Family Office Services

James Stevens is the Founding Member of Family Office Services. He started the firm in 2019 to use his extensive family office background to provide financial management and wealth/estate/income tax planning services to high-net-worth families and individuals.

James previously served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer of a large Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm in Chartlotte, NC for six years. James developed macro investment allocations for the firm’s three model portfolios, which were based on investor qualifications. Specifically, James formulated, researched, implemented, and managed investment ideas within the context of an absolute return construct. James had oversight of portfolios that blended traditional assets (i.e., ‘40 Act mutual funds) and alternative assets (i.e., a Commodity Trading Advisor fund of funds with an internally managed macro overlay component utilizing derivatives, as well as a private credit opportunity fund). The aggregate client assets under management overseen by James during his term at the RIA was ~ $500 million.   

Prior to Sapere, James was the Chief Financial Officer of an ultra-high-net worth family office in Atlanta, GA for more than a decade.  James focused on investment, tax, and risk management issues. He coordinated internal and external professionals on matters such as estate planning, insurance, entity structuring, derivatives trading, charitable planning, credit facilities, and tax compliance. He played an active role in the establishment of strategic and tactical asset allocation and was involved with the day-to-day implementation and monitoring of the allocation. He was responsible for the co-management of the family’s hedge fund of funds portfolio. James continuously monitored the underlying style/strategy allocations of the funds to maintain a consistent risk profile in accordance with the fund’s investment policy. James worked with the family patriarch until his death, and thereafter with his son providing him with due diligence on fund managers and on direct investment deals. James oversaw the accounting, tax planning and tax compliance for the family’s myriad of entities, including corporations, partnerships, complex trusts, and private foundations. James routinely evaluated and appropriately implemented, various option strategies that served to mitigate risk for investment positions both at the individual level and at the consolidated family level. Pertaining to real estate, James oversaw the ground-up construction of a multi-million-dollar vacation residence, the build-out of a small office building, and was involved with various renovations of personal residences. James worked with architects and builders during the bidding process and monitored costs to budgeted estimates until the successful completion of each project. Further, James managed the operations of a 1,500-acre farm for the family. Additionally, he led a significant private equity transaction from the initial start-up/funding phase, through four years of operations as an active board member, culminating in the profitable sale of the business to a public company, achieving a 32% unleveraged net internal rate of return. 

James also worked as the Corporate Controller for a multi-billion assets under management hedge fund that focused on fixed income markets for nearly two years. He managed all aspects of tax compliance/tax planning for the management company, onshore/offshore feeder funds, and the managing partners. He prepared cash flow planning reports related to the management company that utilized dynamic forecasting of the investment portfolio to evaluate various management/ incentive fee payout scenarios. James conceived, implemented, and managed a tax-advantageous offshore entity to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales/use taxes. He conducted “personal CFO” duties for the managing partners.

 Upon graduating from university, James was a tax and business valuation consultant with a regional public accounting firm for three years. In public accounting, James worked extensively on individual income and tax planning issues, including family partnership structuring and valuation.