Our Team

Our Story

The Institute for Preparing Heirs was founded in 2009 by leaders in wealth transition family coaching and wealth management. For decades, Roy Williams and Vic Preisser have been at the forefront in coaching high net worth families through the often turbulent process of transferring wealth to the next generation. They’ve written books and articles on the subject, drawing from their wealth of knowledge, first-hand experience, groundbreaking family interviews and strong sense of family values.

Co-founder Diane Doolin is a high-end wealth management advisor who has long recognized the educational value to her clients of understanding the non-financial risk of wealth transfer. Diane recognized that there was a gap between the traditional wealth management services advisors provide to clients (estate planning, tax planning, investment management and philanthropic planning) and the post-estate transition coaching being provided by Roy and Vic to ensure that the family’s monetary value remains in control of the heirs along with the family harmony.

Together, Roy, Vic and Diane founded the Institute for Preparing Heirs to bridge the wealth management gap by encouraging development of professional development programs and innovative tools for advisors to help families of wealth prepare for wealth transition.  

 

About Roy Williams

Roy Williams is the acknowledged dean of post-transition research and planning. In 1994, he was awarded a doctorate (honoris causae) by the California School of Professional Psychology, the largest graduate school of professional psychol­ogy in the nation. The honor was given in recognition of Roy’s 30 years consulting with families on the crucial role of trust and communication in a successful family business and the transfer of wealth.

Roy completed the largest research project to date on family wealth transfers, studying 3,250 families to determine why only one-third of the families succeeded in retaining their wealth and family harmony into the next generation. In 1995, Roy was privileged to speak before The House of Lords in London, and he has been quoted in The International Herald Tribune and The Financial Times regarding his work in the wealth-transfer field. He graduated from the University of the Pacific in 1963, and played tackle for the San Francisco 49ers.

 

About Vic Preisser

Vic Preisser is a much sought-after speaker on the challenges and opportunities facing affluent families and their professional advisors when transferring wealth to heirs. He has extensive experience in coaching and mentoring heirs on career choices, and assisting heirs as they adjust to those choices. He also trains institutions to work with their high-net-worth clients on wealth transfer issues. With the Fortune 500 companies where he served as a senior executive, two state level cabinet appointments, and three businesses within his own family, Vic brings practical experience that has proven essential to family coaching. Vic served as the Director of the Institute for Family Business and Resident Professor of Manage­ment at the University of the Pacific. As a frequent lecturer to graduate schools of major educational institutions, he has authored numerous case studies on strategic and organizational issues. Vic also holds BS (summa cum laude) and MBA degrees, both from Stanford University.

 

About Diane Doolin

Diane K. Doolin is the Senior Partner of The Doolin Group at a large national brokerage firm. She is a wealth advisor for the past 24 years. Her primary focus is client relationships, investment management and advanced financial planning. She is founder of Client University, a program that has been recognized throughout the country for outstanding client education and a Founding Director of the Institute for Preparing Heirs. She has been recognized in Barron's top list of 100 Women Financial Advisors as well as in the Los Angeles Business Journal's list of the Top 40 Wealth Advisors. She brings to the Institute a keen understanding of the need for creating streamlined processes, turnkey marketing materials and innovative tools and resources for professionals to use in their practices for the benefit of countless families in transition.

 

Executive Office

Institute for Preparing Heirs

Carol Sherman, Director of Marketing

csherman@preparingheirs.com

Carol brings more than two decades as a results-driven marketer with strong writting, communications, creative and strategic planning skills. Prior to joining the Institute, she served as Marketing Director for one of the nation's largest independant mortgage lenders where she utlized her team building skills to successfully lead business development and marketing functions for one of the lender's most profitable divisons. Carol was responsible for driving Internet and web-based strategies, retention/referral programs, market share growth and brand strategy. In addition, she has authored numerous magazines articles primarily of interest to the legal community.  

 

 

Gillian Gough, Office Manager

ggough@preparingheirs.com

 

301 N. Lake Avenue, Suite 810

Pasadena, California 91101

Telephone: 626.389.8664

Email: contact@preparingheirs.com or contact us

 

 

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