What is the role of a trustee?

The role of a trustee is to take legal ownership of the assets held by a trust and assume fiduciary responsibility for managing those assets and carrying out the purposes of the trust. A trustee has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of both current and future beneficiaries of the trust and can be held personally liable for any breach of that duty. The duties and responsibilities normally fall into the following categories:

How To Become A Trustee: What It Is and Career Path

What is a trustee and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a trustee. For example, did you know that they make an average of $46.92 an hour? That's $97,590 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 20,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreTrusteeUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $97,590

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.7

Growth Rate 12%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.88%

Asian 5.10%

Black or African American 10.98%

Hispanic or Latino 14.11%

Unknown 5.36%

White 63.57%

Gender

female 48.79%

male 51.21%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress Level

9.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.8

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Trustee in Columbus, OH

Receive alerts for the newest job postings.

Key steps to become a trustee

Explore trustee education requirements

Most common trustee degrees

Bachelor's

59.5 %

Associate

14.7 %

Master's

11.0 %

Start to develop specific trustee skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Statements	22.09%
Real Estate	11.60%
Debtor	11.06%
Bankruptcy Court	6.45%
Scholarship	4.73%

Complete relevant trustee training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New trustees learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a trustee based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real trustee resumes.

Research trustee duties and responsibilities

Plan and manage executive, conference and NCAA meetings.
Evaluate and score scholarship applications; notify applicants of the board's decision
Chair of various institutional committees; with an emphasis on the shared governance process.
Make weekly court run to retrieve documents from web pacer brass for general public.

Prepare your trustee resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your trustee resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a trustee resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Trustee Resume templates

Build a professional Trustee resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Trustee resume.