The University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has become the first program at any accredited university in the country to offer a minor in trust management. The newly unveiled minor will provide students with skill sets not only in trust management, but also in taxation and estate planning.

According to Richard Jakotowicz, an instructor in finance and the director of the Geltzeiler Trading Center, the new program will fill a need for students as well as the trust management industry.

“There’s a revolving door of talent moving from one trust company to the next; there’s just not enough supply,” Jakotowicz said. “This minor really strengthens the Lerner brand. It gives it a unique edge that no other accredited business schools have.”

As part of the minor, all students in the program will complete an internship with a financial institution before graduating. Though the program was designed to fit into the existing coursework of a business student, Jakotowicz emphasized that the minor is open to all UD students.

While all non-Lerner students must complete a list of prerequisite courses before enrolling in courses for the minor, “We structured it in a way that any student here at the University can get the minor,” Jakotowicz said.

Bruce Weber, dean of the Lerner College, has been working with a group representing lawyers, trust companies and banks, including the Delaware Bankers Association, since 2014 to create a program to train future professionals in the area of trust management.

“Lerner College responded to this opportunity to collaborate with a growing industry in which Delaware has a leading role, and within three years we have a fully approved minor ready to accept its first students this fall,” Weber said. “Through conversations and working meetings, we developed a curriculum proposal for an academic minor that will be the first of its kind.”

The Delaware Bankers Association and executives from 53 Delaware trust companies were eager collaborators and generous supporters of the initiative, Weber said.

“They are providing Lerner students in the minor with a unique industry mentoring program and an internship opportunity before graduation,” Weber said. “The minor gives Lerner students something not found elsewhere and will open strong career opportunities in Delaware and nearby.”

Interested students were invited to attend a recent question-and-answer session with a panel of financial experts to discuss the minor.

“This curriculum has been about a year in the making,” Jakotowicz said “It feels very good to finally talk to students about this.”

The panel consisted of:

• Michelle Troutman, vice president and fiduciary advisor at Wilmington Trust,

• Glenn Morley, vice president of Brown Brothers Harriman,

• Cody Snyder, vice president trust officer at U.S. Trust Co. of Delaware, and

• Danielle Durante, senior trust administrator at Commonwealth Trust Co.

The panel discussed what trust management is, why it is an important and growing business and what the minor could help students learn. Panelists were eager to share their industry knowledge, stories about their experiences and advice with the potential trust management minors in the audience.

“If you have this minor, you could still go for a law degree or become a CPA [Certified Public Accountant] and use this degree,” Troutman said. “I would kill to have someone come in and already know what they were doing. I would even pay them more.

“With a trust minor, you have a huge leg up in the industry,” she continued. “There’s just nothing like this in the industry. No one is doing trust management as a minor, so no college out there can compete with this.”

“It gives you a major leg up,” Snyder agreed. “I know companies are always looking for someone with any kind of [trust] background. This is a really great opportunity.”

Any interested students are encouraged to contact Rich Jacotowicz at richj@udel.edu for more information.