Cambridge Associates, the investment consultant and management firm, has laid off 5% of its staff, an adjustment to its workforce that could spell opportunity for family offices.
The company dismissed about 75 of its roughly 1,400 employees. The layoffs affected many parts of the business, which advised and managed a combined $616 billion in assets as of its most recent 2024-2025 annual report. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the layoffs Thursday evening.
Like similar firms that consult with big investors on their portfolios or serve as an outsourced chief investment officer, Cambridge is facing pressure from clients about its fees, according to the Journal article. Sources also told the paper that clients embraced the recommended endowment-model approach to portfolios, allocating significantly to private equity, venture capital and other illiquid asset classes, and are now unhappy about how slowly capital has been returned to them.
The number of OCIO firms has also grown, making the business of managing a portfolio on someone else’s behalf even more competitive.
Cambridge did not comment about the layoffs in the Journal article, and the company declined to comment or answer questions sent by Modus.
Small staff reductions, in terms of percentages, are common as companies reassess how they allocate their resources. In 2017, Cambridge, then a 1,300-person firm, also laid off about 50 employees.
However, the firm has slowly grown its headcount over time. Cambridge CEO David Druley wrote in the most recent annual report that the company was “investing in our global client solutions team, expanding our geographic footprint” as well as “in financial technologies and artificial intelligence.” The company was actively acquiring other businesses as recently as last year, when it bought Zurich-based SIGLO Capital Advisors, effectively establishing Cambridge’s first office in Switzerland. As of this newsletter, Cambridge also has 23 open jobs posted.
The types of Cambridge employees laid off recently are unclear, but it means there could be as many as 75 professionals that family offices might want to hire.
Cambridge is best known for its work with endowments, foundations, insurers, and other institutional investors worldwide. But the firm has worked with family offices for over 40 years. The private client and family office group accounts for the largest percentage of Cambridge clients, at 31% (the next largest group is colleges and universities, at 19%). The private client and family office group is also the fastest-growing part of the firm, Druley said last year.
It’s unclear how many family offices get advice from consultants, but few are relying on Cambridge or others to manage their portfolios on their behalf. Only 22% of offices have hired an OCIO or plan to do so in the future, despite an increasing majority of smaller institutional investors similar in size to family offices choosing to outsource.
Family offices chronically struggle to find and hire professionals who have a combination of adequate experience, a genuine interest in working for them, and are the right fit given their often peculiar expectations. As the number of family offices has grown to several thousand globally, competition for top candidates is as intense as ever, and even 75 potential ones entering the pool is noteworthy. Many of Cambridge's employees have left to work for a family office.
“If layoffs affected mid-level consultants or analysts, those professionals can be attractive to family offices looking to strengthen their investment infrastructure. They generally bring strong process skills, manager research, risk oversight, and governance discipline,” Jacob Gamble, a principal at Cowen Partners who recruits for family offices, told Modus.
Skillsets can be easier to come by than the willingness and ability to work at a family office.
“Success in a family office often has less to do with pedigree and more to do with attitude. These are lean teams where everyone rolls up their sleeves. Former consultants who are able to check their ego at the door and are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the family thrives will do well,” said Gamble, whose previous experience includes investment banking, overseeing a $3.3-billion-dollar business at Fisher Investments, and serving as CEO of a publicly traded drug rehabilitation company.
At an organization with 1,400 employees, there are clear career ladders for employees to climb. Family offices are flat — another reason they can feel so different to employees.
“We’ve placed several candidates with backgrounds like Cambridge’s,” Gamble said. “This is where I sound like a broken record: the success rate comes down to mindset. Many experienced technicians don’t transition well because they underestimate how hands-on a family office really is. The ones who last usually tell us they wanted more direct impact, not another layer of process.”
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