The Genesis of Alaska Trust Company
A number of years ago, I took off from Lake Hood, Anchorage’s well-known seaplane base, with my brother Jonathan Blattmachr, a noted estate planning attorney, and Richard Thwaites, an estate planning attorney and lifelong Alaskan. We were on our way to the Kenai Peninsula to meet my wife, Patti, who was waiting to take us on a drift-boat trip to catch silver salmon. It was the first time landing in the Kenai River since I had left Alaska a few years earlier. As we were landing, we all remarked at how beautiful the aquamarine color of the river was.
During the trip, we had a great day catching our limit of silver salmon. As we slowly drifted down the river remarking on the beautiful day and what a great place Alaska is, Patti turned to me and asked, “Why don’t we move back to Alaska?” At that point, Richard commented that Alaska could really use an organization that is committed to trust services. We all spoke about the formation of a trust company and how we might accomplish that task.
A couple of years later, we were all in Alaska, again on a fishing trip. We discussed how great it would be to move to Alaska and create a financial services industry built around trust and investment services to help the economy diversify from oil and mining into an industry that would have no negative impacts on the environment. At that point, Jonathan said, “If we can get the Alaska Legislature to make some changes in its trust statutes, Alaska could become the premier jurisdiction to have trusts established and administered.” With that, a major effort was made.
First we needed to form a trust company. Even though Alaska had statutes on its books for 40 years for the formation of a trust company, no one had ever formed an independent trust company in Alaska. In addition, we needed to draft legislation and get it to the legislature. Jonathan drafted the Alaska Trust Act. We were able to get the Act passed, form a trust company, as well as make changes to Alaska’s limited liability and limited partnership statutes. It took over two years to accomplish these tasks. With hard work and the foresight of both the legislature and the governor’s office, we were able to accomplish what we set out to do – to make Alaska the premier jurisdiction for trust services. Over the next decade, additional unique pieces of legislation have been passed in the Alaska Legislature.
From the beginning, our goal was to provide the finest trust services in the country and to make a commitment to Alaska.
Douglas J. Blattmachr, President and CEO
