Our Story

ECA Investment Group, a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA), was founded in 1986 by Edward S. Crooks. The firm provided investment consulting and management services to businesses, individuals, employee-benefit plans and nonprofit organizations.

Counsel Trust Company was founded in early 2002 by Edward S. Crooks, Brian D. Selby and several other investors, both working within and outside the firm to provide custody, trust and other fiduciary services to ECA and other RIA firms employing a similar culture and investment style.

In 2016, ECA Investment Group Inc. was merged into Counsel Trust Company.

In late August of 2018, Counsel Trust Company successfully converted its Trust Charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the State of Tennessee. A new trust office was opened in Nashville, TN, being managed in conjunction with the three existing Pennsylvania offices in York, Lancaster and Hanover.

Tennessee trust statutes were recently revised, offering a superior trust law environment, reflecting ‘best in class’ trust laws of other ‘trust friendly’ states such as Nevada, South Dakota and Delaware.  Tennessee trust laws are consistently ranked among the best trust law states in the U.S., providing greater flexibility and trust planning opportunities.