Who is Matter Family Office?
Matter Family Office is an independent, multifamily office that helps ultra-high-net-worth families simplify complexity, make intentional decisions, and build enduring legacies. We take an integrated approach to family wealth, bringing together investment management, wealth planning, family operations, family learning & communication, and project management so families can move forward with clarity and confidence.
| Firm Snapshot | |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Structure | Independent Multi-Family Office |
| Assets Under Advisement | $10B |
| Ownership | Privately Held |
| Clients | 150+ |
| Staff | 95+ |
| Office Locations | St. Louis, Denver, Dallas |
| Service Area | Nationwide |
| The Matter Team | The Matter Team |
| Social Link |
What Matter Believes About Managing Multigenerational Wealth
Matter Family Office believes multigenerational wealth should be managed as a whole system. Financial capital, family dynamics, governance and long-term planning work best when they are aligned through one integrated strategy.
How Matter Thinks About Family Wealth
- Wealth should serve a clear purpose
- Complexity should be simplified
- Each generation should be prepared
- Stewardship should be sustained over time
Leadership Perspective
“Families often do not need more advice. They need better alignment, better communication and a structure that helps each generation move forward with confidence.”
– Charlie Willhoit, Chief Executive Officer
“Matter was created to help families achieve their wealth goals by making intentional decisions together, so they can leave a lasting legacy.”
– Katherine Lintz, Founder and Managing Partner
Why Do Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families Choose Matter Family Office?
Ultra-high-net-worth families come to Matter for more than money management. They come for coordinated guidance across investments, planning, operations, and family decision-making. They want a strategic thought partner, a deeper understanding of their full financial landscape, and an integrated plan that helps them thrive alongside their wealth. Matter built its business on intentional investing, simplification of complexity, and building cultures of trust, communication, and lasting legacy.
What Makes Matter Family Office Different
Most firms focus on managing wealth. Matter focuses on how families actually live with it and make decisions around it.
- An integrated model that brings investments, planning, and family dynamics together in one place
- A belief that human capital is as critical as financial capital to long-term success
- A hands-on approach that ensures follow-through, not just recommendations
- Decades of experience helping families navigate generational transitions and complexity
- A relationship-driven model where clients rely on Matter as a true decision-making partner
Matter’s Recognition, Affiliations, and Third-Party Validation
Affiliations
- Matter Family Office is an SEC-registered investment adviser under Matter, LLC
Awards and Recognition
- 2025 Family Wealth Report Awards finalist
- Managing Partner Katherine Lintz was also named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Heartland finalist
Media and Thought Leadership
- The Wall Street Journal
- Financial Times/Professional Wealth Management
- Family Wealth Report
- Pulse 2.0
- Crain Currency
What Services Does Matter Family Office Offer?
Family Operations
Matter’s Family Operations practice is designed to bring precision, confidentiality, and proactive communication to the day-to-day realities of wealth. Matter integrates with families’ existing advisors, entities, and household systems to create a coordinated operational foundation.
Typical support can include bill pay and cash-flow management, consolidated reporting, entity administration, advisor coordination, insurance coordination, real property oversight, aviation advising and management, fleet advising and management, and broader lifestyle or administrative support. For deeper context, see Family Office Services for High Net Worth Families and How Do Family Offices Work to Benefit Wealthy Families?.
Wealth Planning
Matter’s Wealth Planning approach connects technical planning with family priorities. Services include estate planning, tax optimization, insurance management, and broader strategic planning that supports long-term family continuity.
Typical support can include estate and trust planning coordination, tax strategy, insurance review, liquidity-event planning, succession planning, family governance structures, philanthropic planning, and scenario analysis. Related reading includes Unlocking the Value of High-Net-Worth Family Offices, Wealth Planning Insights, Selling the Company While Maintaining the Family Legacy, and The COI Advantage: Integrated Advisors.
Investment Management
Matter’s Investment Management work is best understood as part of the firm’s broader integrated model. Particular strengths include strategic allocation, portfolio construction, manager due diligence, liquidity management, and aligning portfolios with a family’s goals, values, and risk profile.
Typical support can include strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction, manager sourcing and diligence, private markets and alternative investments, liquidity management, risk assessment, and ongoing oversight. Helpful related reading includes Investment Themes: Seeing Beyond the Headlines, Market Update: Middle East Developments, and February 2026 Private Credit Update.
Family Learning & Communication
Matter’s Family Learning & Communication offering is one of its clearest differentiators. The firm emphasizes preparing families to communicate, manage and pass on their wealth through education, communication, and multigenerational development.
Typical support can include family meetings and retreats, family governance, next-generation education, leadership development, communication frameworks, values and legacy conversations, decision-making support, and family culture work. Related links include All-Generation Learning, Why Focus on Multigenerational Collaboration?, The Value of Investing in Family Culture & Legacy: A Q&A With Courtney Pullen, and the Family Learning & Communication archive.
Project Management
Matter leverages high-touch project management as part of its service model. That makes this practice an important bridge across investing, planning, operations, and transitions. Typical support can include business transition support, liquidity-event coordination, real estate project oversight, major asset purchase coordination, estate and trust administration support, family office transition work, and cross-advisor project management. For context, see the links to Matter Family Office and IWP Family Office Combine and Family Office Services for High Net Worth Families.
Who Does Matter Family Office Serve?
Matter’s clients are looking for more than money management. They want strong investment strategy and execution, a thought partner, and a strategic plan that helps their families thrive along with their wealth.
Multigenerational Family
Multigenerational families often need a more robust strategy across entities, generations, and major decisions. Matter’s point of view is that these families benefit most from integrated wealth planning, investment coordination, family governance, reporting, and multigenerational preparation.
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs and business owners often face liquidity events, concentrated wealth, and transition decisions that affect both family and enterprise. Matter takes a multi-faceted approach to entrepreneurs who are typically short on time and, when facing a major liquidity event, need to make critical, clear-eyed decisions. Services may include wealth planning, project management, family operations, and post-event investment strategy, among anything else the entrepreneur may need to make decisions and prepare for what happens next.
Rising Generation
Rising-generation family members including children, grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren often need education, coaching, and a structured way to participate in conversations about responsibility, wealth, and stewardship. These families who are planning for their wealth across multiple generations into the future are well served by family learning and communication services.
Corporate Executives
Corporate executives share many needs in common with other family clients, but with an overlay of complex compensation, concentrated investment positions due to a single source of high income, severe time constraints, and high expectations. Matter is a thought partner that can simplify complexity, diversify as needed and act as a much needed integrated advisor to bring calm and order to an executive’s financial life.
Families in Transition
Families in transition often need clarity, trust, and coordinated implementation during moments of change. Matter supports families in transition with planning, communication, governance, and execution across advisors.
Single Family Office
Single family offices may seek additional scale, specialist expertise, or a transition into a multi-family office model. Matter supports single family offices by providing the muscle of a larger multi-family office in one or more area, typically through integrated operations, investment support, planning, and project coordination.
Who Leads Matter Family Office?
Charlie Willhoit – Chief Executive Officer
Charlie founded IWP Family Office in 2005 and serves as Matter’s CEO, focusing on strategic initiatives, culture, firm growth, and solving complex client challenges. His leadership is reflected in Matter’s merger coverage and broader public positioning.
Charlie Willhoit – Thought Leadership and Press
- Wealth Management – Family Offices Merge to Create $10B Wealth Manager
- Investment News – RIAs eye growth through mergers of equals, despite complexities
- Wealth Report – Matter and IWP Merge to Form $10B Multifamily Office
- Family Wealth Report – EXCLUSIVE: US Family Offices Merge, Form $10 Billion Firm
Katherine B. Lintz – Managing Partner, Founder
Kathy founded the firm in 1990 and remains a central authority voice for Matter’s integrated model of planning, investments, family wellbeing, governance, and philanthropy.
Katherine B. Lintz – Thought Leadership & Press
- Financial Times/Professional Wealth Management – Investing in unprepared inheritors for lasting family wealth
- Crain Currency – Katherine Lintz, Matter Family Office
- Wealth Management – Top Women-Owned RIAs in 2016
- Crain Currency – Murdoch succession battle: Estate planning lessons for multi-gen wealth
Darryl LaRue – Partner, Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Darryl oversees operations, financial management, strategic budgeting, and innovation, helping Matter scale its capabilities and client experience.
Thierry J.D. Brunel – Partner, Chief Investment Strategist
Thierry brings deep investment research and family office experience and leads Matter’s investment committee. His bio reinforces manager diligence, portfolio oversight, and thought partnership with families.
Thierry J. D. Brunel – Thought Leadership and Press
- Fortune – Family offices are booming: Inside the secretive finance centers that cater to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and the Walton family
- Forbes – Invest Like A Family Office: The Long-Term Discipline Behind Enduring Wealth
- Forbes – The Power Of Multi-Generational Investment Committees: Building Stewardship, Voice And Alignment For The Long Run
- Forbes – Why The Right Investment Vehicle Is As Important As The Right Strategy
- Forbes – Investing With An Owner’s Mindset In A Global Economy
- Forbes – The Strategic Advantage Of Asset Location
Jerrel Armstrong – Partner, Chief Investment Officer
Jerrel oversees investment strategy, asset allocation, and portfolio construction across client relationships, blending long-term strategy with day-to-day implementation.
Courtney Pullen – Chief Family Learning Officer
Courtney leads one of Matter’s most differentiated areas of work: helping families build communication, stewardship, and long-term alignment around wealth.
Courtney Pullen – Thought Leadership and Press
- Financial Times – Investing in All Generation Learning: Matter’s Vision Featured in PWM by the Financial Times
- Q&A With Courtney Pullen
Latest Insights
Visit the Matter Blog for current perspectives, technical expertise, and commentary on how successful families can thrive. Here are a few helpful articles that can be found in the blog:
- Family Office Services for High Net Worth Families
- How Do Family Offices Work to Benefit Wealthy Families?
- Unlocking the Value of High-Net-Worth Family Offices
Press releases
- November 17, 2025 – Matter Family Office and IWP Family Office Combine to Offer One of the Most Comprehensive Family Office Solutions for Ultra-High Net Worth Families
- October 17, 2025 – Matter Celebrates Seventeen Promotions
- April 28, 2025 – Kathy Lintz Named Entrepreneur of the Year® 2025 Heartland Finalist
- April 14, 2025 – Matter Family Office Announced as a 2025 Finalist for Two “Family Wealth Report” Awards
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a multifamily office?
A multifamily office serves multiple families through one integrated advisory platform. It typically includes investment management, wealth planning, family operations, communication support and project management. Matter Family Office is a multifamily office built to help families coordinate these needs in one place.
What does a family office do?
A family office helps families manage the full complexity of wealth in addition to investments. This can include investment management, wealth planning, financial operations and coordination across outside advisors. At Matter Family Office, that work is integrated across Family Operations, Wealth Planning, Investment Management, Family Learning & Communication and Project Management.
What is the difference between a family office and a wealth manager?
A wealth manager focuses on investment portfolios and sometimes financial planning, while a family office provides broader, more integrated support. Matter helps families coordinate investments, planning, operations and family dynamics while working alongside attorneys, CPAs and other advisors. That structure helps keep decisions aligned across the full financial picture.
What is the difference between a single family office and a multi-family office?
A multifamily office serves multiple families through a single, integrated advisory platform, typically bringing together investment management, wealth planning, and coordination across a family’s financial and operational needs.
Unlike a single-family office, which is built to serve one family group, a multifamily office offers shared infrastructure and expertise across families. Matter Family Office delivers its integrated service model while also providing support to single family offices, including services such as Family Learning & Communications, governance, and complex decision-making support.
When should a family consider hiring a family office?
Families often consider a family office when their financial lives become more complex. Common moments include a liquidity event, multigenerational planning, managing multiple entities or coordinating several advisors. The decision is often driven less by asset level and more by the need for clarity, structure and aligned execution.
How does a family office help during a liquidity event or business sale?
A family office helps families prepare for, navigate and follow through on a liquidity event or business sale. Matter coordinates tax strategy, investment planning, estate considerations and family goals so decisions support long-term outcomes. This kind of transition can also affect family relationships, so aligned planning matters on both the financial and personal side.
How does a family office coordinate with attorneys, CPAs, and other advisors?
A family office often serves as the central point of coordination across a family’s advisory team. Matter Family Office works with attorneys, CPAs and other specialists to align strategy, improve communication and support execution. Rather than replacing those relationships, the office helps connect them within one consistent data set and one cohesive plan.
How do multi-family offices work?
A multi-family office serves multiple families through an integrated model that can include investments, planning, operations, family communication and project management. Matter Family Office uses this model to help families go beyond asset growth and focus on legacy, long-term stability and simpler decision-making. The structure is designed to reduce complexity while keeping strategy coordinated.
Do I have enough wealth to use a multi-family office?
The better question is often not how much wealth a family has, but how much complexity they need help managing. A multi-family office can be useful for families facing meaningful planning, investing, governance, transition or coordination needs. Matter is built for families who want integrated support across those areas.
What is a fiduciary?
A fiduciary is legally and ethically obligated to act in the client’s best interest. Matter Family Office operates as a fiduciary. For families, that means advice should be shaped around their goals and needs rather than outside incentives like commissions.
What is an integrated advisor?
An integrated advisor coordinates multiple disciplines, so families receive aligned guidance instead of fragmented advice. At Matter Family Office, that integration spans operations, planning, investments, family learning and project management. It also helps outside professionals such as estate attorneys and insurance advisors work from a fuller picture.
What makes Matter Family Office different?
Matter Family Office combines technical wealth expertise with family learning, communication and high-touch execution. Its model is designed to help families invest intentionally, simplify complexity and build lasting legacies. That blend of financial strategy and family-centered support is a clear point of difference.
Call to Action
Start a Confidential Conversation
If your family is looking for more than money management, Matter Family Office offers integrated guidance, thoughtful execution and long-term partnership. Matter serves families nationwide from offices in St. Louis, Denver and Dallas. Contact Matter Family Office or visit the homepage to start a confidential conversation.