ACTEC Announces Ann B. Burns as New President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Pamela Goldsmith, 202.702.2655

Washington, DC, March 18, 2021: The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) today announced that Ann B. Burns will serve as the College’s new President. Burns, a partner at Lathrop GPM LLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota, succeeds ACTEC Fellow Stephen R. Akers from Dallas, Texas.

ACTEC is a national, nonprofit association of lawyers and law professors from throughout the United States and abroad. ACTEC Fellows have extensive experience in a range of practice areas including estate and trust planning; estate tax, gift tax and generation-skipping tax planning; fiduciary income tax planning; charitable planning; planning for owners of closely held and family businesses; fiduciary litigation; and estate and trust administration.

Burns, who has served in various roles at the College for 26 years, was officially presented at ACTEC’s “passing of the gavel” ceremony on Friday, March 12, 2021, during its 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. As an officer of the College since 2013, she previously served on the Board of Regents, as Chair of the Business Planning Committee and as a member of the ACTEC Foundation Board of Directors. Additionally, Burns was an active member of the College’s Asset Protection Committee, Audit Committee, Digital Property Committee, Digital Property Task Force, Estate and Gift Tax Committee, Family Law Task Force, Fiduciary Income Tax Committee, Fiduciary Litigation Committee, Financial Management Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, New Fellows Steering Committee, Program Committee, Nominating Committee, Sponsorship Advisory Committee, the State Chairs/Elect Committee and the State Chairs Steering Committee.

“I am greatly honored to have the privilege of leading ACTEC over this next year,” said Burns. “As President, I look forward to guiding Fellows in their intent to contribute to the College, while fostering a culture where diversity and inclusion are a driving force. I hope to strengthen the administration of trust and estate law and elevate the advancement and simplification of tax laws and procedures meant to protect and benefit our communities.”

Burns is a frequent presenter at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning at the University of Miami School of Law and has been a featured speaker for the Salvation Army’s annual Estate and Charitable Gift Planning Institute. The recipient of countless honors, Burns has been recognized as Leading Practitioner of Private Wealth Law by Chambers High Net Worth Guide and acknowledged in The Best Lawyers in America© and the 2020 Super Lawyers® Magazine, Minnesota edition.

Outside her legal practice, Burns is a former member of the Board of Trustees for The Minneapolis Foundation, providing oversight and guidance for the foundation’s efforts to promote education, economic development, and civic engagement in the Minneapolis community.

During the Virtual Annual Meeting, ACTEC’s Board of Regents elected the following 2021-2022 officers, each of whom serve with Burns on the Executive Committee and the Board of Regents:

President-Elect: Robert W. Goldman (Naples, Florida)
Vice President: Kurt A. Sommer (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Treasurer: Susan D. Snyder (Chicago, Illinois)
Secretary: Peter S. Gordon (Wilmington, Delaware)

About the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC): Established in 1949, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) is a national, nonprofit association of approximately 2,500 lawyers and law professors from throughout the United States and abroad. ACTEC members (Fellows) are peer-elected on the basis of professional reputation and expertise in the preparation of wills and trusts, estate planning, probate, trust administration and related practice areas. The College’s mission includes the improvement and reform of probate, trust and tax laws and procedures and professional practice standards. ACTEC frequently offers technical comments with regard to legislation and regulations but does not take positions on matters of policy or political objectives.

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