Institutional Trust and Custody manager prevents, solves problems for clients

Relationship manager April Beauchamp serves not-for-profit and government organizations, as well as other institutional clients

When April Beauchamp reaches out to clients, it could be to share good news, a solution to a problem or even information that may not be well-received. In all cases, her goal is to foster long-lasting and meaningful connections.

Beauchamp is a San Francisco-based relationship manager in the U.S. Bank Institutional Trust and Custody group, which safekeeps and reports on investments for government entities, religious organizations, endowments, university foundations, insurance companies, large corporations and other institutional clients.

While each client has an account manager who takes care of its day-to-day needs, Beauchamp, as relationship manager, focuses more on the client’s broader relationship, helping to identify additional ways to deepen the relationship.

In this role, she will contact clients with solutions the clients may not be aware of and may appreciate hearing about, she said.

“I try to proactively anticipate and get ahead of a client’s needs and find ways to better support them through our group or other parts of the interconnected bank,” Beauchamp said. “I can help them navigate the company and introduce them to the right people to help them with different needs.”

But when clients reach out to her, it’s usually because they need help.

"They come to me when they have a problem, and I do my best to solve it,” she said

Matthew Wright, president and chief investment officer for Disciplina Group, has seen Beauchamp’s problem-solving skills firsthand.

The Nashville-based Disciplina is an outsourced chief investment officer, or OCIO, and began working with U.S. Bank when one of its clients expressed a strong preference for the company, Wright said.

“Every time that client had a need or we had a need, April was always there to hold our hands and walk us through it,” he said. “We ultimately had an ‘aha’ moment where we realized we had a lot of clients with different custodians and decided to start migrating our clients to the custodian who was best-in-class.”

Disciplina has since moved a number of its clients from other custodians to U.S. Bank, something Wright said it plans to continue.

“I can’t tell you how much skepticism some clients have had when we told them we recommended switching,” Wright said. “They think it’ll take months and months and things will break, then they come back and say, ‘You got it done without a hiccup and on schedule?’ It’s just been a great relationship.”

Alena Kuprevich, a managing director and partner at Disciplina, echoed the praise Wright had for Beauchamp.

“Her superpower is that she can translate what we need to do for our clients into the U.S. Bank system,” Kuprevich said. “Banks are still banks, but she can walk us through the forms we need to complete and get us set up the right way, so the input is what U.S. Bank systems need and the output is what we need for our clients.”

Beauchamp’s knowledge of the U.S. Bank systems and her ability to partner with colleagues across the company are strong assets, said her manager, Jason Kaufman, a regional manager in Institutional Trust and Custody.

“April really does a great job of listening to internal partners and understanding their unique perspectives, adjusting plans to ensure that input is incorporated where possible and where it makes sense,” Kaufman said. “April sets an exemplary standard of client service that can and should be followed.”