The Acker family, the descendants of the founder of Sleepy’s, a mattress brand founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931, sold their remaining stake in the company as part of a sale to Mattress Firm in 2016.

That liquidity event came with a clear mandate: the money from the sale of the generational family business should be spent to support everyone in the family.

For Imagine Holdings, the Acker family office, that obligation takes precedence over growth, a more conventional family office objective.
“The top priority is to take care of the people closest to us,” said Spencer Acker, a descendant, partner and investment strategist at Imagine.

Acker took the role in 2022, tasked with turning things around after some difficult years. He quickly discovered a fundamental mismatch between the family’s needs and the portfolio he inherited.

Money was going out every month to support the family, but much of it was tied up in illiquid investments and compounded by significant philanthropic commitments.

Acker had to deleverage the balance sheet, reassessing philanthropy, without abandoning the family’s long-term strategic involvement in those causes.

The portfolio was also reshaped. Imagine Holdings stepped back from large, illiquid and higher-risk investments, avoiding early-stage venture capital and reducing its private equity exposure. The office maintains a modest, liquid private market allocation, with the bulk of the portfolio in public equities and tax-favorable New York municipal bonds.

“When you are playing with your own family money, giving up flexibility over capital is the most dangerous thing,” he said.

An austerity program was introduced, formalizing budget approval and tying spending decisions to liquid assets, rather than the total portfolio.
Since this was done, the SFO has turned a corner. It has healthy liquidity, no debt, and runs as a much leaner operation. “It was difficult, and there were nights and weeks that I didn’t sleep, but now it is second nature,” he said.

Acker said that Imagine Holdings is now in a position where it can take advantage of opportunities that surface, without compromising its mandate.

This article first appeared in Officium, Institutional Investor's weekly family office newsletter. Subscribe here.