Family Office & Private Wealth Management Forum West (Opal Group)

The Family Office & Private Wealth Management Forum West is Opal Group's West Coast edition, held over three days each October at the Napa Valley Marriott Resort & Spa. The 2026 forum runs from 21 to 23 October. It mirrors the flagship Newport forum in format and pricing, at a smaller scale and with a Californian audience.

Who attends

Family offices, endowments and foundations on the investor side; investment managers, wealth managers, attorneys, accountants and other advisors on the provider side. Opal puts both in the same room and is open about it, pricing each category differently. Attendance leans West Coast, with technology-derived family wealth well represented, which gives the private markets and venture sessions a different flavour from the East Coast events.

How access works

Registration is online, with the attendee type verified before a pass is issued. Managers and service providers pay US$2,895 at the early-bird rate (to 30 August in 2026) or US$3,195 standard. Family offices, endowments and foundations verified as end investors, meaning they invest their own money rather than selling to others, and holding at least US$100 million, attend at no charge. Opal reserves the right to re-verify past delegates before granting a further complimentary pass, and on-the-day registration is at full price for everyone.

That verification step puts the forum between the open conferences, which check nothing, and the screened forums, which cap provider numbers. Opal checks who you are and charges accordingly, but does not publish a limit on provider places.

What attendees get

Three days of panels, fireside chats and keynotes across asset allocation, private equity and venture, real assets, direct investing, family governance and succession, with networking through breaks, meals and evening receptions. Panels are led by consultants and family offices, and slide decks are limited to educational speakers, which is Opal's answer to the sales problem in a mixed room.

Napa in October does much of the work: the setting keeps the group together outside sessions in a way a city hotel does not. For a qualifying family office on the West Coast, a free three-day pass is a cheap way to test Opal's format without flying to Newport; for a provider, the published rate buys access to a smaller but investor-heavy room. Opal also runs a one-day Winter Forum in New York each March for families who want a shorter first look.