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Family Office List Helps Accelerate Conrad Family Office’s Guernsey Initiative

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London-based Conrad Family Office is one of our valued family offices with a robust international presence. Recently, Conrad Family Office began a real estate lending initiative in Guernsey, one of the islands on the English Channel near the coast of France. We caught up with John Clifford, Managing Director of Conrad Family Office, on how Family Office List is helping the firm achieve positive outcomes in its Real Estate lending plans.


Positive Outcomes

  • Family Office List helped Conrad Family Office make valuable introductions both within the United States as well as the United Kingdom.
  • These initial introductions have subsequently led to second- and third-degree connections that are helping to accelerate interest in the Guernsey lending initiative.
  • Family Office List’s relationship-driven approach has yielded a compounding effect on the growth of the Guernsey lending network.

“Of all the Family Office list businesses we have been involved with, [Family Office List] is by far the best that we have dealt with”


John Clifford, Managing Director of Conrad Family Office

Conrad Family Office: Decades of Experience Spanning the Globe

Conrad Family Office has decades of experience in the Family Office space.  

Headquartered in London, Conrad Family Office has long maintained a vast network of senior-level London connections. As a result, Conrad Family Office’s reach spans both domestic and international clientele.

Clifford emphasizes the reciprocal approach Conrad Family Office takes in its practice. For each initiative, one of the primary goals is to put together a strategic team of partners with complementary skill sets to achieve the best result for that initiative. Clifford explained that their Family Office initiative starts with the question, “How can we help you?” And if that initiative is better suited elsewhere, Conrad Family Office still helps by making the best match possible.


The Opportunity: Diving Deeper into the Guernsey Initiative

Conrad Family Office has known for some time that a Real Estate lending initiative, with a Guernsey focus, would present some challenges, as Guernsey’s regulatory environment is more nuanced and somewhat stricter compared to other Real Estate regulatory environments.

In addition to navigating Guernsey’s regulatory environment, Conrad also had to navigate the unfolding changes brought by Brexit as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most initiatives, surprises are to be expected and tackled head-on.

In order to rise to the challenge presented by real estate lending in Guernsey and the accompanying current event caveats, Conrad Family Office knew it would need to put together a strategic team of partners with complementary skill sets.


The Result: Family Office List Helped Increase Networks for the Guernsey Initiative

From the Conrad Family Office point of view, Family Office List was quite different from other firms in a good way. Conrad Family Office views network building & business in general, as a journey rather than a race.

As a Family Office, it continuously receives invitations to Family Office events around the world. Instead of walking away with bags of promotional items and a receipt for a $5,000 event ticket, Conrad Family Office prefers a more human and reciprocal approach.

With Family Office List, Clifford has regular direct communication with Danielle Patterson, co-founder of Family Office List. Patterson checks in with Clifford frequently to confirm what initiatives Conrad are working on and how she can best assist.

Specifically, Conrad Family Office appreciates the highly personalized approach taken by Family Office List.

“We have different involvement with different parts of the world, whether it’s Washington, Geneva, Monaco, Dubai,” said Clifford. “If we were doing something, Danielle would announce it [to her network] for us — she’s done that in the past. And willingly, I would say. It’s nothing conditional. … It’s been more of a ‘We’d be delighted to do that.’ That’s refreshing.”

Conrad Family Office prefers a more private, bespoke approach to networking rather than one-time, catch-all events. Likewise, Family Office List prefers one-to-one, long-term relationship building based on proven value over time to build its network.

In the case of Conrad’s Guernsey initiative, Family Office List’s personalized, hands-on approach to networking is helping to accelerate the network Conrad Family Office is building for its Real Estate lending business in Guernsey.

“[Danielle] introduced us to a Real Estate and investment business who are quite interesting people, who themselves have introduced us to other people,” said Clifford.

If you are a Family Office and you are currently working on any initiatives for which you would like additional network-building support, feel free to reach out to us.

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