The Fertility Family Office | IMA ART Beverly Hills

Take a trip to Beverly Hills, and one private concierge service you might not expect to find is the world’s first fertility family office. The foundations of IMA ART Fertility were established in Hong Kong in 2015 by Ron Sonnenberg, long before the firm relocated to California and evolved into its current form. In 2022, Michelle Tang joined the firm as CEO, shortly before its relocation to Beverly Hills, California.

IMA (pronounced ee-ma) ART Fertility was created to provide UHNW clients with high-touch, end-to-end advisory support and oversight at every stage of the journey to parenthood.

White Glove Fertility Family Office

Both Tang and Sonnenberg were living in Hong Kong before relocating to California, which is uniquely positioned to operate what is presently the world’s first fertility and surrogacy concierge model. Tang spent over a decade in banking compliance and risk management at UBS Global Wealth Management, Natixis and PwC, where governance is non-negotiable. This commitment to governance lies at the heart of IMA ART Fertility, where each client’s privacy and emotional support take centre stage. 

“We run IMA ART Fertility like a Swiss private bank. Our service is highly bespoke to every single family. We do not post pictures of the families or the surrogates. We do not post any testimonials. Everything is very private,” says Sonnenberg. 

In addition to bringing a strong focus on risk governance, Tang holds an Executive Master’s Degree in Luxury Management and Guest Experience from the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland.

This unique combination of governance expertise and luxury service standards distinguishes IMA ART Fertility as it advises private clients and family office families from across the globe.

Fertility Governance for Modern Families

Most firms operating in the fertility space utilise a mass market approach characterised by fragmented appointments and generic
protocols. It is a clinical conveyor belt designed for volume, not for the individual

Utilising a fertility family office model means that every step of the journey, from IVF and coordination of egg and sperm banking to genetic screening and legal oversight, is designed with intentionality and absolute discretion.

“We’re not interested in scale,” explains Sonnenberg. “Any fertility journey, especially one that involves crossing borders where clients are flying in from all over the world, demands a lot of assistance. We are available to these families seven days a week, 365 days a year. Pregnancy does not take the weekend off!”

ART refers to Assisted Reproductive Technology. This fits into the first of three key pillars of IMA ART Fertility: the medical pillar. Families are given a full fertility consultancy during which all IVF pre-screening considerations are assessed to map out the optimal journey, before embryo creation and storage. The second pillar is the legal pillar, which is paramount for any family to consider before embarking on the emotional journey of starting or growing a family. 

It is this legal pillar that differentiates countries and states from one another. In most countries, surrogacy is illegal. By contrast, in California, and indeed much of the US, any couple – married or unmarried – can rest assured that surrogacy laws mean they are legally protected, as the parents of the child, carried to term by the gestational carrier.

“Surrogacy is a very big part of the fertility journey for many families who want to grow their family. If you’re a single man, or a couple, you need eggs (we have an extensive egg bank network here in America) and you need a uterus to grow from embryo to delivery nine months later,” says Sonnenberg.  

IMA ART Fertility works with leading reproductive attorneys to match families with surrogate matches, and draft legally enforceable contracts to protect full parental rights and privacy once the child is born. The surrogate has no legal claim to the newborn. To reflect the unique demands of carrying a baby for nine months, IMA ART Fertility’s surrogates are well compensated above the market average.

The third pillar is the concierge service. Arriving clients are met and greeted at the airport and personally escorted to their Beverly Hills hotel. Clients are also personally escorted to the IVF clinic for treatment. 

“It’s why we’re in California, and in particular, Beverly Hills. For most of the year, it’s not too hot, it’s not too cold. It is a lovely location to spend two weeks undergoing fertility treatment. There are numerous five-star hotels, Michelin-star restaurants, and world-class shopping on Rodeo Drive. IVF treatment itself is not too time-consuming. You’re in the clinic maybe every other day. We plan every detail of our clients’ two-week trip,” confirms Sonnenberg. 

A Trusted Referral Path For Family Offices

Sonnenberg got the idea for a fertility family office after noticing how often family offices and succession planning were covered in the financial press. Given that infertility rates reach 17.8%, according to the World Health Organisation, Sonnenberg and Tang sought to address the most human aspect of what a family office stands for: preserving the bloodline. 

“We googled fertilityfamilyoffice.com, and to our surprise, nothing appeared. If you don’t have a next generation, you don’t have continuity,” says Sonnenberg.

Wealth professionals may be aware of their clients’ fertility issues but feel it is too difficult a topic to advise on. Knowing that such a bespoke service now exists changes the dynamic for UHNW clients and their family office advisers, giving them a trusted referral path for one of the most consequential personal decisions their clients will ever face; handled with the same precision and discretion they expect across every other dimension of their affairs.

The most important question a client should ask themselves is: Are we prepared to invest the time? 

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” says Sonnenberg. “Things don’t always go smoothly. We’re dealing with humans. Our surrogates are screened emotionally, medically and legally, and there can sometimes be problems along the way. But when challenges arise, Michelle and I step forward to rectify them.

“We bring not only Swiss private banking governance protocols to the client’s fertility journey but an Asian client service standard that just doesn’t exist in America.

“When you are a volume-driven fertility business, it’s an entirely different experience. With IMA ART Fertility, we show it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Contact IMA Art Fertility