Welcome

Presenter: Ruth Easterling, Managing Director, Member Services, Family Office Exchange

The Highest and Best Use of the Private Trust Company

Presenter: Sara Hamilton, Founder and CEO, Family Office Exchange

Family Enterprises grow out of successful family businesses, but they expand to include other operating companies, the family’s philanthropic interests, a family office, and eventually a private trust company. Both the family office and the private trust company support the broader enterprise, which is governed by enterprise boards that set strategic direction and capital allocations for the collective family enterprise. How the family office and private trust company interact together is critical to the success of the family and the enterprise. The roles that the PTC might play in support of the enterprise will be discussed in this session, along with how to ensure that strategic planning is done in tandem across the enterprise.

The Private Trust Company – A Strategic Solution for the Family Enterprise

Moderator: Ruth Easterling, Managing Director, Membership Services, Family Office Exchange

Panelists: Ryan Harding, President, Garden Trust Company and Managing Director, IFO Group, LLC
Laura Liang, Vice President of Operations and Accounting, Duncan Family Office / Dan L Duncan Foundation
Bob Puck, Retired President and CEO, WLD Enterprises, a Single Family Office

The PTC represents an elegant evolution of the family enterprise by solidifying the role of the family in managing all of the family assets (more than just trust assets) and implementing its strategic plan. In this session, family office executives share considerations in forming a PTC, the role the PTC plays in supporting the enterprise, and how it interacts with the family office in support of the broader family enterprise.

Attendees will learn:

• The role of the PTC in implementing the family strategic plan through discretionary trust decisions and family member development
• The contributions the PTC makes to elevating the services provided to the family and to family governance
• How the PTC can evolve over time and adapt to the needs of the family within the family enterprise

What Does it Really Mean to be a Trustee? How Well Can a Private Trust Company Satisfy the Requirements?

Presenter: Richard Johnson, Partner, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP

An industry expert provides a candid assessment of the powers, responsibilities, duties and potential liabilities of a trustee and how a PTC can effectively address them while meeting a family’s needs and goals.

Discussion will include:

• Types of trust structures and options available to families
• Distinguishing characteristics of each option
• Circumstances for which each option might best suit a particular family
• How a family-owned and controlled trust company is well-suited to effectively meet a family’s needs and goals

Governing the PTC: Owners and Directors

Presenter: Rob Galloway, Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP

Once a family has decided to develop a PTC and establish its role, it needs to consider how to structure and manage the entity.

Factors include:

• Identifying a proper ownership structure for a dynastic charter
• Choosing a board; knowing what to look for and considerations about using non-family members
• Implementing required/desired officer positions, and the qualifications for each
• Implementing required and desired committees, understanding how they function, and how to go about choosing members
• Accepting trusts and making trust decisions

Cocktails and Dinner
Tableau New Orleans
616 St. Peter Street 

Opening Remarks and Recap of Day 1

Presenter: Ruth Easterling, Managing Director, Member Services, Family Office Exchange

Choosing the Right PTC Charter State

Presenter: Miles Padgett, Partner, Kozusko Harris Vetter Wareh Duncan LLP

The first step after deciding to form a PTC is choosing the best home state for the family to help achieve its vision. This requires a balancing act that weighs convenience, trust and trust-company laws, regulatory environment, quality of probate courts and trust bar, and tax environment of the states under consideration. This session will explain the “Four Building Blocks” that make a state suitable for chartering a PTC and identify which states currently have them.

Building blocks include:

• Excellent trust laws
• Tax laws and policies focused on economic development
• Positive public policy context
• Geographic convenience (location and interstate authority)

Turning the PTC Idea into an Operating Trust Company

Presenter: Carleen Schreder, Partner/Owner, Levin Schreder & Carey
Amantha Butler, Head of Fiduciary, Family Office, BNY Mellon Wealth Management

Once the PTC has been legally formed comes the critical step of bringing it to life within the family enterprise. This session provides a roadmap for considerations in establishing services, optimizing the role of the PTC, family office and service structure.

The roadmap will cover:

• What is the alignment of the PTC services with other entities within the Family Enterprise – the Family Office, Family Council, etc.?
• What activities will be outsourced?
• Who will staff the trust company?
• What communications and processes do we need?
• Where do we execute and house operational documents?
• How do we migrate to a fiduciary culture?

Approval, Supervision, and Examination of PTCs

Presenters: David Spohngellert, President, United Continental Corporation
Matt Tobin, COO, Managing Director, and Legal Counsel, South Dakota Trust Company LLC

Depending on where the entity is chartered, a PTC may receive a limited scope review, once every three years or sooner, based on its volume and type of fiduciary activity. In this session, a veteran of trust company examinations and a PTC executive will provide insight into what to expect from “standard” examination procedures, including:

• Chief criteria for charter application approval
• State regulatory requirements for operations that PTCs sometimes do not expect
• Goals and focus of examinations
• Preparing for the examination
• Examination process
• Post-examination responsibilities of management

Insights and Perspectives from Experience

Moderator: Ruth Easterling, Managing Director, Membership Services, Family Office Exchange

Panelists: Ryan Harding, President, Garden Trust Company and Managing Director, IFO Group, LLC
Diane Malarik, Managing Director, COO, Moreland Management Company
David Spohngellert, President, United Continental Corporation

PTCs are known to be a powerful tool in long term family governance. Once the structure is established, the challenge is transforming the structure to maximize its potential as the center of the family’s wealth preservation pursuits. PTC Executives share insights on their journey in utilizing the PTC as a strategy for the family, selecting a situs, establishing operational guidelines, defining role of the PTC and family office and integrating the structure into the family system.