canceled after 30 days of the date of registration, will receive a voucher in the amount paid, less a $100 USD administrative fee. No refunds or credits can be issued for cancellations later than 30 days before the event. No-shows are subject to the full fee. Financial aid is available for attorneys (CLE credit) upon request. Please contact kimberly@IFGworldwide.org.
info@IFGworldwide.org
Institute for Family Governance Ltd.
1815 Palmer Avenue, Unit 2D
Larchmont NY 10538
United States
212-682-6113
