Who We Are
The Centre for Family Office Excellence (CFOE) is a global education and training hub dedicated to empowering the next generation of UHNW family office leaders. In partnership with Henley Business School and top-tier international hosts, CFOE bridges the gap between inherited wealth and responsible leadership.
steve Bernstein
CO-FOUNDER AND PROGRAM ADVISOR, SENIOR MD, LONE STAR FUNDS
Steve is currently Managing Director of Lone Star Funds based in Hong Kong. Prior to Lonestar, he co-founded and was Chief Executive Officer of SinoPac Solutions and Services based in Hong Kong. Previously, he was CEO of Oppenheimer Investments Asia managing all Asian investment banking activities based in Hong Kong. He has had extensive experience in Asia since 1983 and spent five years in Japan during his 23-year career at Citigroup. He started his career in the International Fixed Income Sales division at Salomon Brothers in New York. In 1994, he moved to Tokyo to manage Fixed Income Sales and Trading in Asia and served as Chief Administrative Officer of the joint venture Nikko Salomon Smith Barney. Returning to the U.S. in 1999 as senior staff to the Chairman and CEO of Salomon Smith Barney, he worked on planning and strategy for the Corporate and Investment Bank, integrating acquisitions such as Schroeders PLC and overseeing disaster planning and business continuity in the wake of the September 11 attacks. From 2003 to 2005, he was tapped to run Global Securities Services for Citigroup’s Corporate and Investment bank.
Steve holds a BSBA from Boston University.
ANNA STEPHENSON
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR
Anna is a seasoned financial services professional with a richly diverse functional background, including Management Consulting, Technology, Operations, Relationship Management, Risk Management and COO responsibilities. Anna’s career experience has spanned the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, the Equity Derivatives business and the full suite of Transaction Banking products, and has taken her to London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Significant roles include Co-Founder & COO of SinoPac Solutions and Services Ltd (Hong Kong), COO and Deputy President of NikkoCiti Trust Bank (Tokyo), Regional Head of Operational Risk Management (Hong Kong) and Regional Head of GTS Client Delivery (Hong Kong).
Anna has an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and has been Co-Chair of Women in Finance Asia, Hong Kong and a previous President of the Association for Women in Finance in Tokyo.
She is a popular public speaker and panel moderator, for both diversity-related and industry-related events.
BENJAMIN JAMES
GENERAL MANAGER
After starting his career at a boutique private equity fund in Shanghai, Ben worked in capital markets and real estate having been part of the founding team of the UK’s first residential Real Estate Investment Trust, KCR Residential REIT Plc, which he took through the IPO process in 2015 and acted as Director of Property Acquisitions. After managing the sale of a majority stake in KCR to private equity fund Torchlight Group, Ben has been engaged as a consultant in real estate private equity and as a founding team member of innovative home finance platform Liqquid.
Ben has a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Bristol and a Masters in Management (MSc) from SOAS. Ben speaks mandarin Chinese and German with fluency.