Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators
58th Annual Conference - Williamsburg, Va. - July 13-16, 2008
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Speakers
Amy Lynch
For more than a decade, author and entrepreneur Amy Lynch has studied Generation Y and the era that shaped them. Today, as these 20-somethings enter the workplace, she helps companies attract, engage and retain young professionals.
Amy has launched a national newsletter about adolescents, sold her publishing firm to a Fortune 500 company, and created Public Relations campaigns that garnered national coverage and marketing efforts that far exceeded standard response rates.
She has also published a national newsletter about transition, raised capital, and negotiated distribution with the nation's largest book distributor.
Amy serves on the Boards of Directors for many organizations, including Ten Thousand Villages, Tennessee Writers Alliance, and Women's Social Policy and Research Center, Vanderbilt.
Amy has received numerous awards from the Hambidge Center, the Hedgebrook Foundation and the Ragdale Foundation. She was also a finalist for the Utne Alternative Media Awards and a winner of the Parents Media Awards, 2001 and 2003.
She is Generation Y columnist for Biz Journals, syndicated to business newspapers in more than 40 U.S. markets. She is also the author of the award-winning "How Can You Say That?," and her columns on strategic diversity management appear online in "HR Hero." Her work has been featured in USA Today, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, "The Dallas Morning News," the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and "NBC Nightly News," among others. "When the Flip-Flop Fits," her system for increasing ROI on Generation Y is forthcoming in 2008.
Adriana Trigiani
Adriana Trigiani is beloved by millions of readers around the world for her hilarious and heartwarming novels. Adriana was raised in a small coal mining town in Southwest Virginia in a big Italian family. She chose her hometown for the setting and title of her debut novel, the critically-acclaimed and bestselling "Big Stone Gap," followed by the sequels "Big Cherry Holler" and "Milk Glass Moon." Since 1999, Adriana has delivered a novel a year to her devoted fans. "Lucia, Lucia," "The Queen Of The Big Time," and "Rococo" were all instant New York Times best-sellers.
After graduating from Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Ind., Adriana moved to New York City to become a playwright. She founded the all-female comedy troupe "The Outcasts," which performed on the cabaret circuit for seven years. She made her off-Broadway debut as a playwright at the Manhattan Theatre Club and was produced in regional theatres of note around the country.
Among her many television credits, Adriana was a writer/producer on "The Cosby Show," "A Different World" and executive producer/head writer for "City Kids" for Jim Henson Productions. Her Lifetime television special, "Growing Up Funny," garnered an Emmy nomination for Lily Tomlin.
In 1996, she wrote and directed the documentary film "Queens Of The Big Time." It won the Audience Award at the Hamptons' Film Festival and toured the international film festival circuit from Hong Kong to London. "Queens Of The Big Time" is now in a distribution deal with New Video, and it will be released in 2008.
Adriana is married to Tim Stephenson, the Emmy award-winning lighting designer of the Late Show with David Letterman.
Michelle André
Michelle André is a principal in KPMG's State and Local Tax Practice and is the Principal-in- Charge of the firm's National Unclaimed Property Services practice. She is in the Washington National Tax Practice and is located in Washington, D.C. Michelle also serves on the firm's National Unclaimed Property advisory team and she has over 15 years of experience in assisting clients with addressing their state and local issues, including unclaimed property.
Michelle has worked with numerous Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients on a wide range of unclaimed property issues including providing audit defense services for state and third-party audits, providing multi-state voluntary disclosure services, developing and implementing compliance procedures, compliance process reviews, and drafting compliance policies and procedures.
Michelle has also developed good working relationships with the state administrators and their contract auditors.
Cindy Auten
Cindy Auten serves as general manager for Telework Exchange, an online community and public-private partnership focused on promoting telework in the Federal government. The organization provides a venue for Federal employees interested in telework, those who currently telework, assigned coordinators, Federal managers, information technology professionals, and telework proponents to dialogue on the subject matter. Since the company's inception in April 2005, Auten has managed the overall operations of Telework Exchange, including the development of "The Teleworker" – an online and print newsletter focused on telework, the annual Telework Exchange Town Hall Meetings and Tele-Vision Awards programs, as well as telework-related research studies.
Most recently, Auten hosted the 2007 Telework Exchange Tele-Vision Awards Ceremony as well as served as a judge for the 2007 Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Commuter Connections Employer Recognition Awards. Auten is often featured as a telework subject matter expert on Federal News Radio's "Daily Debrief with Amy Morris" and for a number of other broadcast, IT, and government media outlets.
Emil Avram
Emil Avram is a senior business development manager within the business development group at Dominion Resources, Inc. He is responsible for acquisition and development of Dominion's new generation projects, including wind energy facilities. He was also responsible for leading Dominion's acquisition of their 50 percent interest in the 264 MW Mount Storm wind farm located in West Virginia and the 650 MW Fowler Ridge wind farm located in Indiana (both currently under construction), which are joint ventures with Shell and BP, respectively.
Prior to that he had various project management roles within Dominion, related to the engineering and construction of new power generation facilities, as well as capital improvements at Dominion's existing power stations. Prior to joining Dominion in 2001, he spent 10 years with United Technologies Corporation in their power systems division overseeing several global power projects during their development, engineering, and construction phases for both public and private energy companies.
In total, he has overseen the development or construction of over $6 billion in power projects during his career. Mr. Avram holds a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. Mr. Avram, his wife, Lisa, and son, Brandon, live in Manakin Sabot, Virginia.
Albert Babbitt
Albert Babbitt is the founder of State Tax Services, LLC and was formerly a partner in Deloitte Tax's Multistate Tax Services Group. While with Deloitte, Mr. Babbitt was the practice leader of the Atlanta sales and use tax practice, as well as the national leader of multistate tax for Deloitte's life sciences and healthcare industry business segment. He has over 20 years of governmental and public accounting experience. Prior to joining Deloitte, Mr. Babbitt was the New England Practice Leader for sales and transaction taxes with another Big Four firm, and prior to that led the Sales and Use Tax Section of the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services Appellate Division. In this capacity, Mr. Babbitt was responsible for the administration of all sales and use tax appeals for the state and was a liaison between the Appellate Division and the Office of the Attorney General for litigated tax matters. Mr. Babbitt has been a speaker before the Council on State Taxation, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, Tax Executives Institute and the Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum on sales and use tax matters. He is also a member of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project Business Advisory Council and was a member of the State and Local Government Advisory Council healthcare products workgroup.
Craig Bell
Craig Bell is a nationally recognized tax attorney and heads the firm's state and local tax, and tax litigation groups. He serves as the firm's lead tax litigator in both trial and appellate federal, state, and local tax disputes. He has substantial experience in all areas of tax law with a primary focus on state and local taxation, civil and criminal tax litigation, and general business tax planning.
He also regularly represents and advises businesses and their owners on matters relating to tax strategies for mergers and acquisitions; joint ventures; purchase and sale of business entities and divisions; business reorganizations; the negotiation, design and implementation of business expansion and relocation economic incentive programs and legislation; state tax legislation lobby activities; and other business transaction services. He is a co-founder and board chairman of Village Bank Financial Corporation, a publicly held commercial bank headquartered in Richmond.
He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 1983, and received his post-doctorate masters of law and taxation from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1986. He also graduated from Syracuse University, magna cum laude, in 1979; and received his masters in business administration from Syracuse University in 1980.
He served as a Judge Advocate General in the U.S. Army for six years on active duty. Upon leaving active duty he joined the Army Reserves where he was assigned to the U.S. Army's law school and served as the Tax and Estate Planning Advisor to the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army. He was selected to lead the Department of Defense emergency legal office created to provide legal assistance to victims and their families from the 9-11 Pentagon Attack. Mr. Bell retired from the Army Reserves in 2006 as a Lieutenant Colonel after completing 27 years of service.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, serves on the William and Mary Tax Conference Advisory Council, and is the program chair for the annual tax conference. Mr. Bell is chairman of the University of Richmond State and Local Tax Institute. He is a past chair of both the Virginia State Bar Section of Taxation and Virginia Bar Association Tax Section, as well as past chair of the Virginia State Bar Military Law Section. He is a member of the J. Edgar Murdock Inn of Court (U.S. Tax Court).
He is an adjunct professor for the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, and for Virginia Commonwealth University's master in taxation program. He is a frequent lecturer on federal, state and local tax topics for a number of law and accounting professional organizations including the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, the Virginia Law Foundation of the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia State Bar, the Annual University of Virginia Conference on Federal Taxation, the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Leadership Center and School, the Institute for Management Accountants, the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, and a number of other law and accounting professional organizations.
Mr. Bell also serves as director of the Community Tax Law Project, a charitable nonprofit organization that provides low income Virginia taxpayers with pro bono legal representation in federal, state and local tax disputes, and he is the organization's immediate past president. He is also chairman and a director on the Virginia Endowment Fund of the United Methodist Church, where he also serves as its tax counsel, and as a member of its Executive and Investment Committees. Mr. Bell serves as a board trustee for the Virginia War Museum.
J. Elaine Bialczak
J. Elaine Bialczak is a director with Compton & Associates, LLP, and has worked in state and local tax consulting for 19 years. Ms. Bialczak has worked for AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company and the State of Ohio Office of the Attorney General.
She has lectured at COST's Advanced Sales, Use and Gross Receipts Taxes School, the Tax Executives Institute Education Fund's State and Local/Property Tax Course and at New York University's Summer Institute on State and Local Taxes. She has presented papers at New York University's Annual Institute on State and Local Taxation and at the Institute on State and Local Taxation sponsored by the Georgetown University Law Center Continuing Education Division. She has published articles in the Journal of State Taxation, the Ohio Tax Review and Interstate Tax Insights and has authored a Tax Management Multistate Tax Portfolio. She speaks frequently at national tax symposiums. She graduated with honors from The Ohio State University College of Law.
Karl E. Bren
Karl Bren is president of GreenVisions Consulting. GreenVisions provides consulting services relating to the application of green building and sustainable design, especially in single and multifamily affordable housing.
He is a LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council and has been involved with green building and sustainable development for over 15 years.
Karl currently serves as the Executive Director of EarthCraft Virginia, a non-profit that administers the EarthCraft residential green builder program in Virginia.
Karl holds a Master of Urban Affairs from Virginia Tech and serves as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Richmond where he teaches courses with a focus on green building and sustainable design.
Vicki Bridgeman
Vicki Bridgeman has been the Director of Virginia’s Division of Unclaimed Property within the Department of the Treasury since 1995. Prior to her current position, she held various other management and audit positions within the Division of Unclaimed Property beginning in 1982. Ms. Bridgeman began her career with Virginia in 1980 as an internal auditor with the Virginia Community College System. Prior to her experience with the Commonwealth, she was a civilian employee for the U. S. Department of the Army in the Finance Division.
Ms. Bridgeman is a native Virginian and a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a B.S. degree in Accounting. She is a graduate of both the Commonwealth Management Institute and the Virginia Executive Institute. Ms. Bridgeman currently holds the professional designation of Certified Government Financial Manager and is a member of the Association of Government Accountants, and the Virginia Executive Institute Alumni Association.
Ms. Bridgeman previously served on the Executive Committee for the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) as Secretary-Treasurer. She first assumed the duties of NAUPA Treasurer in October 1998 completing two additional terms that ended December 2004.
Kevin W. Bruny
Kevin W. Bruny is currently Chief Learning Officer and University Dean for Chesterfield County Government (Chesterfield, Virginia) where he connects learning and talent development with the county's service strategy. Previously Kevin was a member of the county's Human Resource Management team, as Assistant Director, where he oversaw the areas of EEO & Employment, Employee Relations, Learning and Development, Background Investigations and Volunteer Services. Since joining the county, Kevin has assisted in creating and sustaining a learning culture which has gained Chesterfield County recognition on Training Magazine's Top 125 listing in 2007 and 2008 as the first and only local government to obtain this achievement. Through the creation of Chesterfield University, Chesterfield County has become a local government benchmark for organizational learning and has been recognized by both the public and private sectors for its innovative learning practices. As an organization, Chesterfield County was a finalist in 1994 and awarded the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award Medallion for Virginia in 1995 and a second Award for Continuing Excellence (ACE) in 2004. His 22 years in Human Resource Management have provided a wide variety of experiences and the ability to understand both business and people in a way that helps organizations successfully realize their business objectives.
Kevin holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a Master's Degree in Adult Education/Human Resource Development from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Kevin is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management Association and has obtained the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation from the Human Resource Certification Institute. He also holds memberships with the American Society for Training and Development; Washington Area Consortium for Corporate Universities; and Corporate University Exchange. He serves as a judge for the CUBIC (Corporate University Best In Class) Awards and is a frequent speaker at conferences. Kevin holds adjunct instructor positions at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. He is past-president of the Alumni Association and a former Trustee for West Virginia Wesleyan College. He also gives his time as a member of the Homelessness Action Council of the United Way and was a past member of the Board of Directors for Homeward.
Cathleen Bucholtz
Cathleen Bucholtz is a Senior Manager in the National Unclaimed Property Management Solutions Team of True Partners Consulting LLC. Cathleen has extensive experience in all aspects of unclaimed property including consulting, audit defense, comprehensive diagnostic reviews, statistical sampling, the development of leading practices, training, and identification of planning opportunities to help increase clients’ net income. Additionally, Cathleen has over nine years of public accounting experience and prior to joining True Partners Consulting LLC, held the position of Western Region Unclaimed Property Practice Leader for KPMG. Prior to KPMG, Cathleen was a part of the National Unclaimed Property Team for Arthur Andersen’s National Unclaimed Property Practice.
Cathleen regularly speaks before numerous trade and professional organizations including: UPPO (Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization), American Payroll Association, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, and National Business Institute. Additionally, Cathleen currently serves as the Education Committee Co-Chairperson for UPPO, wherein her responsibilities include the development of a multi-track educational agenda for the organization’s annual and regional conferences attended by over 800 participants.
During 2003, Ms. Bucholtz lead the development of a one-day unclaimed property educational seminar geared toward private industry. The seminar covered the History of Unclaimed Property, Compliance Best Practices, Audit Defense, and Voluntary Disclosures. To date, this seminar has been presented in numerous cities across the United States with hundreds of participants from a wide variety of industries, including: financial services, transportation, insurance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.
Loren Chumley
Ms. Chumley is currently one of KPMG's State Tax Resource Network members for Tennessee. She advises clients across a variety of industries on multistate income/franchise and sales/use tax issues.
Prior to joining KPMG, Ms. Chumley devoted 12 years of service to the state of Tennessee, including serving from 2003 to January, 2007, as the Commissioner of Revenue and from 1999 to 2002 as the Director of the Department of Revenue's Audit Division.
During her career in state government, Ms. Chumley also served on the State Board of Equalization from 2003 – 2006; led the Governor's effort to overhaul tax incentives to attract business to Tennessee; worked with companies on tax issues relating to locating or expanding operations in Tennessee; led the effort to overhaul telecommunications legislation; led the effort to dismiss qui tam litigation filed in the state and to clarify the law to ensure there are no third party actions involving tax laws filed through the False Claims Act; led the effort to authorize and implement Sales and Use Tax Compliance Agreements; and drafted and achieved passage of Streamlined Sales Tax conforming legislation.
Anita M. DeGumbia
Ms. DeGumbia currently serves as the Audit Administrator with the Georgia Department of Revenue. She has overall responsibility for the areas of Corporate Income Tax, Sales/Use Tax, Withholding Tax, Personal Income Tax and other miscellaneous taxes.
Prior to joining the Department, Ms. DeGumbia was most recently the Director of State Tax Consulting for a Big Four accounting firm in Phoenix, Ariz. She has over 25 years in state and local taxes, predominately with Fortune 500 companies. She was instrumental in drafting the federal preemption for digital satellite television, which became part of the Telecom Act of 1996 signed by President Clinton. She has spoken at numerous tax events, including TEI, California Society of CPAs, and IPT. She is a past-president of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, having served as President for the 1998-99 term. She is often quoted in various tax periodicals, including "BNA," "CCH" and "Tax Alert." She has testified in Washington, D.C. on various tax issues.
Ms. DeGumbia holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of LaVerne. She and her husband reside in Roswell, Ga.
Harley T. Duncan
Harley Duncan is a Managing Director with the KPMG Washington National Tax Office. His efforts focus on strengthening the firm's working relationships with state tax agencies and assisting the firm's State Tax Resource Network. He will also lead a national effort to help our field professionals stay up-to-date on new developments in state tax policy.
Prior to moving to KPMG in July 2008, Harley spent the previous 20 years as Executive Director of the Federation of Tax Administrators, the association representing the principal state revenue collection agencies in each of the 50 states, D.C., and New York City.
He also served five years as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Director of the Kansas Division of the Budget. He has held positions with South Dakota state government, the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the National Governors' Association.
Mr. Duncan received the New York University's Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation Award in December 2006 and was awarded the IRS Commissioner's Award in June 2008. He was cited as "The Most Influential Person on the Planet in State and Local Tax" by State Tax Notes in 2008.
Mr. Duncan has a B.A. in political science from South Dakota State University (1972) and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas (1978).
He is the author or co-author of a number of articles and papers on state and local taxation and public budgeting. He is a frequent speaker at state and local tax conferences and meetings.
Philip G. Emerson
Philip G. Emerson joined the staff of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in 1986 as director of public affairs and marketing. Following a national search, he was appointed executive director of the organization in 1991.
As chief executive officer of the Foundation, a state agency that administers the Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center, Emerson has guided more than $89 million in capital improvements for the museums. Exhibition galleries, living-history exhibits and educational programs have been dramatically improved during the last decade. Emerson also played a key role in the development of statewide programs commemorating America's 400th Anniversary in 2007.
Under his direction, paid visitation to the museums had climbed by 117 percent prior to the 2007 commemoration. More than 1 million paid guests toured last year. With a strong focus on education, both at its museums and through outreach programs across the state, the Foundation has become the largest provider of structured museum educational programs in the Commonwealth.
The Foundation employs approximately 560 full- and part-time employees, and is supported by more than 1,000 volunteers. An active board of trustees, comprised of 18 members of the Virginia General Assembly and gubernatorial appointments, and a board of directors provide direction and support for the Foundation. The state operating budget for FY08 totals $19 million in addition to private and capital support. More than 6,600 donors have contributed to the Foundation's current comprehensive campaign that has nearly reached its goal of $24.2 million.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Emerson was manager of public affairs and marketing at The Mariners' Museum. He also worked for the Virginia Travel Council as director of marketing, and on a part-time basis during high school and college as staff assistant in the public relations and group sales offices of Luray Caverns Corporation.
A native of Luray, Va., Emerson is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College and the Virginia Executive Institute. He has served on numerous national, state and local boards and committees.
Paul H. Frankel
Paul H. Frankel is a partner in Morrison & Foerster's New York City law office. Prior to joining the firm he was Senior Tax Counsel, W.R. Grace & Co. Before joining W.R. Grace & Co. he was a Senior Trial Attorney for the IRS Regional Counsel's Office. He is a member of the New York Bar, the New Jersey Bar, the Virginia Bar and the Monmouth County (NJ) Bar Association. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, University of Virginia Law School and the N.Y.U. Graduate School of Law.
He has represented taxpayers in major tax controversies in nearly all of the 50 states. He has negotiated settlements in hundreds of cases. He has won significant state supreme court cases in Kansas (Panhandle Eastern), Kentucky (GTE), Nevada (Sparks Nugget), New Mexico (Intel and Conoco), North Carolina (Union Carbide), Minnesota (Hercules), Massachusetts (Sherwin-Williams), Missouri (ABB) and Maryland (Hercules). At lower levels he has won dozens of cases, including public record victories with important issues for Albany International (Wisconsin), APC (Rhode Island), Clorox (New Jersey), Dow Chemical (Illinois), Express (New York), Hallmark (New York), Hercules (Kansas, Illinois), Johnson Controls (Kentucky), Kohl's (Indiana), Kroger (Colorado), McGraw Hill (New York), Mead (Missouri), Nabisco (Oregon), New Channels (New York), OfficeMax (New York), Reynolds Metals (New York), RJR (Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island), Sears (New York), Tate & Lyle (Ala.), Toys "R" Us (New York), USV (New York), USX (Kentucky), W.R. Grace & Co. (Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin) and Westinghouse (New York) He has continually fought for due process for industry – particularly for the replacement of internal hearing officer systems with independent, prepayment state tax courts.
He has served as National Chairman of TEI's State and Local Steering Committee, Chairman of the COST Lawyer's Coordinating Subcommittee and Chairman of the National Foreign Trade Council's Worldwide Unitary Task Force. He is currently Chairman of Tax Management Inc.'s State Tax Advisory Board; a member of the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal Advisory Committee, the CCH State Tax Advisory Board and the NYU Tax Institute's State and Local Advisory Board; Co-Chair of the NYU State Tax Forum; and an editorial board member of the Multistate Tax Analyst and the Interstate Tax Insights. He is a recipient of TEI's President's Award. He has written many pamphlets and articles, including BNA Portfolios 152 and 153 (U.S. Tax Court Procedures) and 193 (Tax Crimes) and "Basic Principles and Significant Issues in State Taxation of ‘Unitary' Corporate Income," The Tax Executive.
George Gosieski
George has an eclectic career which includes 27 years of domestic and international Corporate Real Estate experience.
George recently joined Studley to create a workplace and environmental sustainability practice. Studley is the leading international commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation. Founded in 1954, Studley pioneered the conflict-free business model of representing only tenants with their commercial real estate transactions and provides strategic real estate consulting services to the federal and state governments, top-tier corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and law firms.
Prior to joining Studley, George was a Director in Capital One's Corporate Real Estate group where he developed the award winning West Creek Campus, created the concept of Scalable People Centers, and founded Capital One's Environmental Sustainability Office where, under his leadership, Capital One became the first corporation to achieve Green Globes status for a corporate campus.
George's career also includes 19 years with the Boeing Airplane Company where he developed three corporate campuses and established the Asia-Pacific Real Estate team and Global Real Estate Group.
George also supports several non-governmental organizations. He is a member of the National Association of Environmental Management, Green Building Initiative board of directors and research committee; Corenet Global's Sustainability Community; and Da Capo Music Institute advisory board.
George founded the Facility Management Degree program at the University of Washington and holds multiple patents related to wireless technology. He has a degree in Architecture from the University of Washington, a Masters in Corporate Real Estate from Corenet Global, and is a Certified Scrum Master.
Jordan M. Goodman
Jordan M. Goodman, a partner with the law firm of Horwood Marcus & Berk Chartered, concentrates his practice in state and local tax planning and the resolution of state and local tax controversies for multistate and multinational corporations. He advises businesses in various industries on the tax ramifications and benefits of various organizational structures and has lectured on numerous state and local tax topics before business and professional associations. In addition, Mr. Goodman has presented state and local tax seminars throughout the country. Mr. Goodman has also been recognized as an "Illinois Super Lawyer" by his clients and peers.
Mr. Goodman is a member of the Editorial Boards for "The Journal of Multistate Taxation" and "CCH State Tax Income Alert." He is also co author of the Tax Management Multistate Tax portfolios entitled "Sales and Use Taxes: The Machinery and Equipment Exemption," "Illinois Income Tax," and "Illinois Sales and Use Tax." In addition, Mr. Goodman is co author of the chapter entitled Illinois "Income Tax Considerations" for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education publication "Organizing and Advising Illinois Businesses" and the chapter entitled "Illinois Sales and Use Tax" in the American Bar Association's "Sales and Use Tax Handbook." He received his B.S. in Accounting with high honors from Indiana University and his J.D. from the University of Illinois. Mr. Goodman is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Craig Griffith
Craig Griffith joined the West Virginia State Tax Department as Deputy Tax Commissioner on June 8, 2007. Prior to joining the Tax Department, Mr. Griffith was employed as a tax consultant for the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young and as an associate attorney for the law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle, where he advised clients on state and local tax matters, municipal bond law, estate administration, and general commercial law, including the formation and operation of both for-profit and non-profit entities.
Mr. Griffith graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University's College of Business & Economics in 1997. He graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law in 2000. While in law school, Mr. Griffith was awarded the Thomas N. Chambers award for Excellence in Tax Law Scholarship by the West Virginia Tax Institute.
Mr. Griffith is a past program chairperson and past president of the Charleston Local Area Tax Group, and co-authored, with G. Thomas Battle, the West Virginia section of the ABA "Sales and Use Tax Deskbook," 2003-2004 Edition, 2004-2005 Edition, 2005-2006 Edition, and 2006-2007 Edition.
A native of Ripley, Mr. Griffith now resides in Charleston with his wife Kelly and daughter Julia.
Susan K. Haffield
Susan Haffield is a partner in the Central Region of the PricewaterhouseCoopers State and Local Tax group. Susan provides consulting services focusing on tax strategy and planning, re-engineering, and e-commerce. She has also been actively involved with monitoring the Streamlined Sales Tax Project since its inception in March of 2000 and has published several articles on the subject.
Susan is actively involved with many business and taxpayer organizations such as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Iowa Taxpayer's Association, and Minnesota Society of CPAs. She is also a frequent speaker for organizations such as Council on State Taxation, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, Tax Executive Institute, and New York University.
Susan graduated from Moorhead State University in Accounting and Business Administration. She began her career with Arthur Andersen in 1985 and has specialized in state and local taxation since 1988. She has also worked in the Tax Department at Cargill, Incorporated and she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in June 2002.
Steve Haner
Steve Haner is a manager of state government affairs for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Virginia's largest manufacturing employer. Northrop Grumman's 550-acre Newport News shipyard is the only facility in the world capable of building and refueling nuclear aircraft carriers, and one of only two builders of nuclear submarines for the United States Navy.
From 2002 until 2005 he worked as chief lobbyist for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia's premier statewide business advocacy group. He provided staff assistance to its Tax Policy Committee and continued to serve as a consultant on tax-related legislative issues after leaving the Chamber's full-time employment.
Prior to that he served for four years as Director of Administration for the Office of Attorney General. He was active in Republican politics for more than a decade and was the first full-time executive director of the Republican legislative caucus.
He began his career as a reporter for the Roanoke Times after graduating from the College of William and Mary. His wife is a teacher in Chesterfield County, their daughter is graduate student in Richmond and their son is a structural engineer working in Williamsburg.
Sherry Harrell
Sherry Harrell is a revenue policy analyst with the new Tax Policy office for the Tennessee Department of Revenue. Sherry's expertise lies in sales and use tax. She has been one of two representatives for Tennessee in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project since its beginning in 2000. In October 2007, Sherry was appointed Chair of State and Local Advisory Council after serving as Vice Chair. She is Tennessee's Delegate to the State and Local Advisory Council and a representative to the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Providing guidance in the development and implementation of the many changes Tennessee and other states need to make to conform to Streamlined is one of her responsibilities. Prior to her promotion to revenue policy analyst, Sherry worked in the Audit Division overseeing special projects and training. She has worked for the Tennessee Department of Revenue since 1988. Sherry is a graduate of Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Missouri.
William C. Harvey, II
William C. Harvey, II has 30 years of commercial and residential real estate appraisal, brokerage and consulting experience. Currently, he is president of William C. Harvey & Associates, Inc., a commercial and residential appraisal and consulting firm serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, president of Harvey Realty Group, LLC, a full-service real estate brokerage serving the Northern Virginia area, and president of Chesapeake Auctions, LLC, a full-service real estate auctioneering firm serving the Northern Virginia area.
William C. Harvey, II is a certified general real estate appraiser in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia and a certified real estate appraisal instructor in Virginia. He has given expert witness testimony in over 500 cases in local, state and federal courts located in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia.
William C. Harvey, II is a member of the MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute), CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member of the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute, an affiliate of the National Associate of Realtors), is an AQB-approved instructor on USPAP ethics and professional standards with the Appraisal Foundation and is listed in the Best Lawyers Preferred database as a recognized expert in multiple real estate appraisal categories. He has served on several national committees for the Appraisal Institute including the Appraisal Journal Editorial Review and National Government Relations Committee.
He was also the 2006-2007 Chairman of the Appraisal Institute's Valuation in the Government Sector Shared Interest Group (SIG). His most recent article entitled "Is the Price Right?" was in the January/February 2005 edition of Commercial Investment Real Estate, published by the National Association of Realtors.
Richard H. Henninger, Jr.
Mr. Henninger is a native of Selma, Ala., currently living in Millbrook.
He is married to Mary Huffman Henninger, and has two daughters – Kristine H. Mantel and Lisa M. Henninger – and one grandchild, Mary Pruitt Mantel.
Mr. Henninger received a BS in Business Administration Accounting and Finance) from Auburn, and an MBA from Troy University.
He has lived in the State of Alabama for over 36 years.
He was Field Examiner in the Montgomery Taxpayer Service Center for 10 years, Income Tax Manager in the Montgomery Taxpayer Service Center for 12 years and District Coordinator for the last seven years of the 12.
He has been Manager of the Individual Income Tax Section for 19 months.
He was Assistant Director for Tax Administration of the Individual and Corporate Tax Division from September 1997 till April of 2001.
He has served as Director of Individual and Corporate Tax Division since April of 2001.
He is a former member of the SEATA Exchange Committee, and is currently a member of the IRS/FTA Tactical Advisory Group.
Robert D. Holsworth
Robert D. Holsworth, Ph.D., is a professor of political science and public administration, and the director of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also is the regular political analyst for WTVR-TV.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and teaches courses in Virginia Politics, American Politics and Political Theory.
Dr. Holsworth has written four books and numerous articles about American politics and culture. His comments on Virginia politics regularly appear in major Virginia newspapers and on radio stations such as WRVA. His observations also have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, on National Public Radio and the BBC. Holsworth has appeared on the CBS "Evening News," ABC "World News Tonight," CNN and the "McNeill-Lehrer Report."
In 1991, Dr. Holsworth received VCU's Distinguished Teaching Award and in 1997 he received the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.
Joe Huddleston
Joe Huddleston is currently the Executive Director for the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) in Washington, D.C., having been named to that position in July of 2005. The MTC is an organization of state tax agencies with responsibilities ranging from development of Model Tax statutes and regulations, to the conduct of audits on multistate/multinational corporations on behalf of its member states. Additionally, the Multistate Tax Commission regularly advises Congressional Committees and individual members of Congress on state tax impacts of federal legislation.
Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., where he resides with his wife Catherine, Joe worked as Vice President of Tax Solutions at Liquid Engines, Inc., a tax software firm. The primary focus was on advanced state and international income tax planning models and methodologies for multi-state and multi-national companies.
Joe was a national SALT Partner for Grant Thornton LLP, the nation's fifth largest accounting and management consultant firm. From 1997-2003 he served as a state and local tax consultant for middle market and Fortune 500 companies. For two terms Joe was appointed as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue from 1989 to1992 and 1992 to 1995. During his tenure as commissioner, he was president of the Federation of Tax Administrators, an organization of the 50 state tax administration agencies. Joe was also president of the Southeast Association of Tax Administrators. Additionally, he was responsible for the development and implementation of a $25 million integrated tax system (RITS) for the state of Tennessee. Joe served on several important boards and commissions during this tenure. Among those were the Tennessee Claims Commission and the Tennessee State Board of Equalization, where he presided as vice chairman for three years. He was twice appointed by the Governor to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
Immediately after leaving the department, Joe served as chief financial officer for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson Counties. In that position, he was responsible for all financial affairs, managed in excess of $1 billion in annual expenditures and served as Chairman of the Davidson County Employee Benefit Board's investment committee. He also served as one of the city's lead negotiators for the relocation of the Tennessee Titans and the expansion NHL Predators. In 2003 Joe was named by the Lt. Governor to serve on the Tennessee Tax Reform Commission and he chaired both the agenda and drafting committees. Joe began his legal career after serving with the Internal Revenue Service in Chattanooga, Tenn. and Columbia, S.C. as a Revenue Officer. He entered private practice in Nashville, Tenn. before joining the District Attorney General's office in Cookeville, Tenn. from 1984 to 1987. Joe is a nationally-recognized speaker at numerous State Tax forums. He is a founding trustee of the Paul Hartman Tax Forum at Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tenn. Additionally he serves on the Advisory Boards of New York University State and Local Tax Institute, Georgetown University Law School's State and Local Tax Institute, and the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee state tax program, along with the state tax Advisory Boards of CCH and BNA. Joe has served on several community boards including the American Red Cross, and as a trustee for Watkins College of Art and Design. He is a 1971 graduate of the University of South Carolina, with a B.A. in Political Science and is a lifetime alumni member. He received his J.D. from the Nashville School of Law and is a member of both the Tennessee and American Bar Associations along with their respective tax sections.
Carolynn S. Iafrate
Carolynn is the founder of Industry Sales Tax Solutions, LLC ("ISTS"), a company specializing in providing customized state and local tax training and publications to a variety of industries, and in particular, the software and computer services industry. Carolynn specializes in state and local tax matters in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, particularly in the area of sales and use taxes. In addition to Carolynn's sales and use tax expertise, she has significant experience in state and local income/franchise tax, as well as federal tax matters.
Carolynn has over 16 years of experience in state and local taxation coupled with over seven years of experience in federal taxation. Prior to founding ISTS, Carolynn spent most of her career working in the state and local tax practice of Big Four public accounting firms. In addition, Carolynn has held a management position in the Tax Department of an international pharmaceutical company with responsibilities involving federal and international tax matters, coupled with a primary focus in state and local taxation.
Carolynn holds a law degree from Widener University School of Law and a Bachelor's Degree in Management with a major in Accounting and a minor in Spanish from Widener University. Carolynn is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, and also a member of various professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Carolynn is also a member of the advisory committee to Widener University's Department of Taxation and Accounting, has served as a visiting professor at Widener University, and is an adjunct professor in the University's Master of Taxation Program.
Carolynn is a frequent speaker on multi state sales and use tax matters for clients, businesses, and a number of professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Council on State Taxation, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Tax Executives Institute. Carolynn has also authored a chapter of IPT's book on Sales and Use Taxation, 15th Edition; has authored numerous articles for LexisNexis; and has been published in "State Tax Notes" and the "Pennsylvania CPA Journal."
Stephen P. Kranz
Steve is an attorney with the state and local tax practice group, where his practice focuses on state tax controversy and tax policy matters.
Prior to joining the firm, Steve served as General Counsel to the Council On State Taxation (COST), a trade association based in Washington, D.C. which represents the interests of nearly 600 of the nation's largest taxpayers on issues of state and local taxation. He began his legal career as a trial lawyer for the United States Department of Justice, Tax Division, where he spent six years litigating federal tax cases in the U.S. District Court system. Steve then served as Chief Counsel for the District of Columbia's Office of Tax and Revenue, where he oversaw revision of the District's Tax Code.
Steve engages in all forms of taxpayer advocacy including audit defense and litigation, legislative monitoring and the formation and leadership of taxpayer coalitions. He defends clients in tax audits through the appeal and litigation cycles, and specializes in handling audits by the Multistate Tax Commission. Steve represents clients before state legislatures, the United States Congress, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Governors Association, Multistate Tax Commission and Federation of Tax Administrators. He also serves as President of the Business Advisory Council to the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board.
Steve is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, where he serves as Chair of the State and Local Tax Committee. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the United States Supreme Court Bar. He has published several state and local tax articles, has been quoted in various publications and is a frequent speaker on state and local tax issues. Steve received a J.D., with honors, from Drake University Law School, and a Bachelor of Accountancy, magna cum laude, from the University of North Dakota.
Ted London
Ted London is the leader of CGI's Tax and Revenue Service Line. In this capacity, he manages a team of Subject Matter Experts who focus on providing expertise to clients around the world to enhance their tax operations. Mr. London is also a recognized subject matter expert with over 15 years of experience in revenue enhancement, collections and audit business processes for tax and revenue agencies. During this time, Mr. London has worked with more than 20 States, Provinces, the US Internal Revenue Service and foreign countries on the management of their tax administration and compliance activities. Mr. London has also led many efforts to estimate the level of revenues that will be generated from proposed initiatives, and in turn the measurement of the actual revenue generated from those initiatives. Mr. London is a four-time speaker at the Federation of Tax Administrators conference as well as a speaker at the North Eastern States Tax Officials Association (NESTOA).
Robert P. (Bob) Mauskapf
Bob Mauskapf represents VDH on the Commonwealth's Emergency Response Team, the Commonwealth Preparedness Working Group and the Governor's Secure Commonwealth Panel. In addition to his primary duties, he serves as his Department's Strategic National Stockpile Coordinator, Emergency Coordination Center Director and Exercise Coordinator. Prior to assuming his current duties in 2002, Bob served as a career Marine Corps Officer. He commanded at every operational level from Rifle Platoon through Light Armored Infantry Battalion Commander.
He served also as an Officer Candidate Training and Recruit Training Company Commander and as a Base Commander. His Staff duties included billets as the Corps' Middle East/Africa Plans Officer, Director of Operations, Plans and Training for all Amphibious Forces during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, as Instructional Course Director in Staff Planning and as Operations, Plans and Training Advisor to the Commandant, Royal Thai Marine Corps. He completed his military career as Chief of Staff, Marine Corps Forces Atlantic.
After Bob transitioned from the military in 1998, he worked in the private sector as Area Vice President and Regional President for a Fortune 500 company in the Transportation, Logistics and Distribution Industry.
He has earned a B.S. in Business and an M.S. in Public Administration and is a graduate of the Army War College, National Defense University, Armed Forces Staff College and Defense Language Institute (Vietnamese and Thai) and University of North Carolina's Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute. He is on the adjunct faculties at Virginia Commonwealth University and Strayer University.
Rita McClenny
Rita is currently the Vice President of Industry Relations and Film and has been with the Virginia Film Office since 1991, except for a 10-month hiatus she took to work with International Family Entertainment (the Family Channel). She attended Vassar College and Fisk University. She was employed by Eastman Kodak and Lockheed Aeronautical Systems before becoming an associate marketing manager at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. She is a board member of the Virginia Film Festival, the Virginia Production Alliance, the Maymont Foundation and the Virginia Center for Media and Culture and is also a member of numerous other organizations involved in promoting the entertainment industry in Virginia. Rita is a native Virginian who enjoys hunting, polo, tennis and the arts.
Angela Miele
Angela Miele has been with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for 10 years. She is responsible for reviewing, analyzing and recommending action on legislation and regulatory proposals in the 50 states and territories, affecting all aspects of MPAA member company business interests and operations including production, distribution and exploitation. She testifies before state legislatures and meets with gubernatorial and state officials on issues relating to anti-piracy and other intellectual property and taxation, including streamlined sales tax issues. She directs grassroots campaigns with entertainment industry-related associations, unions and guilds and with state film commissioners to combat adverse legislation and provide support to states in developing or advancing motion picture production tax incentives. Prior to joining the MPAA, Ms. Miele was a lobbyist in the New York State legislature on behalf of three New York City mayors, promoting the City's legislative agenda in Albany. She also worked for the New York City Economic Development Corporation and began her career working as an analyst for the New York State Senate Finance Committee. Ms. Miele holds a master's degree in public administration from the State University of New York at Albany.
Joe Milack
Joe Milack has 37 years of experience working in and with revenue agencies. Before joining Accenture in 1995, he was Director of the Tax Compliance Division at the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance where he worked for 25 years. He also held executive level positions in the Audit Division and has hands on experience with tax appeals, tax auditing, and customer services.
At Accenture Joe provides consulting services to federal, state, and local government tax agencies in the United States and around the world. In addition to many U.S. states, he has worked with Ireland Inland Revenue and the Australian Tax Office and has assisted Accenture staff working with the governments of Canada, China, Mexico, United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia and Austria. His primary focus is compliance and enforcement programs (audit, non-filer, and collections), the use of business intelligence and analytics in tax administration, the utilization of resources to maximize performance, and strategies to confront the substantial challenges facing government in the next decade.
Joe is the co-inventor of the patent pending Accenture Mobile Collection Solution, a wireless PDA application used by field collectors and remote workers. He also was a contributor to and an editor of the MRI/Accenture publication "Revenue Matters," a compilation of articles about tax administration written by public and private sector executives from around the world.
Gary Morris
Gary Morris is a 26-year Kentucky Department of Revenue employee. He presently serves as Executive Director of the Office of Income Taxation, a position he has held since June 1, 2004. Gary's present position oversees the administration of individual and corporation income taxes. He played a significant role in the drafting and implementation of the extensive changes to Kentucky's income tax laws enacted in 2005 and 2006 and is frequently relied on by state policy makers for his income tax expertise. During his 26-year career, Gary has worked in Collections, Corporation Tax, Miscellaneous Taxes and Tax Policy.
Celeste M. Moss
Celeste M. Moss joined the staff of the Louisiana Tax Commission in 2004 as Administrative Assistant Director, after working for the Vermilion Parish Tax Assessor for 23 years.
In her position as Personal Property Manager with the assessor, Celeste was responsible for oversight of personal property, and oil and gas property assessments, and well as data processing management. When the Louisiana Assessors' Association realized the need for a statewide program to instruct personnel on assessing oil and gas properties in the state, she was instrumental in the development of a course and working manual for use as a guide in identifying, classifying, and valuing oilfield equipment. She continues to serve on the association's education committee.
Celeste continues in her current position with the Tax Commission, working closely with the state's property tax assessors in filing, updating and adjusting their rolls, as well as assisting taxpayers and the commission's administrator.
Celeste has a Business Administration degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and is a Certified Louisiana Associate Assessor.
Joe Neff
Joe Neff is the National Managing Director of RSM McGladrey's State and Local Tax Practice and in that regard has direct responsibility for leading and directing the Firm's strategic application for SALT services through its clients. He also consults with the Firm's clients on pressing State and Local tax matters.
Joe has over 20 years of experience in the state and local tax arena. He is a retired Senior Partner with a Big Four firm, where he was responsible for their National State Tax Consulting Practice for the Middle Market.. He held numerous executive leadership positions with his prior firm, including member of the three-person Executive Committee and Western Region Partner in Charge, and has been responsible for developing new consulting services and practices, in addition to directing the national multi-state tax practice.
Joe has been a frequent lecturer and guest speaker at numerous professional organizations, including the American Bar Association and the Tax Executive Institute. He is the author of numerous articles and papers regarding State and Local Taxes and has published four premier books:
- "Strategic Corporate Tax Planning" (Wiley)
- "Corporate Tax Modifications" (BNA)
- "State and Local Tax Planning" (J. Ross)
- "State and Local Taxation" (UA Press)
His book on State and Local Taxes is in use in the majority of graduate tax programs throughout the country. Joe has also aided in the development of graduate materials in use at various universities, including the University of Southern California, University of Miami, University of Illinois and Brigham Young University. He has been an Adjunct Professor in graduate tax/law programs at the University of Southern California and Brigham Young University.
Joe received his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University and his Juris Doctorate at Drake University / Southwestern University.
Fred Nicely
Fred Nicely has recently joined COST as Tax Counsel. Fred's role as Tax Counsel at COST extends to all aspects of the COST mission statement: "To preserve and promote equitable and nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities." Before joining COST, Fred served in the Ohio Department of Taxation for four years as Deputy Tax Commissioner over Legal and for the prior seven years as the Department's Chief Counsel. Fred's responsibilities at the Department included testifying before legislative committees, participating as an alternative delegate for Ohio at Streamlined Sales Tax Project meetings, and reviewing legal documents issued by the Department, including deciding the merits of filing an appeal. He is a frequent speaker and author on Ohio's tax system and on multistate tax issues generally. Fred also has extensive experience in public utility tax law, having served as an administrator of the Department's public utility tax division. Fred's undergraduate degree in psychology (with a concentration in accounting) is from the Ohio State University. He obtained his MBA and JD from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He can be reached at (202) 484-5213, or at fnicely@statetax.org.
Scott Peterson
Scott Peterson is the Executive Director of the Streamline Sales Tax Governing Board, Inc. In this position he is responsible for the administrative needs of the Governing Board and its committees. Scott has been involved in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project since its inception. He served on their Steering Committee, served as co-chair of the Project and was the interim executive director of the SST Conforming States Committee.
Prior to this position, Scott was Director of the Business Tax Division for the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation; a position he has held for more than 10 years. In that position he was responsible for the administration of the South Dakota sales tax, the contractor's excise tax, and municipal sales tax. Prior to that position Scott spent more than 12 years working for the South Dakota Legislature, specializing in tax policy.
Scott is a South Dakota native and a veteran of the United States Army. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Black Hills State University and a Master's of Public Administration from the University of South Dakota.
Richard D. Pomp
Richard D. Pomp is the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut and a well known indoorsman famous for his cottage cheese sculptures and long afternoon naps.
Much to the amazement of his grammar school and high school teachers, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, signs of his being overeducated and worthless on any reality television show.
He has taught at Texas, NYU, Harvard and Columbia, leaving each time before student complaints could be filed. He is living proof of the weaknesses of the tenure system.
From 1981 to 1987, he was Director of the New York Tax Study Commission, a period during which New York restructured its personal and corporate income tax, and created an independent tax tribunal. He has served as a consultant to cities, states, the U.S. Congress, the IRS, the Department of Justice, the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, and numerous foreign countries. He has appeared as an expert witness in various courts throughout the country. He serves as a litigation consultant to states, law firms, accounting firms, and corporations and participates in Supreme Court litigation.
In an undisclosed deal of some sort, the NYU Institute on State and Local Taxation presented him its 2007 Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation award. Under equally suspicious circumstances, in 2008 the Uniform Law Commission appointed him co-reporter for the revision of UDITPA.
William A. Riesenberger
Mr. Riesenberger was appointed Assistant Chief Counsel of the Ohio Department of Taxation in February 2008, having served as Acting Chief Counsel from September 2007 through January 2008. Prior to that time, he was Division Counsel for the Sales and Use Tax Division of the Ohio Department of Taxation for thirteen years. He began his career with the Department of Taxation in the Department's Legal Division in 1978, serving first as a hearing officer reviewing sales, use, and excise tax assessments and subsequently, for nine years, as a supervisor. Mr. Riesenberger received his B.A. degree in Economics from The Ohio State University in 1973 and his J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. Prior to joining the Department of Taxation, he spent two years with the Office of Personnel Services at The Ohio State University.
Mr. Riesenberger represented Ohio in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project and served as Chairman of the Sourcing and Other Simplifications workgroup. He currently represents Ohio on the State and Local Advisory Council of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board.
Arthur R. Rosen
Arthur R. Rosen is a partner in the New York City office of the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, from where he chairs the firm's nationwide state and local tax practice. His practice focuses on tax planning and litigation relating to state and local tax matters for corporations, partnerships, and individuals. Formerly the Deputy Counsel of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Counsel to the Governor's Temporary Sales Tax Commission and Tax Counsel to the New York State Senate Tax Committee, Mr. Rosen has held executive tax management positions at Xerox Corporation and AT&T. In addition, he has worked in accounting and law firms in New York City.
Mr. Rosen is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and is listed in the book "Best Lawyers in America" and in "Best Lawyers in New York."
Mr. Rosen is a past chair of the State and Local Tax Committee of the American Bar Association's Tax Section and a past chair of the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association's Tax Section, and has served as co chair of its Committees on New York State Tax Matters, New York City Tax Matters, and State and Local Tax Matters. He also served as President and Chairman of the NYU Tax Society and is an active member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation. Mr. Rosen was a member of the steering committee of the NTA Communications and Electronic Commerce Tax Project. He founded and chairs the annual week long "Introduction to State and Local Taxes" program, as well as the "State and Local Taxation II" program, offered at New York University. Mr. Rosen serves as a member of the New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance's advisory council, the New York City Commissioner of Finance's advisory council, and the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal's advisory council.
Mr. Rosen is the editor of the monthly newsletter "Inside New York Taxes," co editor of the semi monthly newsletters "New York Tax Highlights" and "New York Tax Cases;" he was the original editor in chief of CCH's "E Commerce Tax Alert," and was the monthly tax columnist for the "E Commerce Law Journal." He has written numerous articles that have appeared in publications such as the "Journal of Taxation," the "Journal of State Taxation," the "Journal of Bank Taxation," the "State and Local Tax Lawyer," "Multistate Tax Analyst, Inc. Magazine," the "Assessment Digest," the "Journal of New York Taxation," and "The Tax Executive." In addition, he has spoken extensively throughout the country on state and local tax matters.
McDermott Will & Emery LLP has one of the largest state and local tax practices in the United States. With offices located across the country, McDermott is uniquely positioned to advise and represent multi state businesses on a broad range of state tax matters. You can find full text state and local tax articles here.
William L. S. Rowe
William L. S. Rowe, a partner in Hunton & Williams, focuses on taxation, with emphasis on state and local tax controversy matters including administrative appeals and litigation and economic development.
He has handled administrative appeals and related tax litigation involving all major taxes in Virginia and various state and local taxes throughout the United States. He has chaired task forces that led to establishment of the Tax Policy Division of the Virginia Department of Taxation and the Commonwealth's administrative appeals process. He also chaired a task force of the Business Community that helped rewrite local business and professional occupation license tax laws ("BPOL tax") in Virginia and establish appeals procedures for local business taxes. Mr. Rowe was appointed by the Governor and General Assembly to serve as a citizen member of various legislative studies of Virginia tax laws and procedures.
Mr. Rowe has litigated leading cases in Virginia concerning sales and use taxation of the airline and mining industries, apportionment of multistate corporate income, use of forced combination in assessment of related corporate entities, and classification of property used in manufacturing and processing businesses.
Mr. Rowe has represented taxpayers in major property tax valuation disputes involving manufacturers, railroads, electric, pipeline and other public utilities and merchants in North Carolina and Virginia. He has also advised various industries on location of major new business facilities in Virginia and North Carolina and related economic development and tax-related incentives.
Tracey G. Sellers
Ms. Sellers is a Managing Director in True Partners Consulting's Tampa office. She joined the firm in 2006 and has over 18 years experience in state and local taxation. She specializes in transactional type taxes but continues to work with clients in the area of income and franchise taxes, intangible personal property taxes and unclaimed property.
Ms. Sellers' industry focus has been in healthcare, electric utilities, professional sports teams, retail/distribution, manufacturing, telecommunications, and hospitality industries. Prior to joining True Partners, she spent 10 years working at two Big Five accounting firms and 8 years with the Florida Department of Revenue.
Ms. Sellers successfully completed a variety of state tax projects, including reverse sales and use tax audits, numerous audit defense/protests and penalty abatement proceedings, negotiating agreements with government officials, sales tax compliance systems, as well as system studies.
Ms. Sellers has spoken at numerous industry and national state tax seminars, and has designed and taught several courses in the area of state and local taxation. She is also a certified Vertex TDM Specialist.
Ms. Sellers received her Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting from Florida State University. She is a certified member of the Sales and Use Tax Section of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation and a member of the State Tax Section of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Frank Shafroth
2007—Mr. Shafroth is the Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Jim Moran and is an adjunct professor at George Mason University in the graduate school for Public Administration.
2003-2007: He served as adjunct professor at George Mason University, a weekly columnist ("The Tax Doctor") for State Tax Notes, and the Director of Intergovernmental Relations for Arlington County, Virginia.
1999-2003: Mr. Shafroth served as Director of State-Federal Relations of the National Governors' Association, where he supervised a staff of 13 professionals who direct the organization's policy, legal, and advocacy process. The center analyzes federal legislative, judicial, and regulatory actions as they affect states. The center takes the lead on all amicus briefs, federal policy decisions, and advocacy— with the Congress, Supreme Court, and federal agencies.
1981-1999: He served as Director of Policy and Federal Relations at the National League of Cities. In addition to the leadership responsibilities, he held the lead responsibilities in the areas of federal budget, tax, finance, energy, federalism, and municipal securities issues, including leading efforts to secure enactment of the Municipal Bankruptcy Act and to overturn the Administration's federal tax reform recommendations with regard to general obligation and revenue bonds.
1974-1981: Prior to joining the NLC, he spent six years working in the House and Senate, most recently as Assistant Counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development. Prior to serving on the Committee, he served for one year as a legislative assistant to Sen. John Heinz (R-PA), responsible for banking, finance, housing and community development, transportation and defense issues. He served as a legislative assistant and projects manager for Rep. Gladys Noon Spellman (D-MD) from 1974-1979. In August of 1974, he served as a Special Assistant to Judge Alfred P. Murrah at the U.S. Administration of the Courts; he resigned in order not to conflict with the Hatch Act after volunteering to serve in the Spellman for Congress campaign.
Education: He is a graduate of Stanford University and the Georgetown Law Center. Before coming to Washington, D.C. in 1974, Frank spent four years in Liberia, West Africa and Colombia, South America with the Peace Corps.
Community Service: He is past chairman of the Alexandria Economic Opportunity Commission, a recipient of the 1990 Donald Stone Award for Intergovernmental Relations, past president of the Alexandria Soccer Association, a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Housing Conference and the Alexandria Senior Citizens Employment and Services, Inc. He is president of the T.C. Williams Soccer Booster Club, active with ALIVE, and with Northern Virginia Habitat for Humanity. He is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and District of Columbia Bar Association.
He is married and the father of three children.
Sample Writings:
- "15 Years of State Tax Policy Coverage,"41 State Tax Notes 605 – Doc 2006-16314;
- "Taxing Lessons of Hurricane Katrina," 40 State Tax Notes 71, March 22, 2006;
- "The Interest in Credit or the Credit of Interest," 32 State Tax Notes 203, April 7, 2004;
- Governance in the New Economy," with Dr. Raymond Scheppach, National Governors Association, 2000.
- "John F. Shafroth," for The Colorado Lawyer, July 2004, Vol. 33, No. 7, Denver, Colorado.
- "Syzygy, A Misalignment of Fiscal Constellations for the States," for the Advanced State & Local Tax Institute, Georgetown Law Center, May 15-16, 2003, Washington, D.C.
- "White Knight, The Question of Property Taxes & Higher Education," about the recent federal court decision upholding the constitutionality of Alabama's constitutional restrictions on the imposition of property taxes (Knight v. Alabama, et al., CV-83-M-1676-S (N.D. Ala., October 5, 2004), for State Tax Notes, November, 2004.
Scott D. Smith
Mr. Smith is a partner in the Firm's Corporate Group. He focuses his practice on federal, state and local taxation with emphasis on multistate tax controversy, multistate tax planning and consulting, unclaimed property and employment tax issues.
Mr. Smith also has extensive experience representing businesses in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs and structured finance. His industry experience includes advising companies engaged in media and entertainment, software and high technology, e-commerce, banking, financial services and insurance, retail, industrial and consumer products.
He is a frequent speaker at local, regional and national tax symposia. He has authored over 30 multistate tax articles that have appeared in various tax publications including "State Tax Notes," "The State and Local Tax Lawyer," "Multistate Tax Report" and the "Journal of Multistate Taxation."
Michael D. Sontag
Michael Sontag is a member of Bass, Berry & Sims. He is the Practice Head of the firm's Tax Group and serves on the firm's Executive Committee. He graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor's in accounting, summa cum laude, in 1981. He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law, summa cum laude in 1984, and from New York University School of Law (LLM in Taxation in 1985). He joined Bass, Berry & Sims in 1984, and has practiced exclusively in the tax section of the firm with a broad range of experience in state and local taxation and in corporate and partnership taxation. He has written and lectured extensively on tax-related issues, has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for tax law the past ten years, has been listed in the Nashville Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" for the past four years, and is listed as one of Business Tennessee Magazine's "Best 150 Lawyers 2007." He is also the Tennessee reporter for State Tax Notes, the contributing Editor of CCH's annual book on Tennessee Taxes and the General Editor of the Lexis Nexus "Practice Insights" for Tennessee state and local tax issues. He is civically active and is past president and current chairman of the Davidson County Unit of the American Cancer Society. Mr. Sontag also is a trustee and former president of the Vanderbilt University/Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum and is a trustee and former president of the Tennessee Federal Tax Institute.
Frank J. Tortorella
Dr. Tortorella is currently the Director of Employee Health, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, and has been since July of 1975. Previous to this position, he was the acting director of Hemodialysis at the Medical College of Virginia from September 1974 until June of 1975. From January until June of 1973, he served as the Chief Medical Resident at Saint Michaels Medical Center.
After receiving a B. A. from Seton Hall University, Dr. Tortorella went on to study to be a medical doctor at the University of Bologna in Italy. After earning his M.D., he went to Saint Michaels Medical Center in Newark, N.J. for a rotating internship from 1970 through 1971, after which he became a Resident in Medicine from 1971 until 1973. From 1973 to 1975, Dr. Tortorella was a Fellow in Renal Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia.
Dr. Tortorella is married and has two children.
William D. Townsend
William D. Townsend practices in the areas of state and local taxation and multi state taxation. He has represented clients in various states on issues in administrative and judicial actions relating to sales taxes, corporate income taxes, B & O taxes, telecommunications taxes, state taxation of intellectual property, and electronic commerce taxation (E commerce), and unclaimed property (escheat) issues. Additionally, he represents clients on legislative tax matters, including the taxation of computer services, corporate income tax issues, and sales tax exemption matters. He has extensive experience in handling client matters before the Florida Department of Revenue on sales tax, corporate income tax, gross receipts tax, telecommunications tax issues, documentary stamp tax, and intangibles tax.
His experience includes serving as Assistant Attorney General from 1977 80, Deputy General Counsel of the Florida Department of Revenue (1980 84) and as General Counsel for the Florida Department of Revenue from 1984 89. Mr. Townsend is a member of the Florida Bar and the American Bar Association (member, Section on Taxation). He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
He has been a speaker at numerous conferences on state and local taxation, including programs of the Tax Executives Institute (Florida and New York City chapters), the Committee on State and Local Taxation (COST), numerous NYU State and Local Taxation programs, the Georgetown University Law Center Continuing Legal Education seminars, the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA), various seminars, programs sponsored by the Center for Professional Education (CPE) and CLE programs for the Florida Bar, and tax symposiums (for the Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Bar Association, and the Maryland Institute of Certified Public Accountants, among others).
Mr. Townsend is a former chairman of the State and Local Taxation Division of the Tax Section of the Florida Bar, and is a former Chair of the Tax Section. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Georgetown University Law School's State and Local Tax Seminar and the Advisory Board of The New York University College of Law State and Local Tax Seminar. Townsend is also a member of the Executive Council of the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections. He has twice served as Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. He is the author of the BNA portfolio on Florida Corporate Income Tax. Mr. Townsend earned his bachelor's degree in 1969 from Florida State University and his J.D. in 1971 from the University of Florida, College of Law.
David M. Vistica
David M. Vistica is in Deloitte's Washington National Tax Practice, Multistate Tax Group. Mr. Vistica has over 28 years experience serving the tax needs of sophisticated and complex clients. He also assists with the firm's multistate tax quality assurance functions, and has technical responsibility for multistate and Virginia tax matters.
Before joining Deloitte, Mr. Vistica was with Gannett Co., Inc., in McLean, Va., where he focused on Gannett's state tax controversy, planning and compliance matters. He was also formerly a partner with another "Big Four" accounting firm, where he focused on energy, publishing, federal contractor, transportation and communications clients, and served as their Virginia specialist. Mr. Vistica also served four years in the Virginia Department of Taxation's Office of Tax Policy. There he drafted legislation, regulations, rulings, and protests for corporate and individual taxes. He is a frequent speaker on state and local tax topics, and has been an adjunct professor for accounting.
Education: Masters of Science in Taxation, Bentley College (1985); B.S., Husson College (1979). He is a certified public accountant (VA and ME), a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a member of the Virginia Society of CPAs. He is currently serving on the AICPA's State Tax Technical Resource Panel.
James Wagner
James Wagner is currently employed as the Manager of Property Taxes for Dominion Resources Services, a subsidiary of Dominion Resources, a diversified energy company headquartered in Richmond, Va. Jim began his tax career with the Orange County Assessor's office in Hillsborough, N.C., and after several years accepted a position with the Ad Valorem Tax Division of the North Carolina Department of Revenue. Moving to Industry in 1992, Jim managed property and sales and use taxes for a large forest products company before moving to IBM in 2001. Jim holds a B.S. in Business Administration from North Carolina Wesleyan College, a Masters in Business Administration from Campbell University and a Masters in Public Administration from North Carolina State University.
Stacy Z. Walsh
Stacy Walsh is a senior manager in KPMG's State and Local Tax Services practice, concentrating in the area of sales and transaction taxes. She has over 12 years of experience in state taxation in both industry and public accounting including tax compliance preparation and review, tax planning, audit defense, nexus analysis, credits and incentives, unclaimed property, mergers and acquisition issues, and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Stacy is dedicated to helping clients achieve business success by helping them establish practical and sound tax and financial processes. Focused on services for large- to medium-sized businesses, as well as clients in the healthcare, manufacturing, and hospitality industry, she is committed to delivering tax and financial services that meet each client's unique objectives.
Stacy received her Bachelors degree and M.B.A. from the University of Houston. She is a CPA licensed to practice in the state of Tennessee.
Harriet West
Harriet West is a management consultant with more than 25 years of experience planning, implementing, and evaluating diverse programs for business and government. For the past 13 years, she has specialized in providing telework training and technical assistance to organizations. Harriet has served as a consultant for the Telework!VA program since 2002. In this capacity, she has worked with upwards of 30 organizations helping them start or expand a telework program.
Harriet also led the development and implementation of one of the nation’s most successful regional telework programs on behalf of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Between 1996 and 2001, Harriet and her team provided telework training and technical assistance to more than 500 organizations in the Washington metropolitan region. She also conceptualized and managed the Washington Metropolitan Telework Demonstration Project, a two-year initiative involving eight public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations. This well-documented study, conducted between 1997 and 1999, showed employer cost-savings of nearly $2.5 million over a six-month period through reduced overhead, enhanced employee retention, and relocation cost avoidance.
Harriet serves on The Telework Coalition’s (TelCoa) Board of Directors. She researched and co-authored TelCoa’s 2006 “Telework Benchmarking Study,” which examined the best practices of some of the nation’s largest and most successful telework programs.
Marilyn A. Wethekam
Marilyn A. Wethekam is a partner in the Chicago law firm of Horwood Marcus & Berk Chartered and specializes in the area of state and local taxes, concentrating her practice in state tax planning and the resolution of tax disputes on a nationwide basis for multistate and multinational corporations.
Ms. Wethekam has 18 years of corporate multistate tax experience with Mobil Oil Corporation and Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated. Her corporate experience enables her to develop innovative solutions for the state tax problems encountered by multistate and multinational corporations as well as the practical resolution of disputes. She has formulated multistate audit strategies, drafted legislation, and represented multistate corporations in income, franchise, sales and use and miscellaneous tax matters in 30 states.
Ms. Wethekam is a frequent lecturer before such groups as the Council on State Taxation (COST), New York University Institute on State and Local Taxation and Georgetown University Institute on State and Local Taxation. Ms. Wethekam has co authored several BNA Multistate Management Portfolios relating to Illinois Tax Matters and Drop Shipment Transactions. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of Georgetown University Institute on State and Local Taxation, Commerce Clearing House's State Tax Advisory Board and a past Chair of the Council on State Taxation (COST).
Ms. Wethekam received her B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago, her law degree from Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law and an LL.M. in Taxation from John Marshall Law School. She is licensed to practice in the states of Illinois and Texas.
Eddy Whichard
Eddy Whichard has over 30 years experience in sales management and sales to commercial and government entities involving large, complex banking products including Tax and Document Processing products. Eddy joined Bank of America in 1971 and has served the Bank in a variety ways including commercial credit, sales and sales management. He joined the Libris Information Solutions team responsible for Bank of America's Tax and Document Processing business nationwide in 2003 and has functioned as the Director of Sales.
Eddy is a U.S. Air Force veteran and holds a Batchelor of Science degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of the Virginia School of Banking, Duke University School of Bank Operations, University of Delaware School of Card Management (commercial credit card products) and Stonier Graduate School of Bank Management.
In his capacity as Director of Sales, Eddy has traveled the Unites States meeting with various departments of revenue and the Internal Revenue Service discussing outsourcing of tax and document processing.
J. Timothy Winks
Tim Winks is a Managing Director in the State and Local Tax practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, splitting his time between the McLean and Richmond, Va. offices. Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1995, he spent 15 years with the Virginia Department of Taxation, rising to the position of Assistant Commissioner for Tax Policy.
Tim currently chairs the Tax Policy Committee of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators Industry Council. He is the former chair of the Tax Subcommittee of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and currently sits on the organization's Public Policy Steering Committee.
Dave Witkowski
Dave Witkowski is a Manager in Deloitte Consulting's Federal Human Capital Practice. Specializing in organizational transformation and talent management, Dave provides guidance on human capital strategy and solutions, including succession planning, leadership development, social network analysis, and competency modeling. He has worked with commercial organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, and federal civilian, law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies. Dave is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Project Management Professional (PMP). He received a B.S in Biological Sciences and an MBA from Cornell University, and a Master's in Microbiology from the University of Virginia.
Alan Woodard
Alan Woodard graduated from N.C. State University in 1990. He began his career with the North Carolina Department of Revenue in 1992.
He has served as a Field Auditor in the Charlotte field exam office, Field Auditor Team Leader in the Charlotte and Raleigh field exam office, and Field Auditor Supervisor in the Wilmington field exam office. He currently serves as an Assistant Director in the Examination Division.