The 2026 East Coast Family Office Conference

As geopolitical tensions rise, from escalating conflicts in the Middle East to intensifying U.S. (China competition) governments and investors are rapidly increasing funding into defense technology. At the same time, breakthroughs in AI and significant capital flowing into frontier companies are accelerating innovation and reshaping industries. In this environment, dual-use technology has emerged as a strategic hedge, with companies generating commercial revenue while also supporting defense and national security missions. This panel will explore how founders and investors are building resilient businesses across commercial and defense markets while diversifying revenue and mitigating risk.

Why does Broadway investing makes sense in a diversified portfolio? The talk will include, among other topics, how Broadway is not correlated with stock and bond markets, Carl’s track record of high profitability across 20 seasons, and Carl’s thorough approach to choosing shows. It also will give specific examples of many extremely high ROI’s of long-running musicals he has participated in.

This session explores how family offices can invest in private companies with greater discipline, clarity, and long-term focus. Rather than chasing opportunistic or venture-style deals, attendees will learn how to build a clear investment thesis, structure deals with appropriate protections, prioritize cash-flowing founder-led businesses, and create a concentrated portfolio designed for steady compounding. The discussion will also cover governance, liquidity planning, and common pitfalls to avoid, offering a practical framework for turning private investing into a repeatable, strategic advantage

Melanie Gallop has worked in fashion and luxury for over 30 years, most recently as President of Calvin Klein Europe. For this fireside chat she’s joined by her sister, 40-year marketing and advertising veteran Cindy Gallop. They’ll discuss the state of the luxury market, the opportunities that exist for future-forward vision, and key areas for innovation that can drive turnaround and growth.

From Venture Capital to Private Equity deals, Family Offices are becoming more sophisticated and hiring industry professionals to help them source and manage direct and co-investments with an institutional flavor. Our panel of Family Office investors will discuss deal sourcing, sector interests, and finding the right partners and opportunities.

Why invest in MF, how ALA invests and the state of the market today.

The current shift from a domestic “net zero” policy to energy affordability and reliability in the face of historic growth in electricity demand, and how that shift and demand will affect the oil and natural gas industry and opportunities therein.

Many family offices still rely on spreadsheets to manage increasingly complex portfolios and operations. While effective at smaller scales, these tools often become fragile and inefficient as assets grow. This session will explore the operational risks that emerge from legacy systems and the challenges created by fragmented data and manual processes. We’ll also examine what a modern, scalable technology stack looks like for family offices managing multi-billion-dollar wealth.

As AI, data centers, and industrial growth accelerate, power is becoming a strategic necessity. This presentation explores why energy infrastructure is emerging as one of the most critical real-asset opportunities of the next era. Drawing on experience in cross-border investments across battery storage, hybrid energy hubs, and grid-scale power projects, Harry will highlight where capital is being deployed, how these assets are structured, and how investors can participate in building resilient, scalable energy systems that drive the next phase of economic growth.

The Journey of Events.com

A timely discussion on the evolving global political and conflict landscape. Drawing on decades of experience across military leadership, defense strategy, and global finance, they will provide a grounded perspective on current geopolitical tensions, emerging warfare dynamics, and the intersection of public and private sector influence.

This lecture will cover “credit invisibles” or “hidden prime” borrowers. These borrowers suffer under-banking or outright financial exclusion. The $multi-billion, established credit scoring industry does not have incentives to address inclusivity, and Trust Science® is now disrupting this industry. This creates very real, very human opportunities for marginalized people to join the modern economy.

The most costly stewardship errors are rarely strategic and often psychological. Long before a decision is made, unexamined thoughts begin to shape outcomes. This talk focuses on how fear compromises judgment and how leaders can regain equanimity and sound decision-making under pressure. 

Through market expansion and penetration into emerging markets, the $130 billion dollar global chocolate market has been growing consistently year over year for the last several decades. However, there hasn't been significant innovation in the last 150 years. CocoTerra is innovating the world of chocolate by moving production into the home kitchen.  Using the CocoTerra tabletop appliance, people can personalize and customize their chocolate to meet their dietary, ethical and culinary desires. In this session, we’ll discuss the current state of the chocolate industry and how technology can change the industry as we know it.

Often when one considers prominent families who’ve become synonymous with the art world, we think of the past: Guggenheim, Whitney, Frick, and so on. But increasingly, the art market provides not only opportunities for philanthropic reasons, it also presents an investment opportunity for the long term. Panelists will talk about their own experiences and research on how second and third generation leaders can carry forward their own vision for the future in arts and culture.

The turbulent environment in the Middle East creates risks and opportunities. The panel will discuss how Israeli companiesare navigating the war and give us insights as to the status of investing landscape for them.