Case Studies
We are proud to partner with clients across sectors, borders, and socioeconomic spectrums. Fractional Chief of Staff services are hyper-customizable by design — the same core method adapts to a nonprofit, a family office, or a government entity, each engagement shaped around what that partner actually needs rather than a fixed playbook. Our clients span the map below, and the case studies here represent a sample of that broader portfolio of partnerships. Explore a few of them — and see if you're ready to become our next.
01— Dubai Chambers
Sector: Government & Jurisdictional Partnership
Mandate: Design and execute a high-stakes delegation visit positioning Dubai as a premier jurisdiction for U.S. family offices and institutional capital.
Dubai Chambers — the quasi-governmental entity charged with promoting Dubai globally — came to us with a narrow window and a broad ambition: 48 hours in Chicago, and a mandate to reach the city's most relevant family office and public-sector stakeholders. We built the itinerary and opened the doors, securing meetings with:
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Northern Trust's Global Family Offices Group
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World Business Chicago, the city's premier public-private economic development agency
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Intra-governmental sessions representing Senator Tammy Duckworth's office, Governor J.B. Pritzker's office, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
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A roundtable with leading Chicago venture capital and family office principals
The stakes behind the ask: this delegation advances Dubai's Economic Agenda, D33 — a mandate to double the emirate's GDP to AED 32 trillion by 2033 and nearly double annual FDI, from AED 32B to AED 60B. Reaching the world's top three cities for living, working, and investing runs directly through partnerships with capital like Chicago's. This wasn't ambition alone — it was a government mandate, and we made sure the right people in the room understood the scale of it.
"When we arrived in Chicago, we had ambitious goals and a tight timeline. Within 48 hours, Callie had assembled a remarkable lineup of meetings — spanning financial institutions, public-private economic development, government offices, and Chicago's venture capital and family office community. These were not introductory conversations; they were substantive engagements with senior decision-makers, made possible entirely through Callie's personal relationships.
What stood out was not just the access, but the speed and intentionality behind it. Callie understood our objectives immediately and translated them into exactly the right rooms. For any organization looking to establish a foothold in a new market or accelerate relationships that would otherwise take years to build, Waban Impact delivers in ways that are genuinely rare."
— Cosmin Cristal, Senior Investment Attraction Manager
02— Benestar
Sector: Family Business Advisory
Mandate: Support succession planning, governance design, and peer exchange for next-gen leaders of Greater China's family businesses.
Benestar is a premium community for second-generation leaders of Greater China's family enterprises — a cohort inheriting into one of the largest wealth transfers in history. An estimated $2.7 trillion is projected to pass from first-generation founders to their heirs across Asia Pacific by 2030, yet most families remain unprepared: surveys show fewer than a quarter have finalized formal succession documentation.
We worked closely with Benestar's members on the mechanics families rarely get right on their own — succession sequencing, governance frameworks, and structured peer-to-peer exchange between next-gen leaders navigating the same inheritance, at the same time. Beyond advisory, at members' request, we connected the community to investment and venture opportunities — turning peer exchange into deal flow.
"It is my great pleasure to recommend Callie Kim. Over the past year and more, she has served as our specialist advisor in the family office space, focused on next-generation development and succession advisory for second-generation family business leaders. Callie is one of the few advisors I've encountered who combines a genuinely global outlook, deep professional expertise, and true cross-cultural fluency — bilingual in Mandarin and English, and precise in her understanding of each family's cultural context and practical needs.
Throughout our engagement, Callie provided not only systematic, patient guidance but also accompanied us in person on a study trip to the U.S. — handling everything from itinerary planning to on-the-ground support with meticulous care. She has a gift for building bridges of trust, helping family members work effectively with one another and with their professional teams. Whether designing tailored growth paths for next-gen leaders or turning the challenges of succession into opportunity, Callie consistently showed exceptional insight and follow-through.
I recommend Callie Kim without reservation. If you are looking for a family office advisor who truly understands the next generation, delivers real results, and brings genuine warmth to the work, she is the most trustworthy choice you will find."
— Richie Li, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Benestar
03 — Project: VISION
Sector: Nonprofit
Mandate: Redesign a workforce curriculum for young adults without a college degree, built for a direct path to full-time employment.
Project Vision was Waban Impact's first client — and it set the bar. A longstanding community organization serving Chicago's Chinatown and Bridgeport neighborhoods, Project Vision has spent over 23 years running free afternoon programming for local youth and families. Backed by a State of Illinois 21st Century grant, we rebuilt the program's entire curriculum from the ground up: multimedia, modular, and designed around how young adults actually learn and job-search today. More than 50 participants have moved through the redesigned program to date.
"We had a very positive experience working with Callie to overhaul our youth workforce development curriculum. She was professional and especially thoughtful in her approach to the entire process, carefully listening to the needs, goals, and expected outcomes of the program to get a full understanding of what we were looking for. The end result was an updated curriculum that intentionally targets needs of youth entering the workforce and beginning their professional journeys. We are excited to deliver it to our first cohort in 2024!"
— Karen Chiu, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Project: VISION