Northern Trust bulks up family office team with New York hires

Northern Trust Wealth Management has added two senior hires to its Family Office Solutions team in New York, extending what has been an 18-month buildout of a business designed for ultra-wealthy families who want family office services without running an office of their own.

The Chicago-based firm said Monday that Robert Ludricks III has joined as managing director for the Northeast region and Olof Akesson as investment director. Both will work with entrepreneurs, business owners and multigenerational families in New York and the surrounding region.

Ludricks has spent more than 35 years advising wealthy clients on investments, planning and fiduciary issues. He comes from Brown Brothers Harriman, where he was a managing director and senior relationship manager. Before that, he spent close to two decades in senior advisory and leadership posts at Bessemer Trust.

Akesson brings more than 20 years of experience across private markets, investment banking and client relationships, and has spent the last 10 of those years working with single-family offices. He was most recently a managing director at KABR Group. Earlier, he held senior business development and sales roles at Benefit Street Partners, J.P. Morgan and HSBC.

Katie Nixon – who was chief investment officer of the firm's private wealth business from 2012 until she became president of Northern Trust's Northeast region last December – said the hires reflect how intertwined wealthy clients' affairs have become. 

"Families with significant wealth increasingly face decisions that cut across their businesses, investments and long-term plans," Nixon said. "Bob and Olof bring complementary experience and strengthen the advice and services we offer entrepreneurs, business owners and multigenerational families in New York and across the region."

Northern Trust launched its Family Office Solutions unit in April last year as a way for families to access investment, tax, and other administrative services without building a dedicated office of their own. The unit is led by Pam Lucina and sits inside the firm's Global Family and Private Investment Offices practice.

The New York additions follow a string of senior appointments this year. Last month, Northern Trust named former Wilmington Trust executive Candice Nakagawa as its managing director for Family Office Solutions in the West. She is based in Los Angeles and reports to Lucina.

In April, the firm named Beata Kirr chief investment officer of its Global Family Office division, which serves more than 550 families with an average net worth above $1 billion and is the fastest-growing segment of Northern Trust's wealth business. Kirr joined from private credit firm The Copia Group after 17 years at Bernstein Private Wealth Management.

"Family offices today are navigating increasingly complex portfolios, private markets exposure and multigenerational planning challenges," Dino De Vita, president of the division, said at the time.

Earlier in the spring, Northern Trust also brought in Alyssa Quinlan, former chief executive of Freeman's Auctions & Appraisals, as head of advisor relationships and strategic partnerships. The role is meant to deepen ties with outside professionals as clients fold art and other collectibles into their estate and tax planning.

Northern Trust Wealth Management had $534 billion in assets under management as of June 30, while its parent, Northern Trust, reported $20 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $2 trillion under management.