Today’s Modus newsletter is shorter than usual because I was mostly out of the office this week. New subscribers—welcome! Check out the newsletter archive, technology market map (much-needed updates coming soon) and allocation index. Reply to this email to say hello, send tips, and share what you want to read more about.
Casey Whalen, an admired allocator, has left Lazard’s wealth management unit and joined BDT & MSD Partners, the merchant bank and investment firm.
At BDT & MSD, she is a partner and will serve as CIO of investment advisory solutions.
“BDT & MSD’s relationship-driven approach and deep commitment to founders, family business owners, family offices, and foundations have long stood out to me. It is a privilege to help build an investment advisory solutions practice that combines customized, open-architecture portfolio management with an endowment-style approach grounded in a holistic understanding of the family enterprise and multigenerational objectives,” she said this week.
Whalen, a so-called “Yale cub” who early in her career worked with David Swenson at the Yale University Investments office, went on to work at Rockefeller University and New York Public Library, and started Truvvo, a multibillion-dollar wealth management firm where she also served as CIO.
In 2023, Truvvo, which managed $3.8 billion in assets at the time, was acquired by Lazard to create Lazard Family Office Partners. The deal boosted the size of an existing private client group at the asset manager to $8 billion in assets.
Coincidentally, BDT & MSD formed that same year, when BDT & Company combined with MSD Partners, the firm that invested on behalf of Michael Dell and his family, as well as other investors.
Privée Odyssey, a private brokerage for unique experiences, services and goods, is helping a client who can no longer attend the World Cup final sell access to their suite.
Privée works directly with ultra-wealthy individuals and often their family offices and financial advisors; it has a distinct network and operates with the utmost discretion.
2026 FIFA World Cup Final
DATE: Sunday, July 19, 2026 • 3PM ET
VENUE: MetLife Stadium • New Jersey, U.S.
THE SUITE: A private, Level 5, temperature-controlled room with the finest sightlines for 18 guests.
VIP stadium entrance
Bypass the crowds with dedicated priority arrival.
All-inclusive dining & beverages
A full food and premium bar service throughout the match.
Personal suite attendant
A dedicated host attending to your party throughout.
Don't need the suite but want to attend this and other events? Want to explore other sporting events and experiences? Contact Privée Odyssey using the link below.
More News
- A Modus exclusive last week: The New Arch CTO Has an Explicit Mandate: Unlock AI Insights for Its Customers.
- Will Congress end up divided this fall (Republicans maintaining control of the Senate while Democrats win control of the House)? UBS gives it a 50% chance, meaningfully higher than prediction markets, the bank noted in its latest quarterly publication for family offices.
- How a $45 Million Donation Brought Larry Ellison Deeper Into Trump’s Circle is a well-done story about a huge, previously unreported sum of money, and how the billionaire’s private friendship with the president has helped Oracle and his son’s media conglomerate.
- Leon Capital Group, the private holding company in Texas with financial services, healthcare, real estate, and technology businesses, has officially launched its own merchant bank called Valeon Partners. Its intention is to work much with family offices, private equity firms and founders.
- When Andreessen Horowitz Has a Sticky Situation to Solve, It Calls ‘The Wolf.’
- An independent consultant, as well as the competing browser extension Capital One Shopping, have accused Phia of taking credit for sales it didn’t make. The startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates, daughter of billionaire Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, has raised a total of $43.5 million from a long list of high-profile investors including: Notable Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Sydney Sweeney, Khloe Kardashian, Hailey Bieber and former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg.
- Billionaire Lewis Turns FX Trading Bets Into 500% Art Gains.
- Don’t forget that hobbies can be tax-deductible—when you do it right… Why a Couple Lost a $200,000 Tax Battle Over Their Horses. (Neeeeeigh-eeee!)
Jobs
- Elevation Capital, an early-stage venture fund, is hiring a managing director. This person will be the founder's trusted operating partner and execution leader. Most of the job will involve leading luxury residential, hospitality, estate, resort, and land development projects across North America and the Caribbean, but this person will also coordinate with the family office and related outside parties to improve its operations. This job is remote. No compensation details are in the posting.
- J.P. Morgan Private Bank is hiring a vice president of family office services and strategy in New York. The posting says: “This role sits at the center of one of the firm's fastest-growing segments—supporting the needs of the world's wealthiest and most complex families and family offices,” and the VP is expected to keep up that momentum. It pays a salary of $235,000 per year and offers other benefits.
- Whittier Trust Company is hiring a vice president client advisor in Menlo Park. They’re paying $200,000 with other benefits.
- Recruiting firm Launch Ventures is helping a quantitative, forward-thinking founder of a $3 billion asset management firm that invests at the frontiers of innovation (AI, robotics, space, genomics) hire a family office finance director in New York. This person will have responsibilities related to the operating business and the founder's private assets, and will also serve as the “ultimate professional right-hand.” Salary is $225,000.
- The Calendar Group, a recruiting firm, is helping a private-equity CEO hire a “financially minded” family office managing director to “oversee and optimize his personal financial ecosystem” in Westport, Connecticut. Total compensation will be about $250,000.
Other Stuff
- You should follow Modus on LinkedIn. 2,150+ other people do because it only posts relevant stuff a few times per week—no AI slop clogging up your feed from us!
- Have a news tip? Share information in confidence by replying to this email, or messaging me on Signal using a personal device that your employer cannot access: +1 330-962-6441.
- Modus has never had a better pipeline of original journalism and sponsors, and there’s some exciting stuff coming this fall. Want to sponsor the newsletter and be a part of it? Fill out this form for the media kit.
I'll be in...
- Home, hosting friends for an aperitivo.
- At a TBD New York beach on Sunday.
- At “the cabin” just outside Edmonton, Alberta, for the August long weekend.
- Working and vacationing in Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich and Dubrovnik in mid-August. (Will be my first time in Croatia, so please send tips and recs!)
