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News Release: GenSpring Launches International Research Study on Sustaining the Family Enterprise
Palm Beach, FL—March 22, 2011

GenSpring Family Offices, a market leader among independent advisors and family offices, announced today the launch of its latest ground-breaking research study, Sustaining the Family Enterprise: Understanding the Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Governance Practices. The international study expands on a well received 2009 pilot study on family enterprises. The study is being conducted in collaboration with several notable national and international researchers, including Kirby Rosplock, PhD, Director of Research & Development, GenSpring Family Offices; Dianne H.B. Welsh, PhD, the Hayes Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Juan Roure, PhD, Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain; and Juan Luis Segurado, Researcher at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain.

Phase II of the study focuses on the governance practices and policies along with the entrepreneurial orientation of the family enterprise. The researchers propose that these core elements are critical to sustaining the family enterprise for multiple generations. Conducted in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Family Firm Institute (FFI), the pilot study provided the base of information on the relationship of the family business to the family office and explored various issues pertaining to when, how and why some families opt to start family offices, or join a multi-family office and the challenges and success factors that families encounter to sustain their business and their wealth.

"Gaining insights into a family's approach to managing its enterprise, assets and other ventures is vital to providing comprehensive and tailored wealth management advice for each family's unique objectives," says Steve Barimo, Chief Innovation Officer at GenSpring Family Offices. Ann Kinkade, President at Family Enterprise USA, a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to raising awareness of the economic and societal contributions made by family enterprises commented, "Ongoing research into family enterprise is essential, as entrepreneurial families and family businesses are responsible for 80% of all new job creation and roughly 57% of the total GDP of the U.S."

Participation in Phase II of the study is open to family business members who own/have owned a family business with revenues of $50+M and/or have personal net worth exceeding $20M and have/had a family business. The study is being conducted in English as well as Spanish and anticipates having approximately 20-30% of its sample being international. "The family enterprise is a significant engine of economic growth and driver of wealth creation world-wide," shared Kirby Rosplock, Ph.D., GenSpring's director of research & development, "The study may identify best practices when it comes to governance and entrepreneurship that will aid in perpetuating the family business." Some of the pilot study insights findings included:

• 86% of the families intend on passing the business onto the next generation, and half (50%) have a succession plan in place.
• Many families are concerned with devising an effective investment policy (45%); leaving a legacy (40%) and wealth transfer planning (40%).
• When comparing the views of different generations of the family, the senior generation perceives themselves as having a higher entrepreneurial spirit than the younger generation when it comes to the family business and the family wealth.
• Most families identify a number of challenges facing their families including developing family agreements, implementing a family succession plan, addressing risk management concerns and legacy and executing on wealth transfer goals.

To learn more about how you can participate in the "Sustaining the Family Enterprise" study, please contact Kirby Rosplock or submit a Request to Participate in the Study form. You will not receive any solicitation for business from GenSpring as a result of completing the request form or participating in the study.

Once limited to a few of the world's wealthiest families, the benefits of working with a GenSpring family office are rapidly becoming known to a wider circle of ultra-high net worth families. A market leader among family offices, GenSpring now serves more than 700 families in 17 countries. Unlike traditional wealth management firms, GenSpring's family offices combine comprehensive wealth management advice and service tailored to each client's needs and objectives.

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About GenSpring Family Offices

Founded in 1989, GenSpring Family Offices LLC, an affiliate of SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI), is a leading wealth management firm for ultra-high net worth families. With over $20 billion in assets under advisement, GenSpring, including its affiliates GenSpring Family Offices International and GenSpring Charleston LLC, is trusted by more than 700 of the world's wealthiest families to oversee or manage important aspects of their financial lives. GenSpring is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and has 15 family offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Costa Mesa, Denver, Greenwich, New York City, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Palm Beach, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Sarasota, and Washington, DC. GenSpring was named 2010 Family Office Team of the Year by Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), ranked #1 in Investment News magazine's 2010 Top RIA Rankings of Independent Advisors and most recently ranked #1 on Forbes' 2011 list of Top Fee-Only Advisors. For more information on GenSpring Family Offices please visit www.GenSpring.com.