Katherine Silk is Director of Trust Solutions at Sterling Foundations & Trusts in Reston, Virginia, where she works with financial advisors, attorneys, and CPAs to plan in a tax-advantaged manner for high-net-worth clients who hold highly appreciated assets, using structures such as the IRC §664 tax-exempt trusts.
Her work begins where a concentrated position meets a tax problem: a business approaching sale, appreciated real estate, a large single-stock position, cryptocurrency, or a substantial retirement plan. Katherine works directly with the client's advisor to design a structure suited to that client's assets, goals, and tax position. As part of her role at Sterling, Katherine presented "How to Sell Your Business Without Paying Capital Gains Tax," a webinar for the Exit Planning Institute, and has been interviewed by Authority Magazine on the essentials of smart investing.
As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Katherine focuses particularly on business owners approaching a liquidity event — planning where timing is decisive, because a charitable trust generally must be in place before a sale is under contract. Katherine holds a BA in Economics and an MA in History from Stanford University. She began her career as a business analyst in management consulting.