Association of Trust Organizations Annual Meeting Attracts Industry Leaders

ADA, Okla. - Sept. 4, 2014 - PRLog -- The Association of Trust Organizations (ATO), formerly Association of Independent Trust Companies, Inc. is holding its annual meeting this year from September 28 – 30, 2014 in Las Colinas, Texas, focusing on helping members grow their business during a cycle where owners are transitioning their firm’s to the next generation.  The theme of the conference ‘Spotlighting Next-Gen Growth’ has attracted a record number of attendees looking to understand the current generational needs and building their businesses for the future.

ATO will release its annual salary and incentive comparison report that will provide some industry benchmarking that can be valuable to members.  The comparison data will help start conversations among attending wealth management and trust advisory firms to help them with issues with generational transitioning as well as assist members with getting started in the industry.

“We are very excited about this year’s theme at our annual meeting as we feel that we are at a point in the industry cycle where many of our business owners and executives are transitioning their businesses and their firms to the next generation of ownership and management,” said Daniel Carter, ATO President.  “There is also the trend of a generational transfer of wealth that’s going to be occurring from the baby boomers to millennials so trying to understand the differences between those generational needs, we believe, is going to be the key towards building our businesses for the future.”

There will be a number of experienced wealth advisors discussing topics relevant to the next generation of advisors.  Some key speakers include Mark Harnett of Argent Financial and Tony Fadool of Federated Investors. In addition, M&A in the industry has been a hot topic with banks looking to increase their fee income and trust companies providing a way for them to do this. Liz Nesvold of Silver Lane Advisors and Jim Minnick of Lovell Minnick Partners, LLC will address what trust should be looking out for in the M&A space and how it can impact their business.

“Over the past five years, we have noticed an increase in this older generation of owners and executives bringing their next generation team members to the meeting,” said Bond Payne, ATO Board Member and Annual Meeting chairman, whose membership represents over $150 billion private wealth and trust assets under management.  “This networking opportunity is a huge benefit for next generation trust advisors and we are expecting to see the largest attendance at the meeting in its 15-year history.”