FOXcast
Architecting a Resilient Family Office with Annette Hopper & Levi Hammett
Why It Matters
Outsourcing core operational functions enables family offices to scale efficiently while maintaining governance, a critical advantage in the growing UHNW wealth management market.
Key Takeaways
- •Family offices increasingly outsource back- and middle-office functions.
- •Full Scope Solutions offers integrated compliance, operations, and reporting services.
- •Decision framework: own core strategy, rent specialized execution.
- •Resilient infrastructure balances control, customization, and external expertise.
- •Clear function definitions reduce ambiguity and improve governance.
Pulse Analysis
The family office landscape is shifting from ad‑hoc administration to a disciplined, professional operation. As ultra‑high‑net‑worth families seek to preserve wealth across generations, they are defining front‑office investment decisions, middle‑office risk and performance analytics, and back‑office accounting and compliance. This taxonomy reduces internal silos and creates a common language for stakeholders, enabling clearer governance and more transparent reporting.
Outsourcing has emerged as a strategic lever for families that lack the scale to build in‑house expertise. Full Scope Solutions leverages over three decades of combined experience to deliver compliance oversight, data‑warehouse integration, and performance reporting that rival institutional providers. By partnering with a specialist, family offices gain access to advanced technology platforms, regulatory insight, and operational rigor without the overhead of recruiting and retaining niche talent. The key is structuring contracts that preserve data ownership, enforce service‑level expectations, and allow customization to the family’s unique investment philosophy.
Building a resilient family office hinges on a disciplined "own vs. rent" decision matrix. Core strategic functions—such as investment policy setting and fiduciary oversight—should remain under direct family control, while transactional processes, technology infrastructure, and compliance monitoring are prime candidates for outsourcing. This hybrid model enhances agility, reduces cost, and mitigates risk by leveraging external best practices. Over time, families that embed clear functional definitions and strategic outsourcing frameworks are better positioned to adapt to market volatility, regulatory changes, and generational transitions, ensuring the longevity of their wealth stewardship.
Episode Description
Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Annette Hopper and Levi Hammett, co-founders of Full Scope Solutions, a strategic outsourcing firm serving family offices. Annette brings more than 25 years of experience in the investment advisory industry. From 2004 through January 2025, she held key leadership roles at a Boulder- and New York-based asset allocator, serving as Partner, CFO, CCO, and COO. In these positions, she oversaw financial strategy, compliance, and operational execution for both institutional and family clients. Prior to that, she co-founded a consulting firm that served over 60 clients across multiple industries and provided outsourced CCO services for a Boulder-based asset allocator.
Levi has over 12 years of investment operations and analytics experience with an Asset Allocator operating out of both Boulder and New York City. Throughout his career, he has successfully implemented performance reporting systems, risk management platforms, data warehouses, trading workflows, and custodial relationships. His extensive expertise in investment operations, systems integration, and investment reporting has made him an expert in enhancing business processes and supporting data-driven strategies within the financial industry.
Annette and Levi, and their firm Full Scope Solutions, are valued Advisor members of FOX, and we are privileged to have their knowledge and expertise in our membership community.
There is much talk within our space about the formalization and professionalization of family office functions, but not much uniformity or consistency in defining what these functions are. Annette and Levi give us their overview of the core family office functions and their working definitions of back-office, middle-office, and front-office departments that are commonly seen among family offices.
A big part of professionalizing various family office functions is the decision whether to outsource any of them – and certainly, many families are making the decision to hand off key components of their family office operations to specialized external providers. Annette and Levi talk about what it takes to architect an outsourcing relationship that both brings in world-class expertise and capabilities and provides the family with the control, quality and customization of services they often require.
Annette and Levi offer their practical tips and advice for family principals and leaders on how best to understand the middle-office and back-office functions that serve their family – and why it is important to do that in the first place.
Going back to the concept of architecting the family office for the long term, Annette and Levi provide some suggestions to families and their family office executives on how to build a resilient infrastructure for their family office – how do they decide what to own vs. rent, build vs. outsource.
Enjoy this informative dialog with two highly experienced operators and service providers in the UHNW wealth management and family office space.
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