ABOUT US

 

Cypress Trust Company is a boutique corporate fiduciary that focuses exclusively on providing customized trust and investment management services for successful individuals and their families, non-profit organizations, foundations and endowments.

 

As an independent Florida-chartered trust company, we are governed by an elected board of directors and regulated by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Cypress Trust Company maintains full-service offices in Palm Beach, Naples, Vero Beach, Winter Haven, and Jacksonville, with additional representation in Sarasota and The Villages.

cypress-trust-about-florida-map-4

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 into 1-800 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.

 

Donald G. Kempf, Jr.

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

 

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

Don Kempf

Palm Beach, FL
561.659.5889
Email

President and Chief Executive Officer

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

cypress-trust-brian-skarbek

Brian Skarbek

Winter Haven, FL
941.807.4337
Email

Chief Investment Officer

Brian Skarbek, Chief Investment Officer, directs research and strategy for Cypress Trust Company’s team of portfolio managers, Mr. Skarbek has more than 20 years of industry experience and joined the company in 2003 as a Senior Investment Officer. Prior to his service at Cypress, he worked in various investment roles with Harris Bank, Barnett Bank, NationsBanc, and Bank of America, all in the state of Florida. He holds a B.S., degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL, and is a graduate of Southeastern Trust School. Mr. Skarbek has been a Board Member of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota Foundation for 15 years, was Chairman of the Board, and is the current Chair of the Investment Committee.

Patrick Dillon

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2006
Email

Chief Financial and Operations Officer

Patrick Dillon, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019 and serves as Secretary. 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.

LOCAL LEADERSHIP

Joseph C. Pauldine

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2010
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Palm Beach

 

Joseph C. Pauldine, Market Executive – Palm Beach, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2004. Mr. Pauldine has served in various roles with the company including Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Channel Marketing Specialist, and as a member of the Management Team. Prior to joining Cypress Trust Company, he spent thirteen years in sales and marketing positions with MCI, now part of Verizon. Mr. Pauldine is a graduate of Old Dominion University, where he holds a B.S. degree in Marketing Management, with additional course work in Mathematics and Statistics. He is an avid golf historian and holds several championship titles at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, FL where he is a founding member.

Mary Lou Kalisz

Winter Haven, FL
863.295.9607
Email

Vice President and Senior Trust Officer – Winter Haven

 

Mary Louise Kalisz, Vice President & Senior Trust Officer joined Cypress Trust Company in 2007 as a Trust Administrator. Ms. Kalisz began her trust career in 1972. Since 1998 she has worked principally with high net worth individuals and families, doing so for fifteen years at SunTrust and for four years with Citrus and Chemical Bank. Ms. Kalisz is a graduate of both the Florida Trust School and the National Trust School. She is a member of the Polk County Estate Planning Council.

Cypress-Trust-Charles-Weir

W. Charles Weir

Vero Beach, FL
772.492.1919
Email

Senior Vice President & Senior Trust Officer – Vero Beach

 

W. Charles Weir, Senior Vice President and Senior Trust Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in November 2005 from U.S. Trust Company in Vero Beach where he held the position of Senior Trust Officer. Mr. Weir entered the trust business in 1980 with First National Bank of Atlanta, GA, and then in 1981 moved to St. Louis Union Trust Company, St. Louis, MO which through a series of mergers and name changes evolved from St. Louis Union Trust, to Centerre Trust, to Boatmen’s Trust and then to Bank of America Private Bank. He departed Bank of America to join U.S. Trust Company in 2000. Mr. Weir graduated from The Citadel in 1973 and earned a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1979. He served on active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976. Mr. Weir also has an MA in Theology and is active in his church.

Cypress-Trust-Jack-Kuhn

Jack R. Kuhn

Naples, FL
239.449.6934
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Naples

 

Jack R. Kuhn, MBA, CFP®, ARM, Senior Vice President and Market Executive-Naples, joined Cypress Trust Company in July 2015. Mr. Kuhn is a 25 year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Southwest Florida wealth management market since 2000. Previous positions include: President of First National Investment Services Company, Naples; Senior Vice President and Affiliate Sales Manager of Investment Advisors for Fifth Third’s securities division, Naples and Fort Myers; Senior Vice President and Florida Regional Manager of Marshall and Ilsley Trust Company, Naples; Senior Managing Director – Florida West Coast for BMO Private Bank, Naples and Sarasota; and most recently as a Senior Vice President and Client Advisor with SunTrust Private Wealth Management, Naples and Fort Myers. Mr. Kuhn holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designations. He earned his BA degree in Education (Economics and Natural Sciences) from Bethel University and his MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Florida Suncoast Chapter, and has been active in the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club. Mr. Kuhn is a native of Tonka Bay, Minnesota, and resides in Fort Myers.

Beverly Flanagan

Jacksonville, FL
904.364.0301
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Jacksonville

 

Beverly Flanagan, CFP®, Senior Vice President and Market Executive, is a 30- year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Jacksonville area wealth management market since 2005. Prior to Cypress, Ms. Flanagan worked in various Trust and Wealth Management roles for BBVA Compass, Fifth Third Bank, Jacksonville; and SunTrust Bank, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, FL and Norfolk, VA. She began her career in 1986 with PaineWebber. Ms. Flanagan holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. She earned a B.S. in Finance from University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, and attended ABA Private Wealth Management School (Duke 2004 and Emory 2005). Ms. Flanagan serves on the Board for the Planned Giving Council of Northeast Florida, as Service Chair for the Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary Club, and as a member of the Jacksonville Women’s Network.

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.

 

Donald G. Kempf, Jr.

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

 

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

Don Kempf

Palm Beach, FL
561.659.5889
Email

President and Chief Executive Officer

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

cypress-trust-brian-skarbek

Brian Skarbek

Winter Haven, FL
941.807.4337
Email

Chief Investment Officer

Brian Skarbek, Chief Investment Officer, directs research and strategy for Cypress Trust Company’s team of portfolio managers, Mr. Skarbek has more than 20 years of industry experience and joined the company in 2003 as a Senior Investment Officer. Prior to his service at Cypress, he worked in various investment roles with Harris Bank, Barnett Bank, NationsBanc, and Bank of America, all in the state of Florida. He holds a B.S., degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL, and is a graduate of Southeastern Trust School. Mr. Skarbek has been a Board Member of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota Foundation for 15 years, was Chairman of the Board, and is the current Chair of the Investment Committee.

Patrick Dillon

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2006
Email

Chief Financial and Operations Officer

Patrick Dillon, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019 and serves as Secretary. 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.

LOCAL LEADERSHIP

Joseph C. Pauldine

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2010
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Palm Beach

 

Joseph C. Pauldine, Market Executive – Palm Beach, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2004. Mr. Pauldine has served in various roles with the company including Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Channel Marketing Specialist, and as a member of the Management Team. Prior to joining Cypress Trust Company, he spent thirteen years in sales and marketing positions with MCI, now part of Verizon. Mr. Pauldine is a graduate of Old Dominion University, where he holds a B.S. degree in Marketing Management, with additional course work in Mathematics and Statistics. He is an avid golf historian and holds several championship titles at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, FL where he is a founding member.

Mary Lou Kalisz

Winter Haven, FL
863.295.9607
Email

Vice President and Senior Trust Officer – Winter Haven

 

Mary Louise Kalisz, Vice President & Senior Trust Officer joined Cypress Trust Company in 2007 as a Trust Administrator. Ms. Kalisz began her trust career in 1972. Since 1998 she has worked principally with high net worth individuals and families, doing so for fifteen years at SunTrust and for four years with Citrus and Chemical Bank. Ms. Kalisz is a graduate of both the Florida Trust School and the National Trust School. She is a member of the Polk County Estate Planning Council.

Cypress-Trust-Charles-Weir

W. Charles Weir

Vero Beach, FL
772.492.1919
Email

Senior Vice President & Senior Trust Officer – Vero Beach

 

W. Charles Weir, Senior Vice President and Senior Trust Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in November 2005 from U.S. Trust Company in Vero Beach where he held the position of Senior Trust Officer. Mr. Weir entered the trust business in 1980 with First National Bank of Atlanta, GA, and then in 1981 moved to St. Louis Union Trust Company, St. Louis, MO which through a series of mergers and name changes evolved from St. Louis Union Trust, to Centerre Trust, to Boatmen’s Trust and then to Bank of America Private Bank. He departed Bank of America to join U.S. Trust Company in 2000. Mr. Weir graduated from The Citadel in 1973 and earned a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1979. He served on active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976. Mr. Weir also has an MA in Theology and is active in his church.

Cypress-Trust-Jack-Kuhn

Jack R. Kuhn

Naples, FL
239.449.6934
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Naples

 

Jack R. Kuhn, MBA, CFP®, ARM, Senior Vice President and Market Executive-Naples, joined Cypress Trust Company in July 2015. Mr. Kuhn is a 25 year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Southwest Florida wealth management market since 2000. Previous positions include: President of First National Investment Services Company, Naples; Senior Vice President and Affiliate Sales Manager of Investment Advisors for Fifth Third’s securities division, Naples and Fort Myers; Senior Vice President and Florida Regional Manager of Marshall and Ilsley Trust Company, Naples; Senior Managing Director – Florida West Coast for BMO Private Bank, Naples and Sarasota; and most recently as a Senior Vice President and Client Advisor with SunTrust Private Wealth Management, Naples and Fort Myers. Mr. Kuhn holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designations. He earned his BA degree in Education (Economics and Natural Sciences) from Bethel University and his MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Florida Suncoast Chapter, and has been active in the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club. Mr. Kuhn is a native of Tonka Bay, Minnesota, and resides in Fort Myers.

Beverly Flanagan

Jacksonville, FL
904.364.0301
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Jacksonville

 

Beverly Flanagan, CFP®, Senior Vice President and Market Executive, is a 30- year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Jacksonville area wealth management market since 2005. Prior to Cypress, Ms. Flanagan worked in various Trust and Wealth Management roles for BBVA Compass, Fifth Third Bank, Jacksonville; and SunTrust Bank, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, FL and Norfolk, VA. She began her career in 1986 with PaineWebber. Ms. Flanagan holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. She earned a B.S. in Finance from University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, and attended ABA Private Wealth Management School (Duke 2004 and Emory 2005). Ms. Flanagan serves on the Board for the Planned Giving Council of Northeast Florida, as Service Chair for the Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary Club, and as a member of the Jacksonville Women’s Network.

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.

 

Donald G. Kempf, Jr.

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

 

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

Don Kempf

Palm Beach, FL
561.659.5889
Email

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

Donald G. Kempf, Jr. joined the Cypress Trust Company Board of Directors in 2011. He was appointed as President and CEO in April 2019. Don Kempf is a private practitioner, an AAA- and CPR-certified arbitrator and mediator and an adjunct professor of law. Don served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, secretary and a member of the management committee of Morgan Stanley from December 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He began his legal career in 1965 at Kirkland & Ellis, served on its management committee from 1981 to 1998 and retired as a senior partner in 2000 after joining Morgan Stanley. From 2007-2012 Don was a Senior Advisor at Gleacher & Company, an independent investment bank, and Blaqwell Inc., independent consultants to the legal profession. During 2017-2018 Don served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, where he oversaw litigation in the Antitrust Division. A trial lawyer, Don has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex securities, antitrust, patent, employment, commercial and corporate transaction-related cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Don is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Marine Corps, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, as a trustee and vice president of the American Inns of Court and as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and the Chicago and New York Inns of Court. Don also has been counsel in a wide variety of corporate transactional situations, representing target and tendering firms in takeovers, acquiring and divesting firms in M&A transactions (including transactions challenged by the government and private parties), firms involved in proxy contests and other corporate governance matters, management, directors and companies in merger-related securities matters and investment banks and arbitrageurs in evaluating securities, antitrust, regulatory and litigation aspects of proposed transactions. Don is a past chair of the ABCNY’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and has served on the visiting committee at the Harvard Law School. Don was a founding director of Equal Justice Works and is a former director and chairman of Metropolitan Family Services/United Charities of Chicago. He is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also served on the boards of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and New York City Opera, the advisory board of CorporateProBono.Org, corporate counsel board of the National Center for State Courts and the advisory board of the BNA’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report. Don is an emeritus member of the Association of General Counsel, and a frequent author and lecturer.

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Brian Skarbek

Winter Haven, FL
941.807.4337
Email

Chief Investment Officer

 

Brian Skarbek, Chief Investment Officer, directs research and strategy for Cypress Trust Company’s team of portfolio managers, Mr. Skarbek has more than 20 years of industry experience and joined the company in 2003 as a Senior Investment Officer. Prior to his service at Cypress, he worked in various investment roles with Harris Bank, Barnett Bank, NationsBanc, and Bank of America, all in the state of Florida. He holds a B.S., degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL, and is a graduate of Southeastern Trust School. Mr. Skarbek has been a Board Member of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota Foundation for 15 years, was Chairman of the Board, and is the current Chair of the Investment Committee.

Patrick Dillon

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2006
Email

Chief Financial and Operations Officer

 

Patrick Dillon, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019 and serves as Secretary. 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.

LOCAL LEADERSHIP

Joseph C. Pauldine

Palm Beach, FL
561.820.2010
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Palm Beach

 

Joseph C. Pauldine, Market Executive – Palm Beach, joined Cypress Trust Company in 2004. Mr. Pauldine has served in various roles with the company including Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Channel Marketing Specialist, and as a member of the Management Team. Prior to joining Cypress Trust Company, he spent thirteen years in sales and marketing positions with MCI, now part of Verizon. Mr. Pauldine is a graduate of Old Dominion University, where he holds a B.S. degree in Marketing Management, with additional course work in Mathematics and Statistics. He is an avid golf historian and holds several championship titles at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, FL where he is a founding member.

Mary Lou Kalisz

Winter Haven, FL
863.295.9607
Email

Vice President and Senior Trust Officer – Winter Haven

 

Mary Louise Kalisz, Vice President & Senior Trust Officer joined Cypress Trust Company in 2007 as a Trust Administrator. Ms. Kalisz began her trust career in 1972. Since 1998 she has worked principally with high net worth individuals and families, doing so for fifteen years at SunTrust and for four years with Citrus and Chemical Bank. Ms. Kalisz is a graduate of both the Florida Trust School and the National Trust School. She is a member of the Polk County Estate Planning Council.

Cypress-Trust-Charles-Weir

W. Charles Weir

Vero Beach, FL
772.492.1919
Email

Senior Vice President & Senior Trust Officer – Vero Beach

 

W. Charles Weir, Senior Vice President and Senior Trust Officer, joined Cypress Trust Company in November 2005 from U.S. Trust Company in Vero Beach where he held the position of Senior Trust Officer. Mr. Weir entered the trust business in 1980 with First National Bank of Atlanta, GA, and then in 1981 moved to St. Louis Union Trust Company, St. Louis, MO which through a series of mergers and name changes evolved from St. Louis Union Trust, to Centerre Trust, to Boatmen’s Trust and then to Bank of America Private Bank. He departed Bank of America to join U.S. Trust Company in 2000. Mr. Weir graduated from The Citadel in 1973 and earned a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1979. He served on active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976. Mr. Weir also has an MA in Theology and is active in his church.

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Jack R. Kuhn

Naples, FL
239.449.6934
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Naples

 

Jack R. Kuhn, MBA, CFP®, ARM, Senior Vice President and Market Executive-Naples, joined Cypress Trust Company in July 2015. Mr. Kuhn is a 25 year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Southwest Florida wealth management market since 2000. Previous positions include: President of First National Investment Services Company, Naples; Senior Vice President and Affiliate Sales Manager of Investment Advisors for Fifth Third’s securities division, Naples and Fort Myers; Senior Vice President and Florida Regional Manager of Marshall and Ilsley Trust Company, Naples; Senior Managing Director – Florida West Coast for BMO Private Bank, Naples and Sarasota; and most recently as a Senior Vice President and Client Advisor with SunTrust Private Wealth Management, Naples and Fort Myers. Mr. Kuhn holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designations. He earned his BA degree in Education (Economics and Natural Sciences) from Bethel University and his MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Florida Suncoast Chapter, and has been active in the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club. Mr. Kuhn is a native of Tonka Bay, Minnesota, and resides in Fort Myers.

Beverly Flanagan

Jacksonville, FL
904.364.0301
Email

Senior Vice President and Market Executive – Jacksonville

 

Beverly Flanagan, CFP®, Senior Vice President and Market Executive, is a 30- year veteran of the trust and investment management business and has served the Jacksonville area wealth management market since 2005. Prior to Cypress, Ms. Flanagan worked in various Trust and Wealth Management roles for BBVA Compass, Fifth Third Bank, Jacksonville; and SunTrust Bank, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, FL and Norfolk, VA. She began her career in 1986 with PaineWebber. Ms. Flanagan holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. She earned a B.S. in Finance from University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, and attended ABA Private Wealth Management School (Duke 2004 and Emory 2005). Ms. Flanagan serves on the Board for the Planned Giving Council of Northeast Florida, as Service Chair for the Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary Club, and as a member of the Jacksonville Women’s Network.