ABOUT US

CORE VALUES

Cypress Trust Company holds certain fundamental beliefs that have formed the foundation of our relationships with our clients, our communities, and with each other. These are our Core Values. They are part of our corporate DNA, and they guide our attitude and our decision-making.

Integrity

Our commitment to honesty and transparency lies at the heart of who we are and what we believe. Professionalism, trust, respect, and a strict code of ethics are conveyed through all interactions with our clients, our associates, and our community.

Client-Centric

We put our clients’ interests ahead of our own. We take a highly personalized approach to define what is most important to them. We develop and deliver customized solutions to accomplish their goals now and for future generations.

Accountability

We strive to establish and meet clear expectations with our clients and with each other. We work together to resolve any issue fairly and responsibly.

Teamwork

Our clients benefit from the collective strengths, diversity, and unique perspectives of our team. We take a collaborative approach in working with our clients and other trusted advisors to create solutions that meet evolving needs.

Passion

Our passion for what we do is a powerful driver of superior achievement. We are passionate about supporting each other to be the best that we can be. We are committed to the pursuit of excellence.

Balance

We recognize that maintaining a healthy balance between what we do professionally and what we do for ourselves is important to our overall corporate success and personal well-being. We are fully supported in achieving that balance.

HISTORY

Cypress Trust Company was founded in Palm Beach, Florida in 1996 during a period of hyper bank merger and acquisition activity. During this historic period in U.S. financial history, many traditional trust departments were consolidated, talented trust officers displaced, account loads increased to unserviceable levels, trust fees raised, most small trust accounts eliminated, and many irrevocable trust accounts were forced into1-800 call centers located in other states.

Our founders felt that many of the trust and investment management clients that were negatively impacted by “merger mania” would value the opportunity to do business with a local firm that offered traditional fiduciary and investment management services provided by competent people they knew and respected. Cypress Trust Company received its charter to transact a general trust business from the Comptroller of Florida and Commissioner of Banking on October 23, 1996.

Cypress Trust Company’s philosophy of building customized trust and investment management solutions that meet clients’ unique needs and preferences and its commitment to providing highly personalized service differentiated it from its bigger competition. In addition to attracting clients from throughout Palm Beach County, the Company also attracted many clients from the Treasure Coast and Southwest Florida areas. To better serve those clients, a second Cypress Trust Company office was established in Vero Beach in 2005, followed by a third Cypress Trust Company office in Naples in 2006. To better serve its growing client base in Central Florida, a limited facility was established in Winter Haven in 2008, later becoming a full service Cypress Trust Company office in early 2013. In addition to its offices in Palm Beach, Vero Beach, Naples, Winter Haven and Jacksonville, Cypress Trust Company also has representation in Sarasota and The Villages.

Cypress Trust Company continues to consider offices in other special Florida communities where its philosophy of building customized trust and investment management solutions that meet clients’ unique needs and preferences and its commitment to providing highly personalized service would be valued.

WHY CYPRESS?

Focus

Cypress Trust Company exclusively provides trust administration and investment management services.

Customization

As a boutique trust and investment management firm, we have the ability to customize our services to fit the unique needs, preferences, and family dynamics of our clients. We do not have a “one size fits all” philosophy.

Personalized Service

We invest the time required to fully understand what our clients are trying to achieve, to develop unique solutions that meet their individual needs, and to meticulously execute the strategies that have been agreed upon.

Objectivity

All Cypress Trust Company associates are salaried employees – not commissioned. Our clients never have to question whether the solutions we are recommending are in their best interests or ours because of the way we may be getting paid. We are a corporate fiduciary, and as such, we are held to a higher standard. Our mandate is to always put our clients’ interests ahead of our own.

Collaboration

We feel that our clients are best served when we collaborate with their other trusted advisors during the solutions development process. Our goal is to help our clients have the best possible solutions for achieving their goals.

Pro-Active Communication

We recognize that our clients’ lives are not static. Things change. Some changes are planned and some come as a surprise. There are changes in careers, retirement goals, income needs, family status, health condition, residency, inheritances, gifting plans, and just changes in the way our clients feel about things. We believe in pro-actively communicating with our clients and their families on a regular basis so we can remain aware of their circumstances and help them adjust their strategies to meet the changes in their lives.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

C. Gerald Goldsmith, Chairman of the Board

C. Gerald Goldsmith joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Trust Company in 2012. After a career on Wall Street with Wertheim & Co. and A.G. Becker, Mr. Goldsmith was Chairman of I.C.D. (New York Stock Exchange) until 1976 and has subsequently been an independent investor. He is currently a director of Flagler Bank and Scripps Florida Funding Corporation, and a trustee of Chatham Lodging Trust. Mr. Goldsmith has held numerous directorships, including the Presidency of his family companies Solomon-Goldsmith Cotton and Goldsmith Farms, NYSE directorships with Florida National Bank, Nine West Group, Inc., U.V. Industries, American Banknote, Abacus Funds, Meditrust, Innkeepers USA and Seven Arts Productions, as well as directorships of Royal Bank of Canada International and Sterling Trust Bank. He was a founder and chairman of Palm Beach National Bank & Trust Company, and has been a director of closely held real estate companies including those owning the Taft, Commodore and Drake Hotels. He is on the Board of Trustees for the Palm Beach Public Employees Fund, and is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors for Good Samaritan/St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, former member of the Board of Trustees for the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, an Emeritus Director of Pace University and is a past member of the Zoning Board and Town Council in Palm Beach, FL. Mr. Goldsmith is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Business School, and a former officer in the United States Air Force.

Biplab K. Das

Biplab K. Das joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Trust Company in 2012. Mr. Das has been a Director of Credit Suisse AG, Switzerland advising clients in all aspects of finance across the globe. He has served in a multitude of strategic functions in investment management and investment banking in virtually all major financial centers of the world – New York, Toronto, Zurich, Basel, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Channel Islands – during his long career with two of Switzerland’s largest global banks. Mr. Das began his banking career in New York, in 1978, with Swiss Bank Corporation, the predecessor firm of UBS AG. He has also worked as a volunteer in East Africa for a global Microfinance Institution. In addition to Cypress Trust Company, Mr. Das is a member of the board of a number of for-profit and non-profit organizations in the US and India, and serves as the non-executive Chairman of a commercial bank in India. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and an MBA from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business (NYU/Stern) in 1977, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from the University of Calcutta in 1971.

Vithala R. Rao

Professor Vithala R. Rao joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Trust Company in 2017. He is the Deane Malott Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing and Quantitative Methods, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Professor Rao holds master’s degrees in mathematical statistics from the University of Bombay and in sociology from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in applied economics/marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has published over one hundred and thirty five papers on several topics including conjoint analysis and multidimensional scaling, pricing, bundle design, brand equity, market structure, corporate acquisition and linking branding strategies to financial performance. Current work includes competitive bundling, diffusion of attribute information for new products, and trade promotions. Papers by Professor Rao have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Research, among others. He has been honored with the 2000-01 Faculty Research Award of the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, the 2005 Robert D. Buzzell Award for the Best Paper by the Marketing Science Institute, and the 2008 Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award presented by the American Marketing Association and the American Marketing Association Foundation recognizing his “outstanding leadership and sustained impact on advancing the evolving profession of marketing research over an extended period of time.” Professor Rao was selected as the ISMS Fellow in 2012 in recognition of his significant contributions in research, education and service to the Society of Marketing Science’s efforts to improve the understanding and practice of marketing. More recently in 2016, the American Marketing Association awarded the distinction of “AMA Fellow” for his significant contributions to the research, theory and practice of marketing, and/or to the service and activities of the AMA over a prolonged period of time. He is the co-author of Applied Multidimensional Scaling, Decision Criteria for New Product Acceptance and Success, and Analysis for Strategic Marketing. Professor Rao has edited a volume of research papers entitled Handbook of Pricing Research in Marketing and published a book, Applied Conjoint Analysis. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing (as an Associate Editor), Customer Needs and Solutions (as a Senior Editor), Journal of Marketing Research (as a reviewer), Marketing Science (as a reviewer) and Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing (as a reviewer). He is also an ad hoc reviewer for several journals including Management Science. Professor Rao was the past Chair of the Marketing Strategy Committee of INFORMS, and a Board Member of Zenotech Laboratories from 2005 to 2008. He has taught at several other Schools including the Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, Columbia Graduate School of Business and the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India.

Dana S. Kilborne

Dana S. Kilborne joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Trust Company in 2018. She began her thirty-year banking career in 1985 in South Florida before moving to Central Florida in 2000. In 2004, Ms. Kilborne founded Prime Bank and served as President and CEO and on its Board of Directors. In 2010, Prime Bank merged with Florida Bank of Commerce where she also served as Director and President/CEO of the bank and holding company, FBC Bancorp. In 2016 FBC merged with Sunshine Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunshine Bancorp, a NASDAQ traded company. Ms. Kilborne served as Co-­President and Chief Commercial Officer of Sunshine Bank, and additionally served as a Director of the bank and holding company. Sunshine Bancorp successfully completed a sale to CenterState Bank in January 2018. She currently serves as a Director of NCMIC Insurance Company based in Des Moines Iowa and HealthFirst Inc., an Integrated Delivery Network, based in Melbourne Florida. Ms. Kilborne is a former Director of the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Atlanta-Jacksonville Branch 2015-­2017. She has served on the board of many community organizations, currently including, Chair Elect of Economic Development Commission of Space Coast, Immediate Past Chair Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy and East Coast Zoological Society of Florida. Past board service includes the Florida Bankers’ Association, Chair of the 2014 Florida Bankers’ Association Annual Convention, Chair of the Economic Development Commission Ad Valorem Tax Abatement Council and as a member of the Brevard County Blue Ribbon Transportation Committee. Ms. Kilborne earned a B.S. Degree in Finance and a Masters’ Degree in Banking. Her published thesis was entitled “Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook for the Community Banker” and she received the Orlando Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award in 2014. Ms. Kilborne and her husband, Briggs, have three children and live in Merritt Island.

Indrajit Bardhan

Indrajit Bardhan joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Trust Company in 2018. Dr. Bardhan is a finance professional based in New York, with over 25 years of experience in investment banking. Most recently, he served as the global head of Prime Services at Credit Suisse, overseeing the financing and brokerage services to hedge fund clients, as well as the funding and liquidity of the equities division.  Before joining Credit Suisse in 2009, Dr. Bardhan was at Merrill Lynch where he was COO of Prime Services. There he was responsible for risk, profitability and strategy, and was the head of funding, capital and liquidity for the equities division. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Dr. Bardhan spent 13 years with Goldman Sachs Securities Services in New York and London where he traded a range of products including convertibles, warrants, stock loan and delta one products. He holds a bachelor’s degree from IIT in Mumbai India as well as a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in operations research from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Bardhan lives in New York with his wife and four children.

Padmasree Chigurupati

Padmasree Chigurupati joined the Board of Directors of Cypress Capital Group, Inc. and Cypress Trust Company in April, 2019. She has extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has been President of FDA approved Hemarus LLC, located in Jacksonville, FL since 2008. Padmasree worked as a scientist at Iowa State University (1990-1993), Cornell University (1993-1994), New York University (1994-1996) and Paracelsian Inc. (1996-1999). She has had her research published in two journals and is co-inventor of two US Patents. Padmasree has an MSc. degree in Biochemistry.

Patrick Dillon

Patrick Dillon joined Cypress Trust Company in 2009 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019. He also serves as Chief Financial and Operations Officer and Secretary of the Board of Directors. Prior to these roles, and over the course of fifteen years, Patrick was responsible for financial reporting and financial planning & analysis at several multinational entities, including Grupo Grifols and Knowledge Integrated Marketing. He attended the Business School of the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and received his B.A. in Physics with a concentration in Business from Florida Atlantic University.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT

LOCAL LEADERSHIP