At Pacific Trust Company, we recognize that our people are our most valuable asset. They are the ones that "make the magic" happen. We'd like to introduce you to some of the people that help our clients preserve their legacies time and time again.
Introducing Amy Labossiere
Vice President of Accounting
1. You have a background in accounting and tax. How did you get into it I started college thinking that I wanted to be a doctor and participate in Doctor’s Without Borders. The further I got into my pre-med classes, I realized that I wasn’t in love with science but was still enjoying my math courses. I decided to pivot into business math and between my sophomore and junior year, I took my first accounting class. In 2009, I graduated from the University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business with a Master of Professional Accounting, Taxation. I was in the top 10% of my master program and after graduating, I started my career with Deloitte, one of the Big 4 accounting firms. I spent 12 years with them prior to joining Pacific Trust Company.
2. What’s your favorite thing about your job at Pacific Trust?
Helping our clients. I think it goes back to wanting to be a doctor, I have always been passionate about helping people. At Pacific Trust I get the opportunity to connect with a client, understand what their end goal is and then help them execute. For some, it’s helping them to preserve their estate long-term. While for others, often our Gen 2 and 3 clients, it’s helping them to develop a deep understanding of financial and business concepts that will help them be successful in the future. For example, I have been working with a client on governance and succession planning for their family business. When we started, there was a need for clarity about the vision for the future of the business, each stakeholder’s role within the business, and where control would be moving forward. The process provided the opportunity for the family to talk about what they want for the future of their business, including their expectations and how Gen 2 might be able to contribute to the family business in the future. With this client I have been able to help guide valuable governance and succession planning work, facilitate open conversations, teach and encourage Gen 2 to be contributors to conversations regarding their family business, and help Gen 1 to secure their legacy for the future. Helping a family grow and evolve in this way is important to me and it makes me excited to show up for work every day.
3. Why is a corporate trustee beneficial?
A corporate trustee offers peace of mind. It is knowing that a regulated institution will provide accountability, organization, and strategy to the administration of your trust. At Pacific Trust, we ensure that the beneficiary has a strong understanding of what the grantor’s intentions are and will be for the trust in the future. Sometimes that means making sure the beneficiary knows what is in the trust, what they can request from the trust, and what the goal of the trust is. While other times, it is working with the grantor to understand what information should be shared with the beneficiaries, and when. For some, an individual trustee will work but with our guidance and focus on administration, we take the administrative burden off our clients and their beneficiaries and allow them to rest assured that their assets and legacy are being well cared for and preserved.
4. What is your personal theme song?
Run the World (Girls), by Beyoncé
Introducing Phil Cook
Senior Director, Client Relationships & Tax
1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
As a little boy I dreamed of consulting families on complex tax issues, didn’t everyone? Actually, I wanted to be a baseball player, but my body turned out to be more appropriate for a desk job.
2. Describe your role at Pacific Trust in 50 words or less.
I am a consultant for families that want to protect their family’s legacy for generations. I am a collaborator, strategic partner, teacher, organizer, and truth teller. Did I make it under 50?
3. What advice would you give to someone just starting to work on their estate planning?
There is no time like the present and it’s never too late to start. Start thinking about it as a necessity to the long-term success and continuity of your family, your business, your partners, and your employees. Don’t think about it as a nice to have and don’t avoid the topic.
Once you start, I think it’s important that you define the goals for your estate, your family, and how the two are intertwined. You can continue to refine and adjust as you go but find a team of experts that will help you both define and achieve your goals.
A good example is a family I’m currently working with. There is an aging patriarch with significant wealth that is mostly within the family business he created, but until recently, he had done no end-of-life planning. We started by defining his current goals, which include ensuring the family business can survive the eventual estate tax and preparing the next generation to operate the business once he’s gone. By defining these goals, we’ve been able to take several steps towards both liquidity planning and a healthy succession. Undoubtedly providing both real-life solutions and peace of mind for not just the family members, but the employees and business partners as well.
4. What is one of your favorite things about your role?
One of my favorite things to do is teach, and while it may not seem like something I would get the opportunity to do often working at a trust company, I actually spend quite a bit of time teaching.
Most recently, I attended a family meeting we hosted for one of our clients and co-taught a session on tax planning. We were able to take a deep dive on the importance of estate and income tax and why they should both be included in the financial decision-making process for the family. We even used real-life examples of financial decisions that had been made in the past and identified the pros and cons of those decisions from a tax perspective.
For me, the best part about this training was that afterwards, I had two members of the family come to me wanting to discuss the ideas and principals that we had talked about and how they could potentially work them into their future financial planning.
5. Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
As a child I was a singer who toured all over the world, recorded several albums, and performed in numerous operas.
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