Steve R. Akers is an attorney with 29 years of experience in estate planning and probate law matters. Mr. Akers is a managing director at Bessemer Trust, where he directs the family estate and legacy planning practice for the Southwest Region. He was previously a partner with Ernst & Young, LLP (1995-2001) and with Jenkens & Gilchrist, PC (1977-1995).

Mr. Akers has lectured on a variety of estate planning, estate administration, and family business planning topics at national meetings of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; American Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Annual CLE Meetings; the U.S.C. Tax Institute; the University of Miami Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning; the Annual Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute; the Southern Federal Tax Conference in Atlanta, Georgia; the UCLA Estate Planning Institute; the Annual AICPA Advanced Estate Planning Conference; the ALI-ABA Annual Seminar on Estate Planning for the Family Business Owner (co-chair of this annual national seminar since its inception 14 years ago); the ALI-ABA Annual Seminar on Estate Planning for Large Estates (held in San Francisco and New York), the ALI-ABA Estate Planning In-Depth Annual Seminar (held annually in Wisconsin), and national teleconference to Internal Revenue Service estate and gift tax agents. He was selected by the State Bar of Texas as having the “Best CLE Paper” in 2002. He has also spoken to a variety of other groups, including bar groups and estate planning councils in a number of different states. He is a co-author of A Planning Guide to Buy-Sell Agreements. Mr. Akers has presented numerous lectures and served as program chair for a wide number of estate planning seminars in Texas.

Mr. Akers is the past-chairman of the Texas State Bar Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section. He is also a past chairman of the Dallas Bar Association Probate, Trusts, and Estates Section. He has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Dallas Estate Planning Council. He is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is a member of the ACTEC Strategic Planning Task Force. He is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He has previously served as a member of the National Conference of Lawyers and Corporate Fiduciaries (sponsored by the American Bar Association and the American Bankers Association).

Mr. Akers currently serves as an officer (Probate and Trust Division Vice-Chair) and member of the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. Mr. Akers previously served as the chair of various committees, as a Supervisory Council member, and as the Finance Officer of the Section. An article that he wrote for the Section's bimonthly magazine (Probate & Property) was selected as the Best Overall Article-Probate and Trust in 2003.

Mr. Akers is a member of the Advisory Committee to the University of Miami Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning (held annually in Miami), and he has spoken at that Institute on various occasions, including as moderator of the Current Developments Panel in 2005. He will again be the moderator of the Current Developments Panel in 2007. Mr. Akers also serves as a member of the ALI-ABA Estate Planning Advisory Panel.

Mr. Akers has served as the Chairman of the Baylor Health Care System Foundation Professional Advisors Council from 1995-2001. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Communities Foundation of Texas.

Mr. Akers received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University (1974) and his J.D. degree from the University of Texas Law School (1977).