EP 28

New Podcast Episode: Building a 100-Year Family Office: Strategies and Insights

In this episode of The UHNW Institute Podcast, host Joe Reilly sits down with Kathy Lintz, board of directors member of the UHNW Institute, founder & managing partner at Matter Family Office and 2026 recipient of the Family Wealth Report Lifetime Achievement Award. Together they trace the firm’s arc from a fee-only planning practice started in 1990 to a multifamily office organized around four service lines: family operations, integrated wealth planning, best-in-class investments and a family learning and communication curriculum built over 25 years.

Kathy shares how early work with professional athletes shaped the firm’s approach to financial literacy, what prompted the rebranding to Matter Family Office and what it takes to sustain a firm built around a 100-year horizon. She also reflects on bringing in an outside capital partner and developing the expert generalists her team requires.

Topics discussed include:

  • How early work with NFL and MLB players shaped Matter’s family learning and communication curriculum
  • What “issue spotting” means and how advisors can anticipate family needs ahead of time
  • How technology is shifting junior advisors from administrative work toward client engagement
  • What Kathy looked for in a capital partner and why traditional private equity was not the right fit
  • What it takes to develop an expert generalist and why the path takes 10 to 20 years

Joseph Reilly

CEO & Founder
Circulus Group

I have a passion for connecting with people and love to hear their stories. More than anything else, I like to see people succeed. I believe that the real connector between people is trust, and it all starts with the people around me.

I have extensive experience in the family office world, and consult with substantial families on their operations, allocation and long term strategy. I was the co-founder and founding president of the Family Office Association in Greenwich, and currently maintain an extensive personal network of family offices, business leaders and decision makers globally. Previously I helped to start a single family office and foundation in New York where I was an investment manager for six years. I was an energy specialist focused on options and futures trading at Crédit Agricole Indosuez in New York prior to that, and started my career at Salomon Smith Barney.

I have spoken on family office issues at many conferences and have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, and Family Wealth Report, among others. I am on the Editorial Board of the Family Wealth Report and conduct a monthly interview series of luminaries in the family office and investment world. I was a founding member of the Family Office Council at Princeton University; am a member of the NYU Stern Family Office Council; was an advisor to the RDS Milken Family Office Council; and was formally an advisor to Addepar.

I encourage you to take a look at The Inheritance Project, which was founded in 1992, and is a collection of stories dedicated to exploring the emotional and social impact of wealth on inheritors. The main book, The Legacy of Inherited Wealth, was very influential on my work and is available free on the site.

I am also on the board of the Harvard Club of Western Massachusetts and active in the alumni association. Currently I am rereading one of my favorite books, The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow.

Kathy Lintz

Founder & Managing Partner
Matter Family Office

Kathy began her career in financial services at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. There, she had the opportunity to help develop and deliver one of the first financial education and planning programs in the country at The Chase Exchange. This experience led her to become an early CFP®certificant, and to begin building a fee-only, comprehensive, financial planning practice in St. Louis.

In 1990, with just two employees, Kathy founded the firm that would become Matter Family Office. Her steadfast vision and commitment to the integration of independent investments, deep planning and coordination, family wellbeing, governance, and philanthropy has evolved Matter into a thought-leading multifamily office. Kathy is tremendously grateful to all the talented, dedicated associates at Matter who have shared this vision and helped her realize it over the past three decades.

Kathy works with Matter’s client teams daily and loves building lasting relationships with the complex, multigenerational families we serve. She is also one of four managing members who lead the firm and is responsible for the Matter investment committee and active in evolving our industry-leading family culture and legacy services. As founder, Kathy takes a leadership role in aligning Matter’s values, capabilities, and future efforts with the firm’s core purpose of helping families realize their most important goals in an intentional, integrated, and authentic way.

Kathy spent her formative school years in Westport, Connecticut. She earned a BA in history at Duke University then settled in the New York area to start her financial career. She is a lifelong learner and enjoys building and sharing knowledge across a variety of topics, ranging from finance and investing trends to family psychology and communication.

A contributor to many articles, blogs and industry groups, Kathy is frequently asked to participate as a panelist at industry conferences. She has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Bloomberg, Financial Advisor Magazine, Financial Planning Magazine, and other financial publications.

Kathy and her husband moved to St. Louis in 1982, and she is an active member of the community. She is honored to serve as chair of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation finance committee and dedicated to helping children gain access to lifesaving care regardless of their financial circumstances. She has also been a board member of the St. Louis Boys and Girls Club and the St. Louis Zoo and brings her positive outlook, collaborative nature, and love of helping people to all the causes she supports.

While enjoying rich relationships with Matter families is a huge highlight for Kathy, her first love and priority is her own family—her husband, children, and grandchildren. She is energized by being outdoors and particularly enjoys hiking, tennis, and golf. And, at the end of a long week, Kathy most looks forward to her Saturday morning run with friends.