Leadership Forum New York

Speakers

Jennifer Acuña, Chief Tax Counsel, Senate Committee on Finance (R)

Jennifer Acuña is the Senior Tax Counsel and Policy Advisor for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in Washington, D.C.  Prior to joining Senate Finance, she was Tax Counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee.  Her previous experience includes time in the Competent Authority Office at the Internal Revenue Service and as an associate at White and Case and Morgan Lewis and Bockius.  Ms. Acuña also served as a Contributing Editor for the tax treaties, R. Andersen’s Analysis of United States Income Tax Treaties.

Ms. Acuña earned an LL.M in Taxation from the NYU School of Law, and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, with a specialization in corporate law.  While at UCLA, Ms. Acuña was awarded the Hochman Prize for Excellence in the Study of Taxation, awarded to the top tax student in the graduating class.

Grant D. Aldonas, Executive Director, Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Grant Aldonas serves as a Senior Advisor at CSIS. Aldonas came to CSIS from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where his practice focused on international trade, investment, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility. While at Akin Gump, he served as chairman of the U.S. arm of Transparency International. From 2001 to 2005, he served in the Bush administration as the Commerce Department’s under secretary for international trade, where he was one of the president’s principal advisers on international economic policy. In his role as under secretary, he was a member of the board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and an executive director of the President’s Export Council. Prior to his service in the administration, Aldonas was chief international trade counsel to the Senate Finance Committee.

Before entering public service, he was a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller & Chevalier. He also served as counsel to the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform and as an adviser to the Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment. Aldonas began his career as a Foreign Service officer, serving tours in Mexico, the Department of State, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

He continues his role as principal managing director of Split Rock International, a Washington, D.C.–based consulting and investment advisory firm, and as a member of the board of the Center for International Private Enterprise and the Global Fairness Initiative. Aldonas received his B.A. in international relations in 1975 and his J.D. in 1979 from the University of Minnesota.

Barbara Angus, Chief Tax Counsel, House Ways and Means Committee (R)

Barbara M. Angus serves as Chief Tax Counsel for the Committee on Ways and Means of the United States House of Representatives.  She was appointed to this role by Chairman Brady in February 2016.

Prior to joining the staff of the Ways and Means Committee, Barbara was a Principal with Ernst & Young LLP and a member of the National Tax Department.  Based in Washington, D.C., she led EY’s Strategic International Tax Policy Services practice.

Barbara previously served as the International Tax Counsel for the Office of Tax Policy, United States Department of the Treasury, from 2001 to 2005. In that position, she was the federal government’s principal legal advisor on all aspects of international tax policy, including development of legislation, promulgation of regulations and administrative guidance, and negotiation of tax treaties.  She also represented the United States in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as a Vice Chair of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs.  From 1995 to 1998, Barbara was the Business Tax Counsel for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, with primary responsibility for all international aspects of tax legislation and analysis of tax treaties considered by the Senate.

Barbara also has extensive private sector experience, including forming and operating a consulting firm that developed legislative and regulatory solutions for multinational clients across the spectrum of tax issues. She was a national partner in the federal tax policy group at PricewaterhouseCoopers and was a partner with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago.

Barbara was included in the list of ten Outstanding Women in Tax published by Tax Analysts.  She has been an adjunct professor in the tax L.L.M. programs at Georgetown University Law Center, DePaul University College of Law, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.  She also was a founding member of an all-lawyer comedy troupe in Chicago.

Barbara received an A.B. (mathematics and economics), magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Dartmouth College. She received a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.  She received an M.B.A. (finance and accounting), with high honors, from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

J. Clark Armitage, Member, Caplin & Drysdale

J. Clark Armitage, an experienced lawyer in the transfer pricing sector, joined Caplin & Drysdale as a Member in 2013.  He was named President of the Firm in October 2018.

Mr. Armitage’s core practice is advising multinational corporations on transfer pricing in all contexts, from planning to cross-border dispute resolution.  He has a particularly strong background interacting with tax authorities on advance pricing agreements (APAs) and Competent Authority matters for corporations in a wide range of industries.

Mr. Armitage spent eight years in the IRS Advance Pricing Agreement Program, serving as Deputy Director from 2008 to 2010, where he both experienced and oversaw the full spectrum of Program activities.  He also served on a special detail as the Tax Treaty Manager responsible for Canadian Competent Authority cases.

Drawing on his combined background in government and private practice, Mr. Armitage plays a key role in helping clients address transfer pricing, valuation, permanent establishment, and other international tax issues and controversies.

Joe Bishop-Henchman, Executive Vice President, Tax Foundation

Joe Bishop-Henchman is Executive Vice President at the Tax Foundation, where he analyzes state tax trends, constitutional issues, and tax law developments. Joe has testified or presented to officials in 36 states, testified before Congress six times, and has written over 75 major studies on tax policy. He holds a law degree from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is the author of a book on distinguishing taxes from fees and the co-author of books on tax policy in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Nevada. The U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018) twice cited the Tax Foundation brief he authored and adopted the analysis it had recommended. In his pre-DC life before joining the Tax Foundation in 2005, he worked in the historic 2003 California recall election as press/policy aide to gubernatorial candidate and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, helped organize rallies against wasteful spending and the curfew law in his native San Diego County, and interned with the Office of the DC Attorney General, Citizens Against Government Waste, and University of California outreach in California’s Central Valley. He is admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Christine Boeckel, Deputy Editorial Director, State, Tax Bloomberg Tax

A Deputy Editorial Director at Bloomberg Tax, Christine Boeckel leads the State Tax Editorial Group and is responsible for state tax reference publications, including the State Tax Portfolios and Navigators. Christine joined Bloomberg Tax in 2011 as a State Tax Law Editor, focusing on maintaining sales and use tax analysis, and developing property tax content. She won the Editorial Excellence Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, Bloomberg Tax’s Beltz Award, and was chosen as a finalist for a Dateline Award by the Washington D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Christine was named to CPA Practice Advisor’s 2017 ’20 Under 40 Superstars’ list, which recognizes young professionals who are changing the accounting profession through exemplary leadership, innovative thinking, collaboration with peers, and community outreach.

Before joining Bloomberg Tax, she worked with Ryan, LLC conducting legal research of state and local tax topics. Christine holds an LL.M. in Tax from Boston University School of Law, a J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law, and a B.A. from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

David Bradbury, Head of the Tax Policy and Statistics Division, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD

David Bradbury is the Head of the Tax Policy and Statistics Division of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). David is an Australian national and joined the OECD in April 2014, where he leads a team of economists, lawyers and statisticians who are focused on providing internationally comparable revenue statistics and delivering high quality economic analysis and tax policy advice.

Prior to joining the OECD, David was a lawyer, a Member of the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament, and a Minister in the Australian Government. As a lawyer, David worked for an international corporate law firm, specialising in taxation law. He served in the Australian Government as the Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, Minister Assisting for Financial Services and Superannuation, and Minister Assisting for Deregulation.

As a Minister, David led the Australian contribution to the debate on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and implemented key taxation reforms including landmark amendments to the General Anti-Avoidance Rule – Part IVA – and the modernisation of Australia’s transfer pricing laws.

David has completed an undergraduate degree in Arts (majoring in Government and Public Administration), an Honours degree in Law, and has completed post graduate studies in Taxation Law at the University of Sydney.

Liz Chien, Vice President, Global Tax, Ripple Labs

Liz Chien is the VP of Global Tax and Chief Tax Counsel at Ripple Labs, an innovative blockchain software company that is enabling the world to move value like it moves information today. Liz is responsible for all aspects of taxation at Ripple Labs. She joined Ripple from General Electric, where she was the Global Tax Director and Senior International Tax Counsel for GE’s industrial software business, GE Digital. Prior to GE, she served as a policy advisor at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where she worked on international tax reform relating to the digital economy in Action 1 of the OECD BEPS Project. Liz is the former Asia-Pacific Head of Tax for Google and was a Tax Director at Softbank Group International. Prior to Google, she was an attorney with the global law firm of Baker & McKenzie LLP in Palo Alto, California, where she advised technology companies on international tax planning, structuring and transfer pricing. Liz received her Bachelors and Masters degrees from Stanford University and her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Ronald Dabrowski, Principal and Technical Deputy, Washington National Tax, KPMG

Ron Dabrowski has more than 20 years of experience in international and business taxation. He was a partner at KPMG from 2004 through 2010 and returned to KPMG in 2014 after serving in a variety of executive positions in the federal government:

Ron has extensive experience with the U.S. international tax rules applicable to U.S. and non-U.S. multinational corporations. He has played leading roles in the design and implementation of a number of large-scale, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, including the planning and execution of business separations and acquisition integration.

His experience spans a variety of industries, including work in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, financial businesses, oil and gas, and oil-field services.

Ron has also taken leadership roles within KPMG on emerging and cutting-edge tax issues, including leadership roles in KPMG’s tax reform analysis group and section 385 practice. Ron is also part of KPMG’s Complex Transactions Group.

Ron is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a past chair of the AICPA’s International Tax Technical Resource Panel. He is a member of the Washington D.C. chapter of the International Fiscal Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. Ron has a BA degree, summa cum laude, from Boston College, and an MA degree in economics and a JD degree with honors from Duke University.

Laura Davison, Tax Reporter, Bloomberg News

Laura Davison is a tax reporter at Bloomberg News. She reports on how tax policy affects corporations, financial markets and investors.

Davison frequently interviews lawmakers at the forefront of tax issues Capitol Hill, including House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). She has appeared on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, NPR, ABC Television, CBS Radio and SiriusXM.

Davison is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism.

Eli J. Dicker, Executive Director, Tax Executives Institute

Eli J. Dicker is Executive Director of the Tax Executives Institute, the pre-eminent association of in-house tax professionals worldwide comprised of 7,000 members from 3,000 of the largest companies in North America, Europe and Asia. He leads a team of twenty professionals. He previously served as the Institute’s Chief Tax Counsel. Prior to joining TEI, Eli led the Tax Accounting and Reporting function at Capital One Financial Corporation, overseeing federal and state tax accounting, reporting and compliance.

Eli’s prior experience includes service as a tax principal with KPMG LLP and as an attorney-adviser and trial attorney in the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (International) and Miami District Counsel office of the Internal Revenue Service.

Eli is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a Cross-Border Tax Controversy Workshop.

Eli holds BA, magna cum laude, and MA degrees (political science) from Queens College, City University of New York, a JD from Northeastern University School of Law and an LL.M. (Taxation) from New York University School of Law.

Audrey Ellis, Attorney-Advisor, Department of Treasury, Office of Tax Policy, US Treasury

Audrey W. Ellis is an Attorney Advisor in the Office of Tax Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury. Prior to joining the Treasury Department in 2017, Ellis was the Managing Director of Washington National Tax Services, Mergers & Acquisitions, Pricewaterhouse Cooper LLP. She specialized in the taxation of partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint ventures. Ellis assisted numerous public and private companies in addressing federal tax matters, including the structuring and negotiation of complex partnership arrangements; drafting requests for private letter rulings and closing agreements; providing advice with respect to IRS examinations and pre-filing agreements. Ellis also served as Senior Counsel and Attorney Advisor at the Office of Chief Counsel at the IRS in the Division of Pass-through and Special Industries. Ellis has a Master of Laws (LLM) from Georgetown University Law Center, a J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School and a B.A., High Distinction, Political Science Pennsylvania State University.

George Farrah, Executive Editor, Bloomberg Tax

George Farrah is the Executive Editor of Bloomberg Tax, publisher of essential, timely, and insightful tax planning and compliance information which tax professionals rely on to help them make more informed decisions and minimize their tax liabilities.

In his role as executive editor, Farrah oversees over 100 editors and reporters and is responsible for the technical content of tax analytical content published by Bloomberg Industry Group, ensuring that the analysis is comprehensive, accurate, and current. Bloomberg Industry Group covers the latest news and insights in the areas of international, federal and state tax, as well as accounting.

Farrah is on top of all the latest trends in taxation, including federal tax reform, FATCA, and revenue recognition. Since joining Bloomberg Tax over 25 years ago, Farrah has been responsible for developing a number of new product offerings and enhancements to existing products that have rounded out the company’s tax and accounting product solutions. Among these offerings are the Premier State Tax Library, an acclaimed, full-service library for state tax professionals and the development of the company’s accounting products.

Before joining Bloomberg Tax, Farrah practiced in both the public and private sector. Farrah received a B.S. degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut and a M.S. in Taxation from Georgetown University.

Deborah Fields, Partner in Charge, Passthroughs Group, Washington National Tax, KPMG LLP

Deborah Fields advises clients on tax planning for partnership transactions, debt restructurings, and like-kind exchanges. Her clients include private equity and alternative investment funds, real estate funds, energy funds, and operating partnerships. She has experience in managing client engagements, analyzing and evaluating relevant financial data, providing research and consulting services, and preparing and reviewing federal and state tax returns for partnerships and their partners.

Debbie is also responsible for instructing at the firm’s seminars on the topics of taxation of partnerships, like-kind exchanges, and real estate transactions. In addition to instructing at these seminars, she lectures at other venues on the subject of partnership tax matters, as well as writing on the topic.

Debbie joined KPMG in 1988. Prior to moving to the firm’s Washington National Tax practice in 1996, she worked in KPMG’s Washington D.C. office where she provided both audit and tax services to clients.

Debbie is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and served as chair of its Partnership Taxation Technical Resource Panel. She is also a member of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Debbie earned her BS/BA degree from Georgetown University.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, President, Bloomberg Tax

Lisa Fitzpatrick is President of Bloomberg Tax. In this position, she is responsible for driving the growth of the company’s tax, accounting, and payroll products, including the Bloomberg Tax platform.

Fitzpatrick joined the company in 2008 as Director of Marketing for the Tax & Accounting division, where she led product management and marketing efforts for a number of successful new product launches in state and international tax areas. In 2011, Fitzpatrick was appointed Bloomberg Industry Group’s first Chief Marketing Officer, where she centralized and improved the effectiveness of Bloomberg Industry Group’s marketing efforts and led overall branding strategy and product positioning. She most recently served as Vice President & General Manager of Bloomberg Tax.

Prior to Bloomberg Industry Group, Fitzpatrick held roles as Vice President of Marketing at MarketResearch.com and Marketing Director at Thompson Publishing Group, where she launched several new regulatory compliance products in the financial and healthcare areas. Previously, Fitzpatrick founded and launched German Life magazine, a special interest magazine featuring German culture, history, travel, and German influences in North America. She began her career in circulation and advertising sales roles for special interest magazines.

Fitzpatrick has a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and received an MBA in finance and marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Annabelle Gibson, Managing Editor, Federal Tax- U.S. Income and IRS Procedure, Bloomberg Tax

Annabelle Gibson is a Managing Editor at Bloomberg Industry Group, responsible for developing and maintaining tax products related to federal income taxes and federal tax practice and procedure, including the Bloomberg Tax Federal Tax Portfolios and IRS Practice Advisor. Annabelle joined Bloomberg Tax in 2014 as a State Tax Law Editor, and focused on federal and state excise, industry-specific, and state tax administration coverage in State Tax Portfolios, Navigators, and other products before joining the federal tax team in 2018. Annabelle holds a J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Mary Washington. She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Scott Hodge, President, Tax Foundation

Scott A. Hodge is president of the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., one of most influential organizations on tax policy in the United States. Mr. Hodge is a frequent commentator on TV news and business programs and is routinely quoted in the print press by The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and numerous regional papers. He has edited three books on federal spending, published over 100 studies on a wide range of tax and budget issues, and authored dozens of opinion-editorials for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Post.

Margaret Hogan, Tax Law Editor, Bloomberg Tax

Ms. Hogan joined Bloomberg Industry Group’s international tax group as a Tax Law Editor in May 2018 where she focuses on updating Bloomberg Industry Group Portfolios and preparing Client Practice Tools related to international tax law changes made by the 2017 Tax Reform Act.  Prior to joining Bloomberg Industry Group, Ms. Hogan was a Senior Manager in the international tax practices of several global accounting firms where she worked in all areas of international tax and represented clients in interactions with the Internal Revenue Service, including letter ruling requests, requests for administrative relief and offshore filing compliance.  Prior to entering private practice, she worked in various branches in the IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International) where she focused on outbound, foreign tax credit and international tax compliance issues.

Brian Jenn, Attorney-Advisor, Office of International Tax Counsel, U.S. Department of Treasury

Mr. Jenn joined the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy in January 2012 and is currently the Deputy International Tax Counsel.  At Treasury, he has had responsibility for a wide range of international tax legal and policy issues, including implementation of the international provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and guidance related to subpart F, foreign currency issues, transfer pricing, and digital economy issues.  He is currently Co-Chair of the OECD’s Task Force on the Digital Economy and was the U.S. Treasury delegate to OECD’s Working Party 6 on Transfer Pricing for five years, including throughout the OECD’s BEPS project.

Mr. Jenn earned his B.A. and M.A. (Economics) at Northwestern University and his J.D. at Yale Law School.  Prior to joining Treasury, Mr. Jenn worked on international tax issues at a law firm in Washington, DC, and served at the Council of Economic Advisers (2001-2003) and in the U.S. Senate on the Chairman’s staff of the Joint Economic Committee (2003-2004).

Myrtle Jones, Senior Vice President of Tax, Halliburton

Myrtle Jones is senior vice president of Tax for Halliburton. She is responsible for managing the Company’s global tax affairs in over 80 countries. In addition to her tax management responsibilities, Myrtle serves as the executive sponsor of the Halliburton African American Network Forum, sits on the executive advisory board of the Company’s Women’s Sharing Excellence group and chairs the Finance Department’s Mentoring Committee.  Prior to joining Halliburton, Ms. Jones served as senior managing director of Tax and Internal Audit at Service Corporation International and vice president of Tax at GlobalSantaFe.

Ms. Jones holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree from Mississippi State University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas.

Julie Joy, Senior Fellow, Bloomberg Tax

Julie is a former director in the transfer pricing practice of Deloitte Tax LLP, most recently managing the Carolinas transfer pricing practice.  She has extensive experience assisting clients with international and multistate projects involving transfer pricing planning, documentation, and audit defense.  Julie has 25 years of public accounting experience, of which 18 were devoted exclusively to transfer pricing.

Julie received her BBA Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her MST Taxation from American University.