William M. Isaac
William M. Isaac headed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during the banking crisis of the 1980s, serving under Presidents Carter and Reagan from 1978 through 1985. Mr. Isaac founded The Secura Group, a leading consulting firm, in 1986. Secura was acquired by FTI Consulting in 2011, where Mr. Isaac served as senior managing director through 2019 when Mr. Isaac partnered with Howard Milstein in the financial services business, serving on the boards of New York Private Bank & Trust and Emigrant Bank, as well as serving as non-executive Chairman of Sarasota Private Trust and Cleveland Private Trust. The Isaac-Milstein Group is their financial consulting arm.
Mr. Isaac is Member, Board of Directors of the Ringling College of Art & Design, Sarasota, Florida; Member, Board of Directors, Total System Services (TSYS); Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fifth Third Bancorp; Chairman of the Isaac Family Property Companies; Life Member of the Board of Directors of The Ohio State University Foundation; Member of the Board of Directors of BankCap Investment Fund; and Member, of the Bretton Woods Committee.
Mr. Isaac received an honorary LLD from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, a JD, summa cum laude, from the College of Law at The Ohio State University and a BS in Business Administration and Economics from Miami University.
John R. Hart
John Hart is President and CEO of Sarasota Private Trust Company. He also serves as Vice Chairman of New York Private Bank & Trust Company. Mr. Hart has over 35 years of experience in banking, primarily in Investments and Private Wealth Management. Mr. Hart is responsible for the Capital Markets and Banking Divisions of Emigrant Bank. He serves as a Director of Emigrant Mortgage Company, Inc., Emigrant Funding Corporation and Emigrant Agency Inc. Prior to New York Private Bank & Trust, he was a Senior Director of Capital Markets at Meritor Savings Bank.
Mr. Hart’s charitable interests include serving on the Board of Opportunity International, a global micro-finance organization. He is a Director and past Chairman of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and also former Chairman of the Board of Hope Church in Wilton, Connecticut and of the Christian Heritage School in Trumbull, Connecticut.
Mr. Hart received his MBA in Finance and Banking from Saint Joseph’s University and a BA in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.
Renee Armbruster
Renee Armbruster is a Senior Trust Officer with 20 years of experience in Southwest Florida working with high net worth families and individuals providing fiduciary expertise for their wealth and estate plans. Mrs. Armbruster’s specialty is helping families ensure that their legal documents align with their needs and goals while maintaining family harmony. Working with hundreds of families at the largest trust companies over the years, Mrs. Armbruster has the necessary perspective and knowledge. She understands the importance of identifying potential pitfalls and areas of improvement to help her clients customize their estate plan and avoid family conflict.
Prior to working in the financial services industry, Mrs. Armbruster was a practicing attorney in Sarasota and she is also a Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Central Florida and a Juris Doctor from the University of Akron School of Law.
Mrs. Armbruster is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the Sarasota County Bar Association, and the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council. She has been an active volunteer in the community serving for Boy Scouts of America, Southwest Florida Council, a member of Easterseals of Southwest Florida Foundation Board of Directors, and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society, and a mentor and board member for Take Stock in Children of Sarasota County.
Bradley D. Gayheart
Bradley D. Gayheart is a Managing Director at Sarasota Private Trust Company. Mr. Gayheart has over 20 years of experience in the Wealth Management and Insurance industries advising high net worth clients on portfolio management, planning and insurance services. He is responsible for strategizing and aligning financial goals for high net worth individuals and families. Taking a consultative approach to advising clients and managing relationships, his focus includes wealth preservation and planning, investment strategies and philanthropy.
Mr. Gayheart’s career accelerated after joining the flagship Los Angeles office of Merrill Lynch. This offered him the opportunity to work with high net worth families on all aspects of wealth management. He later moved to Checchi Capital Advisors in Beverly Hills, a boutique asset management firm, which specialized in bespoke portfolio management for ultra-high net worth families and family offices. Here he established their Florida presence where he enhanced their financial planning capabilities along with creating their Private Placement Life and Annuity offering.
Recognizing deficits in the approach taken by most advisors, Mr. Gayheart founded The LTC Plan which utilizes planning-based analysis of a client’s traditional insurance/risk management brokerage services along with non-traditional insurance services. He confers with accountants, attorneys and wealth bankers to assess a client’s needs and objectives to create a plan that incorporates the expertise of product manufacturers, reinsures and other professionals. This holistic approach results in a custom plan for each client ensuring protection for today and adaptability for future needs.
Mr. Gayheart attended the University of Kentucky studying Finance and received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Life University.
Brian Volner
Brian Volner is a Managing Director with Sarasota Private Trust Company. His responsibilities include client relationship management and new business development. Mr. Volner has over 20 years of financial services experience, having held leadership roles in managing teams responsible for commercial lending, asset and liability management, private banking and treasury management. He has developed new markets via loan production offices and “de novo” branches. Most recently he led business development efforts in Southwest Florida, helping to grow a $220 million privately owned company into a $1.7 billion public company traded on the NYSE in less than five years.
Mr. Volner is past Chairman of the Board of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance. He has served on the Board of Manatee Sarasota SOLVE and the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation, where he is currently on the Board’s Executive Committee as Treasurer. Mr. Volner holds a BS degree in Financial Economics from Carson Newman University. He is a graduate of Leadership Manatee and the Florida School of Banking, through the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.