William Lafond

William T. ("Bill") LaFond is a senior wealth-management executive at Wilmington Trust, where he has spent his career since joining the firm in 2004. He currently serves as President for the Delaware and Eastern Shore of Maryland region of Wilmington Trust Wealth Management, overseeing comprehensive wealth solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families. He has more than 25 years of experience across investment management, trust and estate planning, risk management, business succession, and retirement planning.

In September 2016, Wilmington Trust promoted LaFond to Head of its Family Wealth division, responsible for delivering advice and services to many of the firm's largest and most prominent client families. At the time of that promotion he was regional president for Wealth Advisory covering the Greater Washington, D.C. and Central Virginia markets — markets he had helped establish and lead — and had earlier served as head of business development for the Family Wealth division. Announcing the move, Wilmington Trust Wealth Advisory EVP Mark Graham said, "Bill's deep wealth advisory experience and commitment to our clients makes him the ideal person to lead our Family Wealth team."

LaFond holds a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Scranton, and completed a 21-month executive leadership program at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. He sits on the boards of Wilmington Trust, N.A. and Wilmington Trust Company, and is active in numerous Delaware-area civic and nonprofit organizations, including the Delaware Bankers Association (trustee), the Ministry of Caring (board chair), Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, St. Benedict's Preparatory School, Ursuline Academy, and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's investment committee.

• Not a venture angel investor. LaFond's professional focus is private wealth advisory for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, not seed-stage startup investing.
• His practice centers on investment management, trust and estate planning, risk management, business-succession planning, and retirement planning for family clients.
• As head of Family Wealth, his mandate was serving Wilmington Trust's "largest and most prominent client families" — i.e., multi-generational, family-office-style relationships rather than individual startup deals.
• Any startup/seed exposure would occur through client family portfolios and Wilmington Trust's asset-management platform, not through a personal angel check.