Talent and the Professionalisation of Family Offices: A Conversation with Paul Westall of Agreus
Paul Westall,
Co-Founder, Agreus Group
Episode 3 of the AYU Family Office Podcast
The quality of a family office is ultimately determined by the quality of the people running it. In Episode 3 of the AYU Family Office Podcast, Gus Morison speaks with Paul Westall, Co-Founder of Agreus Group the world's leading recruitment and talent consultancy dedicated exclusively to family offices. Paul has spent over a decade placing investment, legal, finance, and operational professionals into family offices across the globe, and his insight into how the industry is evolving is both data-driven and hard-won.
What Is Agreus and Why Does It Exist?
Paul co-founded Agreus with Tayyab Mohamed in 2010 after recognising a significant gap in the market. Family offices both single and multi had unique and highly specialised hiring needs that mainstream financial services recruiters were not equipped to serve. The discretion required, the breadth of the roles, and the cultural fit expectations of principal families demanded a different approach entirely.
Since then, Agreus has grown into a global operation with offices in London, New York, and Singapore, placing professionals from entry level through to C-suite across investment, legal, accountancy, finance, and operational roles in family offices worldwide.
Paul's Route to Family Office Recruitment
Paul's path to founding Agreus is anything but linear a thread he shares with many of the people he places. He began his career in sports management and athlete representation, moved through marketing and sales roles in health, and then spent six years in financial services recruitment across corporate banking, private banking, wealth management, and investment banking. When approached by a client from the single family office space, he recognised an opportunity that was underserved, high value, and wide open. Agreus was the result.
That journey gives Paul a distinctive advantage: he understands how people with unconventional backgrounds think about career transitions, and he has placed many professionals into family offices who came from outside the traditional private wealth pipeline.
The Hiring Challenges Family Offices Face
The talent challenges in the family office space are unlike those in any other part of financial services. Family offices hire rarely turnover is low, roles are bespoke, and the wrong hire has a disproportionate impact on a small, high-trust organisation. The expectations placed on candidates span technical depth, interpersonal sophistication, and cultural alignment with the family's values and operating style.
Paul is candid about the complexity. A family office CIO is not just an investment professional — they are often an advisor, a trusted confidant, and a representative of the family's interests across a complex ecosystem of external managers, advisors, and counterparties. Finding candidates who can operate at that level, with that discretion, is genuinely difficult.
Professionalising the Family Office: A Global Trend
One of the most significant themes in Paul's work over the past decade is the professionalisation of the family office sector. As more families formalise their investment and operational structures, the demand for institutional grade talent has grown substantially. This shift is visible across geographies: London, New York, Singapore, the Gulf, and increasingly Asia and Latin America.
Families that previously relied on trusted individuals from within their personal networks are increasingly recognising the value of bringing in professionals with deep sector expertise, formal governance frameworks, and track records from institutional settings. Agreus works at the intersection of these two worlds, helping families navigate the transition without losing the culture and discretion that define the sector.
Career Paths Into the Family Office Space
For professionals considering a move into the family office world, Paul's perspective is invaluable. The sector is growing, the compensation is competitive, and the work is genuinely varied. But the cultural requirements are demanding, and the visibility that comes with smaller organisations means that character and judgment matter as much as technical credentials.
Listen to the Full Episode
Episode 3 of the AYU Family Office Podcast is available now on Spotify and all major podcast platforms.
Not yet an AYU member?