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William E. Karnatz, JR.

President

Email: Bekarnatz@westernreservetrustcompany.com

In 1995 I started my career in a very well-respected trust department within a large Cleveland bank and fell in love with the richness of the trust business:  the development of uniquely personal client relationships, as well as the opportunity to be trained by and work alongside incredibly dedicated trust professionals. As the wealth management business has evolved, and with it an ever-increasing focus on investment management, Western Reserve was formed to recapture the traditional, rich approach to the trust business; its clients are like partners and employees are client centric trust professionals. It is our mission to bring back the personal touch of a caring institutional trustee, run by trust professionals.

Mr. Karnatz co-founded Western Reserve Trust Co. after working for more than 24 years in the trusts and estates industry.

He is also a partner at Perry & Karnatz, LLC, a boutique law firm in Cleveland, specializing in probate and trust administration, coordination of legal and financial matters for individuals and family groups, estate and succession planning, and tax planning and compliance for individuals and fiduciaries.

Before that he was Senior Vice President, team leader and member of the management committee of Sterling, a National City Bank company providing financial services, including trust administration to affluent individuals and families.

He began his career as an attorney with Ziegler Metzger & Miller, then became a trust officer at NCB’s Private Client Group, eventually becoming a senior vice president and team leader.

He is a member of the St. Raphael Church, Bay Village, Ohio, Finance Committee and its Planned Giving Committee, and is also a member of The Estate Planning Council of Greater Cleveland. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jesuit Retreat Center, Parma, Ohio and was a volunteer preschool teacher at the Child Enrichment Center at St. Augustine Manor in Cleveland, Ohio.  He previously served on The Estate Planning Council of Greater Cleveland’s Board of Trustees and was the Chair of its Sponsorship Committee.  He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Providence House, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, a crisis nursery, and was a member of the Finance and Fund Development Committees.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Dayton and a J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

He and his wife, Lisa, reside in Avon Lake, Ohio, and have four children.

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