TEDCO to Put Family Offices Center Stage at 2026 Entrepreneur Expo

Single-family offices hold an estimated $5.5 trillion in combined wealth, and TEDCO wants Maryland founders to know how to reach them. The Maryland Technology Development Corporation has announced an "Inside the Family Office" session at its 2026 Entrepreneur Expo, scheduled for October 27, 2026, at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor.

The session targets a structural gap in founder knowledge. Family offices have become an increasingly important source of capital for early-stage and growth-stage companies, yet many founders find them hard to read. Unlike venture funds, family offices do not operate on fixed fund lifecycles, often invest across a wide range of asset classes, and frequently bring operating experience alongside the capital they deploy.

Who is on the panel?

TEDCO has assembled four operators and investors with direct family-office experience:

• Todd Ruppert, CEO of Ruppert International, a holding company with global interests in financial services, disruptive technologies and private equity, and former CEO and president of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services.
• Amir Ansari, co-founder of xFoundry Alliance and inaugural executive director of xFoundry@UMD.
• Grace Webster, family office director at Total Wine & More, where she advises the Bethesda-based retailer's founding family on governance, investment strategy and charitable giving.
• Anita Gupta, co-founder of KiwiTech, a Falls Church, Virginia-based startup investment and technology platform she built with her siblings.

Katherine Hill Ritchie, senior director of venture funds at TEDCO, will moderate. Panelists will share how they evaluate opportunities, what makes founder outreach stand out, and where Maryland's technology and life science companies fit within their investment strategies.

Why do family offices trip founders up?

The core mistake, according to Hill Ritchie, is treating a family office like a venture fund. "Founders often approach a family office the same way they approach a venture fund, and that is usually where it goes wrong," Hill Ritchie said. "These are patient, relationship-driven investors with their own priorities and their own timelines. Understanding how they actually think is the difference between an introduction that goes nowhere and one that turns into a long-term partner."

The numbers explain why the pitch matters. Deloitte Private counts an estimated 8,030 single-family offices worldwide, up 31% since 2019. It projects the wealth they represent will grow from $5.5 trillion to $9.5 trillion by 2030. These investors are also moving steadily from passive fund positions into direct deals.

Their stated priorities map onto Maryland's economy. In the 2026 Global Family Office Report, J.P. Morgan Private Bank found that 65% of the 333 single family offices it surveyed across 30 countries plan to prioritize artificial intelligence, ranking it the top investment theme ahead of healthcare innovation. For founders in a state built on life science and technology research, that is capital worth understanding.

What else does the Expo offer?

TEDCO's Entrepreneur Expo drew more than 1,170 attendees last time, gathering the region's entrepreneurs, business owners, innovators, venture capital investors, legislators and support resources for a full day. The 2026 edition takes place in Baltimore, which the organization cites among the top 20 best cities for entrepreneurs. The program includes interactive workshops, keynote guests Anirban Basu, Tamla Olivier and TEDCO's Troy LeMaile-Stovall, and a full day of discussions and networking. Registration is open at tedcomdexpo.com/event/2026/register.

The bet behind the session is straightforward: as family offices shift from passive positions to direct deals and prioritize AI and healthcare innovation, Maryland's research-driven startups are positioned to capture a share — if their founders learn to speak the family-office language first.