Session
Two PWN Members naming what most rooms don't discuss publicly about succession.
Purpose: This session runs the succession conversation in the register most rooms don't permit — candid about failure modes, the gap between planning on paper and practice in reality, and what mature family principals wish they'd known earlier.
Discussion: Hear from PWN Members about where succession typically goes wrong, what ‘being an adult in the room’ has actually meant for each panellist’s family, and the patterns that recur across multi-generational Australian families when the structural plan meets human reality.
Outcomes: A more honest view of what your own family's succession path will actually require, the conversations worth starting now rather than later, and a framework for distinguishing the technical succession work from the human work.
Peter helps to create the conditions where affluent families have the greatest chance of flourishing. He has worked with and presented to hundreds of families on six continents.
Peter’s primary engagements are long-term as a personne de confiance, helping legacy families sustain their family and business relationships for many generations.
For decades, Peter was involved in many facets of Laird Norton Company LLC, an 8th generation family enterprise. He concluded his tenure as President in 2003. His responsibilities at Laird Norton included the stewardship of the long-held values and traditions of 400+ family members’ financial, intellectual, social and human assets. He remains a member of the family and company.
Peter is currently advising several global legacy families and working on projects which support an expansion of consciousness in individuals and groups.
Ross is a third-generation family business leader and strategy specialist with over a decade of experience across finance and aged care. As a co-founder and Director of FULFIL Advisory, he combines practical commercial strategy with deep psychological insights. He is currently completing a Masters of Business Psychology to complement his MBA. Ross is dedicated to solving the complex interpersonal and structural challenges of succession.
Fleur Philip is a fifth generation member of the Baillieu family and has spent the past 15 years as Family Office Executive of The Minta Group (TMG), the family office established in partnership with her parents and siblings. Together, they have built TMG as a practical framework for stewardship, aligning the family around shared values and providing a clear roadmap for decision making across generations.
Fleur’s authority on succession, governance and family office structure is grounded in lived experience: translating a multigenerational family context into workable operating rhythms, decision rights, governance forums, reporting discipline, next generation engagement, and transition planning. Her perspective is informed by a long tradition of Australian family enterprise and structured stewardship associated with the Baillieu family, including the founding of Mutual Trust in 1921 by W. L. Baillieu and his siblings through its evolution into Australia’s leading multifamily office.
Fleur emphasises that succession is a system, not an event: the right family office architecture clarifies decision rights, information flow, and accountability as leadership shifts across generations. Strong governance reduces friction by separating family relationships from operating decisions, creating a steady cadence for transparent reporting and earlier, safer conversations so transitions protect continuity rather than trigger conflict. TMG’s story illustrates how families can move from informal arrangements to an intentional family office model creating clarity, resilience, and cohesion through generational change.
