Joanna Sun
Head of Family Office Design | ACFBA, ACFWA
Joanna is Head of Family Office Design at Lipman Burgon Private Office, guiding multi-generational families on succession, governance and legacy preservation across cultures and generations.
With global experience advising high-net-worth families, Joanna brings a cross-cultural perspective to succession and intergenerational planning. Her understanding of diverse family values and belief systems helps her manage the complex emotional, relational and governance dynamics of generational wealth transfer, particularly in transnational contexts spanning Australia, Southeast Asia and Greater China.
Her expertise includes family enterprise strategy, next-generation development, succession planning and the creation of effective family office advisory boards. As a second-generation family enterprise member herself, Joanna has lived through the practical and emotional realities of succession firsthand. This gives her an authentic connection with the rising generation as she understands both the founder’s perspective and the next generation’s, having sat in that seat herself.
Her work centres on designing family governance frameworks and policies with a family dynamic focused approach. Joanna specialises in designing and implementing family councils and family advisory boards, as well as family charters and decision-making structures. She is also an expert in coaching families collectively on structural communication, in conjuction with delivering structured next-generation development programs that prepare rising family members for ownership and leadership.
In addition to her role at Lipman Burgon, Joanna is the co-founder of Emerald Family Enterprise Group, where she specialises in architecting bespoke family office solutions for Asia Pacific’s ultra-high-net-worth families. Navigating the delicate intersection where substantial family wealth meets complex family dynamics, compressed generational wealth evolution and cross-cultural tensions is a key capability.
Joanna holds dual Bachelor degrees in Business Management and Arts from Monash University and a Master’s degree in Financial Planning from Kaplan Professional. A Certified Family Advisor, Joanna also holds Advanced Certificates in Family Business Advising (ACFBA) and Family Wealth Advising (ACFWA) from the US-based Family Firm Institute (FFI), is a Certified Executive Chair through the Advisory Board Centre and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors Course.
