ACG 101 Oct 22 2026 Family Office Panel

Brian is a trusted advisor to high-net-worth families, offering tailored family office consulting services focused on preserving and growing generational wealth. With more than 30 years of experience as a management consultant, corporate executive, and entrepreneur, Brian brings deep expertise in financial strategy, governance, and transition planning to the unique and complex needs of wealthy families. 

Brian specializes in guiding clients through critical financial and organizational milestones—whether navigating succession planning, managing liquidity events, establishing private foundations, or aligning family values with investment priorities. His background in corporate leadership and strategic planning enables him to bring a disciplined, enterprise-level approach to the family office environment, ensuring clarity, continuity, and confidence across generations. 

As the founder of two successful consulting firms, Brian has provided innovative tax resolution and financial recovery services to individuals and businesses alike—experience that translates directly to helping families mitigate risk, optimize structures, and maintain financial health in a changing landscape. 

Earlier in his career, Brian served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Universal Studios Hollywood, where he oversaw strategic and financial planning, accounting, and IT. He has also held senior financial roles at Coach, Villeroy & Boch, and Pepsi Cola Bottling Group. 

Brian is a Certified Public Accountant and maintains affiliations with KPMG, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and the California Society of CPAs. He has contributed to academic programs at UCLA Extension and California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he served on advisory boards for Entrepreneurship and Taxation

Founding Partner and Head of Brand Development for Club Kokomo Spirits, a San Diego-based premium spirits and ready-to-drink cocktail company founded by my father, Mike Love, co-founder of The Beach Boys.

Club Kokomo Spirits is a family-backed investment that combines our passion for entrepreneurship, entertainment, and the beverage industry. Our award-winning portfolio includes premium rums, gin-based ready-to-drink cocktails, and innovative spirits crafted with high-quality, natural ingredients.

Produced in San Diego through our distillery, Seven Caves, Club Kokomo brings the laid-back Caribbean lifestyle to consumers through exceptional products, strategic partnerships, and expanding distribution.

Get there fast, then take it slow. Welcome to Club Kokomo!

Vessi Kapoulian is a family office advisor, board director, principal investor, best-selling author, and former commercial lender. She works at the board level with founder-led enterprises and their family offices, advising on strategic investments and M&A, due diligence, risk management, governance, and next-generation transitions.

Vessi began her career in commercial lending, where she managed a global credit portfolio of more than $1 billion in middle-market enterprises. That institutional credit training shapes the perspective she brings to the boardroom today: rigorous due diligence, downside protection, liquidity discipline, and a clear view of risk in strategic investments, direct deals, and complex capital allocation decisions.

Her advisory work spans three connected areas. On strategic investments and M&A, she helps families and founders evaluate transactions, managers, and direct investments with the same analytical rigor she applied to a billion-dollar lending portfolio. On governance, she helps families design decision-making structures, family constitutions, and succession frameworks that hold up when leadership changes. On next-generation transitions, she helps families sequence the transfer of roles, decision rights, and ownership responsibilities so the next generation is prepared when authority shifts.

As a principal investor in multifamily apartment assets, Vessi also brings a practitioner's view of real assets, operator evaluation, and portfolio construction.

Vessi holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Her guiding principle: Protect the downside. Build wisely across generations.

Chris is part of a team of expert wealth, tax, estate, and service professionals who help ultrahigh-net-worth individuals, families, and their other advisors build and manage private office 
solutions optimized for the client’s unique situation and priorities. 

Prior to joining Armanino, he was president of CCM Management Group. He has also held 
senior positions with Citigroup Alternative Investments and Nextera.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, 
and an MBA in finance from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of 
Business.

Natalia Sokolova is an entrepreneur, investor, SAG-AFTRA member, and Co-Founder of SGG World, parent company of Verda Family Office, focused on safety, security, and autonomous systems. She serves as President & COO of Cytta Corp. and Cytta Air. A Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Maryland with degrees in Finance and International Business, Natalia is also the author of Unbreakable: The Guide to TrueWealth™ and a Fulfilled Life.

Negin Bemanzadeh is an accomplished entrepreneur, investor, and visionary leader with a background in medicine and finance. She is the Founder and CEO of EEE Corp Group, a global organization she established in 2012 with a focus on financial, medical, and life sciences sectors, and she also leads a partner-owned advisory and family office in London and Los Angeles. Negin has been recognized internationally for her leadership, including receiving the British Community Honor’s Award at the House of Lords and participating in the World Economic Forum. Her work includes strategic partnerships with organizations such as the NHS and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, helping advance healthcare and life sciences innovation between the UK and the United States. In 2026, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Who’s Who in America, further recognizing her contributions to business, healthcare, and innovation. Negin is passionate about cross-collaboration, diversity, innovative thinking, and building meaningful relationships across industries and borders.

Kevin Dugan is Managing Director of PMC Capital, a family office-backed private investment firm focused on acquiring and growing middle-market businesses. With over 20 years of experience in M&A, investment banking, and private equity, Kevin co-leads the firm’s transaction sourcing, execution, and portfolio oversight.

PMC Capital’s family office structure provides a distinct advantage over traditional private equity, offering patient capital, flexible investment horizons, streamlined decision-making, and long-term financial support. The firm takes a hands-off approach to portfolio management, empowering leadership teams to operate and grow their businesses.

Prior to PMC Capital, Kevin spent 10 years at Greif & Co., advising entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses on M&A transactions. He holds an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business.