Finding Her Voice & Creating a Legacy

Amy Hart Clyne, CFP®Chief Knowledge & Learning Officer Amy Hart Clyne has dedicated her career to helping prosperous families fulfill the promise and potential of their legacies and achieve wealth momentum. As Chief Knowledge and Learning Officer, Amy brings more than 25 years of experience in the ultra-wealth space. Located in Pitcairn's New York office, her primary focus is to expand the firm’s position as the leader in family learning by building out its proprietary Wealth Momentum® family office model. As part of this effort, she will be responsible for the creation and development of the Pitcairn Center for Family Legacy—the company’s industry think tank intended to provide unique resources, thought leadership, and educational tools to families in transition.

Amy has an MBA in Marketing from Columbia Business School, Columbia University and a BA in International Relations from Colgate University. She holds the designation of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and is a candidate for Family Firm Institute’s Family Business Advisor certification.

Amy is an avid skier and trained PSIA Adaptive Ski Instructor. She relishes the challenge of a tough spinning class and seeks the quiet contemplation she nearly finds every time she attempts yoga. She’s a weekend gardener with no green thumb. Above all else, Amy values the power of learning. She constantly seeks out opportunities to better understand the world around her and inspire lifelong learning in others.

Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow

For over 40 years, Dennis has been one of the leading architects of the field of family enterprise consulting. As both an organizational consultant and clinical psychologist, he helps multi-generational families to develop governance practices that build the capability of next generation leadership and ensure ongoing capability of financial organizations and family offices to serve their family clients.

An acclaimed speaker, workshop leader, and writer, Dennis is one of the most recognized names in the field of family business, having helped hundreds of families and their advisors work through generational transition issues. He has written more than 100 articles, and his books have influenced the development of the field.

His most recent book, Borrowed From Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprise (Wiley, 2020) reports on his interviews with family members from 100 global 100-year business families. His other books include Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations (James Grubman, co-author), Stewardship in your Family Enterprise: Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across Generations, and Working With the Ones You Love, one of the original books that defined the challenge of family business. He is a Family Business Fellow at the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University, a faculty advisor at the Ultra High Net Worth Institute, a regular contributor to Forbes Leadership channel, reporting on family cross-generational family business and wealth, and a professional member of STEP, Society for Trust and Estate Planners.

Since its inception, he has been an active member of the Family Firm Institute, presenting at annual conferences, serving on the board, designing and delivering educational courses in their GEN program and writing for the Family Business Review. In 2017 he was recognized by the organization for his international work, and in 2004, received their prestigious Richard Beckhard Award for contributions to professional practice. For 35 years, he was professor of Organizational Systems and Psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco, where he is now professor emeritus. He received his B.A. in Philosophy, M.A. in Management and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University.

“At this stage of my career I am thinking of my legacy and how I can pass on what I value and what I have learned about family enterprise to new generations,” Dennis says. “I am delighted to be working as a mentor to younger colleagues, and to the large global families served by BanyanGlobal.”