Michael Macfarlane is Principal Partner at Michael Macfarlane Associates, a private office that advises UHNWIs, Single Family Offices and companies on matters of reputation, legacy and philanthropy.
Michael Macfarlane is the Principal Partner of Michael Macfarlane Associates, a discreet international advisory practice built around the belief that in a world defined by AI, reputation has become a form of capital.
His firm serves ultra‑high‑net‑worth families, single‑family offices and influential private‑capital clients, with a special and growing emphasis on Asia – Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan – and beyond.
Drawing on more than twenty years of senior advisory experience, Michael helps some of the world’s most prominent families, family offices and other private clients to navigate the complex interplay between wealth, visibility, influence and legacy to achieve private, commercial, investment and philanthropic outcomes on a global stage.
He brings to each relationship a combination of intelligence‑led insight, cultural fluency, global networks and a consigliere mindset; and clients turn to him in moments of ambition, growth, challenge and change.
Prior to founding Michael Macfarlane Associates, he served as Global Director of Content, Brand and Communications for a London‑based single‑family office that managed multi‑billion‑dollar associate companies and invested globally in disruptive ventures.
He also led the launch and expansion of philanthropic initiatives, including the turnkey creation and management of a philanthropic foundation, building it from a kitchen‑table idea into a global NGO which has since cured 70,000 people of untreated cataract blindness in the world's most remote and impoverished communities. He was also founder of the 2030 Sustainable Development Collective Fund, channeling private wealth into development projects aligned to the United Nations 2030 agenda.
Michael was also formerly an advisor to a Switzerland‑based AI venture fund (approx. US $200 m) which invested in the component technologies of the AI revolution; and he also held a Board role at Paris‑based esports organisation Team Vitality. Prior to this he founded a global creative comminicatiosn firm at the age of 24 which was acquired age 29 by a global business‑communications agency with 600 employees across 14 offices, where Michael subsequently became Managing Partner, advising blue‑chip clients through IPOs and corporate transactions. He first began his professional career at advisory firm Brunswick in London.
His geographic and cultural footprint is international – Michael is based in London, with a strong operational presence in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai and Lisbon, and routinely engages clients globally. His client base, while global, is particularly anchored in Asia: many belong to family offices and dynastic enterprises in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China whose private, investment, commercial or philanthropic interests require a global purview.
As host of the YouTube series Wealth Office, Michael brings his deep global advisory experience directly to an audience of family-office executives, family principals and wealth-holders. In the programme he explores how reputation, capital and influence converge in the modern era – interviewing leading figures in private wealth, investment, governance, and digital disruption, with a particular focus on Asia-Pacific. This platform allows Michael not only to present original insight but also to convene the next generation of ultra-high-net-worth families around the emerging challenge of reputation in an age of AI.
Michael’s signature approach treats reputation not as an after‑thought but as a strategic asset – and often the largest unmanaged risk facing a UHNWI family or single‑family office. He offers a full‑spectrum practice: reputation architecture, leadership positioning, stakeholder engagement, crisis & litigation communications, media‑safe digital ecosystems, and philanthropy as legacy‑building. In particular, in an era where generative AI, algorithmic amplification, search‑engine dynamics and social‑media structures shape how individuals and families are seen (and heard), Michael helps ensure that reputation is proactively built, digitally resilient and aligned with the real ambitions of the family office.
At Michael Macfarlane Associates he leads a multidisciplinary team of in‑house specialists across communications, creative production, intelligence and digital reputation – holding to the core values of trust, intelligence and discretion. His working style is characterised by strategic composure under pressure, the ability to convert abstract reputational risk into actionable strategy, and the insight to craft narrative‑led opportunities for private, investment, commercial and philanthropic outcomes.
For families seeking to shape or protect their global standing, engage with new geographies, pivot philanthropic impact into media‑ready legacy, or integrate reputation into their broader governance of capital and influence, Michael stands apart. His counsel brings together the long view of legacy, the time‑sensitive realities of digital reputation, and the strategic possibility of turning influence into opportunity.
