Applied correctly, the IoD’s recommendations offer a blueprint for strengthening resilience, discipline, and strategic clarity in family-owned wealth structures.
From Oversight to Stewardship
The NED role must move decisively beyond compliance and reporting. Unlike listed companies, family offices are not driven by quarterly market pressures; they are stewards of intergenerational capital, values, and reputation. This aligns closely with the IoD’s call to reposition NEDs as strategic stewards, actively shaping long-term direction rather than acting as passive guardians of process.
What does this mean for family offices? NEDs should be embedded in discussions around asset allocation philosophy, philanthropy, risk appetite, family governance frameworks, succession planning, and the interface between family, ownership, and management. Value is created not through volume of oversight, but through quality of judgement, depth of challenge and familiarity with the needs and working of the family.
Redefining Independence in a Family Context
The IoD’s expanded definition of independence – prioritising independence of thought and cognitive diversity – is particularly critical in family offices. Traditional notions of independence often fail where emotional ties, legacy considerations, or dominant family voices influence decision-making.
Effective family office NEDs must be:
- Independent of family dynamics, not merely shareholdings
- Comfortable challenging entrenched assumptions
- Skilled at navigating sensitive interpersonal and generational issues
Independence in this context is less about distance and more about credibility, courage, and neutrality. NEDs act as stabilisers, ensuring decisions are aligned with agreed family purpose rather than individual agendas.
Board Composition and Capability
The IoD highlights the need for boards to move away from homogenous, legacy appointments. Family offices frequently suffer from precisely this issue: long-standing advisers promoted to board roles without the skillset required for modern governance.
Applying the IoD model, family offices should:
- Recruit NEDs for capability gaps, not familiarity
- Prioritise experience in complex decision-making, risk management, and capital stewardship
- Include expertise in areas such as geopolitics, technology, ESG, and cross-border structuring
Smaller, high-calibre boards are often more effective for family offices, allowing deeper engagement and stronger accountability.
Active Engagement, Not Episodic Oversight
A core finding of NEDs Reimagined is that the era of the “part-time, episodic” NED is over. This is magnified in family offices, where the absence of external market discipline means governance quality depends heavily on-board engagement.
High-performing family office NEDs:
- Invest time in understanding the family system, structure and workings as well as the balance sheet
- Engage between meetings when material risks or opportunities arise
- Maintain regular dialogue with executives, advisers, and – where appropriate – family councils
This level of engagement builds trust and enables early intervention, reducing the likelihood of strategic drift or conflict escalation.
Culture, Challenge, and Psychological Safety
Family offices operate at the intersection of money and emotion. The IoD’s emphasis on board culture and constructive challenge is therefore central. NEDs must create an environment where difficult topics – succession, underperformance, spending discipline, or governance breaches – can be addressed without triggering defensiveness or fracture.
This requires:
- High emotional intelligence
- Clear role boundaries between family, owners, and executives
- A commitment to long-term outcomes over short-term appeasement
NEDs become custodians of both financial and relational capital.
Enablement and Information Flow
The IoD stresses that NED effectiveness depends on access to high-quality information and support. In family offices, information asymmetry is a common weakness, often due to informal reporting or over-reliance on trusted individuals.
Best practice includes:
- Clear reporting frameworks across investments, risks, and liquidity
- Independent access to external advice when required
- Ongoing professional development for NEDs, particularly in emerging risk areas
- Proactive engagement with auditors whether financial, internal, regulatory or otherwise
Technology and data analytics can materially enhance oversight, but only when paired with disciplined governance structures.
Incentives and Alignment
While family offices are not driven by shareholder remuneration norms, the IoD’s point on fair and aligned reward remains relevant. NED compensation should reflect the complexity, time commitment, and fiduciary risk inherent in the role. Under-remuneration often leads to under-engagement.
Equally important is non-financial alignment: clarity of purpose, respect for independence, and a shared understanding of success across generations.
Conclusion
Applied to family offices, NEDs Reimagined reinforces a clear message -governance must evolve to match complexity. Non-executive directors are no longer optional advisers; they are strategic assets. When properly selected, empowered, and engaged, family office NEDs provide the discipline, perspective, and continuity required to protect and grow family wealth across generations.
Boston Multi Family Office is ideally positioned to assist family offices that wish to expand internationally. We are a multi-jurisdictional fiduciary service provider with offices in the Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta and the UK that implement tailored governance solutions to clients. We embrace change, thrive in chaos and know differently.
Should you wish you to discuss family offices in more detail or interested to hear how Boston Multi Family Office can assist you, please contact Roelf Odendaal rodendaal@bostonmfo.com
Source
Institute of Directors, NEDs Reimagined: A post-Higgs review of the role and contribution of non-executive directors, January 2026
https://www.iod.com/app/uploads/2026/01/FINAL-IoD-Business-Paper-NEDs-reimagined-14.01-6ca5096ee6348f2301347e942a1ffe29.pdf