Geneva · Independent Swiss Trustee · Est. 2019

We help families achieve what wealth alone cannot provide.

We don't preserve wealth. We preserve what wealth is meant to serve.

    Roots.
    Stability and continuity, across generations you may never meet.
    Resolve.
    Clarity and certainty when it matters most.
    Responsibility.
    The kind of trust that only comes with time.
About

An independent house, held to a private-bank standard.

Magnolia Private Office is an independent, partner-led Swiss trustee in Geneva. We act for a carefully selected group of families and corporate clients across trusteeship, wealth structuring, family governance and corporate services.

The work is enduring. Relationships are measured in decades, not engagements. Decisions are taken by the partners who carry them, and conversations stay between the people in the room.

Magnolia is FINMA-licensed and supervised, the framework within which Swiss trusteeship is now practised, and a standard we take as a starting point rather than a finish line.

Founded
2019
Supervision
FINMA
Headquarters
Geneva
Model
Partner-led
Services

Four areas. One standard of care.

Every engagement is led by a partner and shaped to the family it serves. The work is enduring, and the standard of care does not vary across mandates.

Trusteeships & Foundations
Acting as trustee or council member for private trusts and foundations: structures designed to hold, govern and pass on what matters across generations.
Wealth Structuring
Considered structuring for international families: holding companies, succession vehicles and cross-border arrangements aligned to long-term objectives.
Family Governance
Charters, family councils and decision frameworks that translate values into structures the next generation can lead with confidence.
Corporate Services
Administration, directorship and domiciliation for Swiss and international companies. Discreet, compliant, and built to last.
Team

Experience that earns trust.

"Families don't remember structures. They remember whether someone was there when it mattered."

Walter Stresemann
Walter Stresemann
Founder & Managing Director

Walter has spent over thirty-five years inside the moments that define a family's future: the handovers, the disputes, the decisions no structure can make for you. He founded Magnolia because he believed this kind of work deserved a firm built around it. English, German, French.

Ivano Colautti
Ivano Colautti
COO, Senior Risk and Compliance Officer

Ivano is the reason the firm runs as it should. Over twenty-five years building the foundations that allow everyone else to focus. It is the kind of work that only becomes visible when it is absent. The families may never meet him. They benefit from him every day. Full member of STEP and GCO. French, English, Italian.

Mario Cohn
Mario Cohn
Managing Director

Mario combines legal precision with a rare ability to simplify complexity. Families come to him for structures, but often remember him for the conversations that made those structures possible. Spanish, English, German, French, Portuguese.

Céline Schwok
Céline Schwok
Senior Executive Director

Céline trained in the world's most demanding deal rooms (Clifford Chance, Paris, London, New York) before choosing to apply that rigour somewhere the stakes are personal rather than commercial. Over fifteen years on, she brings the same precision to private client work and to philanthropy, two fields where getting it right matters in ways that go beyond the transaction. She is the person you want reading the document no one else has read carefully enough. French, English.

Silvia Patane
Silvia Patane
Senior Relationship Manager

Silvia has built long term and trusting relationships with a particular focus on Latin American and Brazilian families as well as with her professional partners through something remarkably simple: she does what she says she will do, every time. That consistency, sustained over years, is what trust actually looks like. MBA, Business School of Lausanne. French, Italian, English, Portuguese.

Pilar Martinez
Pilar Martinez
Senior Relationship Manager

Over fifteen years in the trust industry has given Pilar one clear conviction: the families who feel truly looked after are the ones whose adviser was paying attention between the meetings, not just during them. Full member of STEP. Spanish, English, French.

Marie-José Villar
Marie-José Villar
Senior Relationship Manager

Over twenty years working with international families has taught Marie-José that the structures matter far less than the relationships they're built on. She has seen enough to know the difference, and to know which one lasts. French, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese.

Marie Crevecoeur
Marie Crevecoeur
Senior Trust Manager

Marie's path, from private aviation to trust administration, gave her something most CVs don't show: an instinct for what discretion actually looks like in practice, not just in principle. Joined Magnolia in 2020. French, English.

Sonja Tomaiuoli
Sonja Tomaiuoli
Trust Administrator

Sonja moved from bank back-office to a Geneva family office before joining Magnolia in 2023. She arrived knowing how to listen before she spoke, which, in this work, is most of the job. Federal Commercial Degree. Spanish, French, English, Italian.

Angelica Heinzen
Angelica Heinzen
Office Manager & Executive Assistant

Angelica has been at Magnolia since October 2019. She was there at the beginning, and helped build the office from the ground up alongside Walter. What started as four walls on the Quai des Bergues is now a place people genuinely enjoy coming to work. Before Geneva, she spent several years in Australia as a Communications and Sales Manager in real estate, then over ten years at Vistra Geneva in a range of senior roles, including Executive Assistant to one of its founders. What she built at Magnolia is the kind of environment that makes everything else possible. Swiss Federal Commercial Diploma. English, French.

Christophe Couture
Christophe Couture
Finance Director

Christophe built his financial career across Paris, London and Geneva before finding that the work he most wanted to do was the work that mattered most to individual families. He brings that choice, and everything it took to make it, to Magnolia every day. Associate Chartered Management Accountant. French, English.

Laurent Ponti
Laurent Ponti
Senior Accountant

Over twenty years across Geneva fiduciaries gave Laurent a technical depth in trust and foundation accounting that takes decades to build. Families rarely see it directly. They feel it in every set of accounts that is exactly right. Joined Magnolia in 2022. French.

Remi Ogaard
Remi Ogaard
Assistant Gestion

Over two decades in family offices taught Remi that trust is never assumed: it is built over time. Taking the time to listen, appreciate each client's perspective, understand what matters to them, and earn their confidence through reliability and genuine care: that has always been the work that counts. BA in Management, Webster University Geneva. English, French, basic Spanish.

Julie Meesemaecker
Julie Meesemaecker
Administrative Assistant

Over ten years at Vistra Geneva (as Receptionist, then Office Manager) gave Julie an instinct for what a well-run office needs before anyone has to ask. She joined Magnolia in April 2026 because she wanted to bring that experience somewhere the work is personal, not just operational. French, English.

Governance

Board of Directors.

Stewardship begins with governance. The board provides the independent oversight that allows Magnolia to honour its commitments: to clients, to the firm, and across generations

Walter Stresemann
Chairman · Founder & Managing Director

Founder of Magnolia. Responsible for the firm's strategic direction and long-term client relationships.

Liane Elias Hoffmann
Independent Director

Liane has spent over twenty-five years in the Swiss financial sector, with a particular focus on governance, legal and compliance. She has held senior positions at several international banking groups, including Fortis Bank and Bank of China, where she was involved in establishing the Geneva operations and navigating the related FINMA regulatory framework. She has served on the boards of Swiss financial institutions since 2020 and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management SA. Law degree, University of Geneva; Master's in Compliance Management. French, English, Italian.

John Parent
Independent Director

John has spent over thirty-five years across finance, banking and business management, including senior positions at BNP Paribas, Ericsson Capital Management and Lloyds International Private Bank, where he sat on the executive committee. In 2012 he established his own independent advisory practice, working across a range of mandates including life sciences. He currently serves as board member and head of risk and compliance at Heron Wealth Management, Geneva. BA in Economics and Mathematics, Indiana University; MALD, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; Diploma in International Economics and Trade Law, IHEID Geneva. English, French, German, basic Mandarin.

Consultant
Fabrizio Patane
Consultant

Fabrizio has worked in international financial and estate planning for more than thirty years, long enough to have built a trust company from the ground up, sold it, and chosen to keep doing the work because he genuinely believes in it. He founded Althea S.A. in 2010, sold it to Vistra Group in 2013, and subsequently served as co-Managing Director of Vistra Geneva before joining Magnolia. He advises private clients on the implementation of corporate, foundation and trust structures. Law degree, University of Geneva. French, Italian, English.

Insights

Considered notes from the practice.

What the new Swiss Transparency Register means for families with corporate structures

On 26 September 2025, the Swiss Parliament adopted the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities, known as LETA.

Read

When your trustee is sold: what families are rarely told

Over the past decade, the Swiss trust market has seen increasing consolidation, with independent firms joining larger groups, private equity-backed platforms and internat

Read
Contact

A conversation is the only way to know if there is a fit.

We work with a carefully selected group of families and corporate clients. If you are considering whether Magnolia might be right for you, we would be glad to hear from you.