Chairman
McDermott Will & Emery

Arthur is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, where his practice focuses on tax planning and litigation relating to state and local tax matters. He has served as the deputy counsel to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, tax counsel to the New York State Senate Tax Committee, and counsel to the New York Governor’s Temporary Sales Tax Commission. Arthur has held executive tax management positions at Xerox Corp. and AT&T. Arthur holds leadership positions in professional tax organizations, including the New York State Bar Association Tax Section, the NYU Tax Society, and the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections. He is past chair of the State and Local Tax Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section. Arthur is editor of the newsletter Inside New York Taxes and co-editor of the newsletters New York Tax Highlights and New York Tax Cases. He has written scores of articles that have appeared in numerous professional publications, has made hundreds of presentations on state and local tax matters, and founded and chairs the New York University course entitled “Introduction to State and Local Taxes.” He is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Nike

Jeremy Abrams is director of controversy and policy for Nike and currently serves on the Council on State Taxation’s Legal Committee. Before joining Nike, Jeremy worked in private practice representing clients in federal, state, and local tax controversies, and advising them on state tax planning, M&A, escheat, and business aviation matters. Jeremy regularly met with Commissioners of Revenue to discuss important state tax issues as part of his “Crowell’s Conversations” and “Reed Smith’s Relationships” interview series published by Bloomberg Tax. He also chaired the District of Columbia Bar’s state and local tax committee and served on the Comptroller of Maryland’s Business Advisory Council. Earlier in his career, Jeremy worked in KPMG’s SALT practice and served for two years as senior attorney-adviser to Judge Juan F. Vasquez at the United States Tax Court.

Jones Day

John Allan is a partner with Jones Day in Atlanta, GA. He has assisted clients in addressing state and local taxes since 1988 and has handled tax matters in almost all of the 50 states. In addition, he assists clients in addressing state and local tax issues related to corporate reorganizations. He regularly represents clients before state tax agencies and in proceedings before the Multistate Tax Commission.

He has advised clients in the manufacturing, transportation, financial services, telecommunications, hospitality, distribution, and retail industries. John previously served as editor-in-chief of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Lawyer. He served as the first chair of the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Advisory Committee and twice served as chair of the Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators Advisory Council. John is a past chair of the State Bar of Georgia Tax Section. He also chaired the Georgia Bar Tax Section’s Tax Court Task Force, which was instrumental in the enactment of legislation creating Georgia’s Tax Tribunal in the 2012 Georgia legislative session.

John served on the Multistate Tax Commission’s Strategic Planning Committee, the first to do so in such capacity who was not an employee of a governmental agency, to assist the committee in addressing taxpayer compliance issues. The committee’s recommendation that John assisted in developing was adopted by the commission in July 2016.

John received his degrees from University of Georgia: B.A. History (1981), J.D. (1987), and Master of Accountancy (1988).

National Taxpayers Union Foundation

Joe Bishop-Henchman is vice president of Policy and Litigation at National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), leading their Taxpayer Defense Center to protect taxpayer rights across the country through research, litigation, and partnerships. Joe also advises on NTUF’s policy efforts at the state and federal levels. Joe previously worked at a large law firm coordinating coalitions on major issues such as federal tax conformity and state taxation of digital goods and services, and spent 14 years at the Tax Foundation, a tax policy education nonprofit, where he worked on national, state, and local issues. Joe has testified to Congress and in 36 state houses around the country, and his brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair was cited twice by the majority opinion. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and received his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He is admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Follow him on Twitter at @jbhenchman.

Kean Miller

Jaye is a partner in the New Orleans office of Kean Miller. She joined the firm in 2017 and provides clients with full-service tax representation covering federal, state, and local tax challenges and business opportunities. She has more than 25 years of experience assisting clients with tax compliance and planning; the use of tax and business incentives; and tax audits and controversies before the IRS, the State of Louisiana Department of Revenue, and numerous local taxing authorities. Jaye is board certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization in both taxation and in estate planning. She was elected as a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC) and is a former chair of the American Bar Association Tax Section State and Local Tax Committee, the Tax Section of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections. She currently serves on the Editorial Board for American Bar Association publication The Tax Lawyer and is a co-author of both the Bloomberg Tax Corporate Income Tax Navigator, Louisiana, and the Bloomberg Tax Pass-Through Entities Navigator, Louisiana. She frequently writes on tax topics for national publications and is a sought-after speaker at tax conferences. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Tulane University Law School, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, and Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston (online program) and serves on Georgetown Law’s SALT Institute Advisory Board. Further, she has been listed for many years in Louisiana Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America, is AV-rated preeminent by Martindale-Hubble, and has been recognized in 1999 as a YWCA Role Model and by New Orleans City Business as a 2005 Woman of the Year and as a 2014 recipient of a Leadership in Law award.

Day Pitney LLP

For more than 30 years, Scott Clark, chair of the Multistate Tax Practice at Day Pitney LLP, has been at the forefront of the state and local tax world. He is well-versed in the intricacies of state tax planning, audits, and tax controversy. Scott has been integrally involved with cutting-edge tax issues impacting income and sales taxes, transfer taxes, global communications and digital taxes, and issues of personal residency and domicile, among others.

Prior to joining private law practice, Scott was a partner and co-leader of a Big Four accounting firm’s national multistate tax and legal services communications practice, where he advised on tax planning and settlements of major tax disputes in most of the 50 states. He also served as a senior tax advisor to many of the world’s largest companies.

Among his many accolades and accomplishments, Scott is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and is a Certified Public Accountant in New York State. He has served as board member, officer, or chair of numerous key organizations throughout the country focused on tax, legal, and business issues. He is a long-time member of the executive committee of the Tax Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, and is also an active member of the state bar in Florida, New York, and Washington D.C. Scott lectures frequently throughout the country on tax, legal, and financial matters.

Ernst & Young LLP

Karen leads EY’s State Income Tax and Transactions practices, where her responsibilities include the coordination and delivery of state and local tax projects and services for clients throughout the United States. Karen has significant experience in the state income, franchise, and sales and use tax areas and regularly advises clients on a variety of multistate issues including nexus, combined reporting, tax base, and apportionment issues. In addition, she has extensive experience with audit defense, negotiated settlements and other controversy and compliance matters, and has had considerable success securing refunds and obtaining key rulings for her clients.

Karen also provides sophisticated tax planning and strategic advice on taxability, structuring, and related issues. She frequently works with businesses to determine the most tax-efficient manner to operate or organize business activities and advises clients on the tax implications of mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions of businesses.

Karen serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Taxpayer and Research Association and regularly writes and speaks at seminars and conferences on state tax topics. She also serves as a guest lecturer on state and local tax policy at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

KPMG

Daniel B. De Jong is a senior manager in the State and Local Tax Group of KPMG’s Washington National Tax practice. In that role, he works with various practice groups developing thought leadership and training on state and local tax issues. He also provides technical support for KPMG’s state and local tax practice on new and developing tax changes and in controversy matters. He previously served as tax Ccunsel for Tax Executives Institute (TEI) where he focused on state and local tax issues and global indirect tax issues. Dan teaches regularly at KPMG trainings and other programs, including New York University’s State and Local Tax Institute and events hosted by TEI. Previously, Dan served as a state and local tax manager at another Big Four accounting firm, where he oversaw tax research and related projects and provided clients with a wide range of tax compliance and consulting assistance. He earned an LL.M. in Taxation from University of Denver and a J.D. from University of Denver College of Law. He also holds a B.A. in English from Calvin College.

KPMG

Harley is a consultant to KPMG’s State and Local Tax practice. His primary responsibilities include improving relationships with state taxing authorities, assisting clients in working with state tax agencies, and dealing with complex indirect tax issues.

Harley joined KPMG in 2008 and served as leader of the Washington National Tax State and Local Tax Group through 2021. 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. Harley received 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.  In 2018 he received the Franklin C. Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Tax from Bloomberg Tax. He was named as Person of the Year in 2021 by State Tax Notes.

Harley is the author and co-author of numerous articles and papers on state and local taxation and public budgeting. He has published several articles on VAT and the coordination of a VAT with state and local sales taxes as well as the taxation of various technology services. He is a frequent speaker at state and local tax conferences and meetings.

He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and South Dakota State University.

Ryan, LLC

Jim Eads is a principal at Ryan, LLC in the Advocacy Practice. He represents clients in state tax controversies and policy matters in all states. From 2008 through 2010 he served as the executive director of the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA). He currently serves on the California FTB Advisory Committee, Georgia Department of Revenue Advisory Committee, Illinois Department of Revenue Director’s Advisory Group and the Indiana Revenue Commissioner’s Advisory Council. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Tax Section, Executive Committee on State and Local Tax, where is the ABA Liaison to the FTA.

He has held positions with AT&T Corp.; Sears, Roebuck and Co., E&Y, the New Mexico Tax Research Institute; the Internal Revenue Service; and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. He has served as president of the National Tax Association and is a former chairman of the Electronic Commerce Task Force of the Council on State Taxation.

He taught state tax law as an adjunct professor at the School of Law of the University of New Mexico and is the author of a chapter on federal preemption of state revenue authority in the “Oxford University Handbook on State and Local Finance” published by Oxford University Press in 2012. In 2019 he was a co-editor of the Tax Procedure chapter of the “IPT Sales & Use Tax Handbook”. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas and is licensed to practice law in Arkansas.

Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP

Bruce P. Ely is a partner in the Birmingham, Alabama office of the multistate law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. He is the co-chair of their SALT Practice Group, which involves choice of entity, state and local tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, and state and federal tax disputes. Bruce serves as state and local tax adviser to the 6,000 member Alabama Society of CPAs and to the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). He is a state tax editor for the Business Entities Journal and a contributing editor to State Tax Notes, the Council On State Taxation (COST) Practitioner’s Connection, and the Bloomberg Industry Group Multistate Tax Report. Bruce is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, member of the Bloomberg Industry Group Multistate Tax Advisory Board, Trustee of the American Institute on Federal Taxation, and an active member of both the Partnerships Committee and State and Local Tax Committee of the ABA’s Section of Taxation. He was the first recipient of NYU’s Paul H. Frankel Award for Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation (December 2013).

Blank Rome LLP

Craig Fields leads Blank Rome’s State + Local Tax practice and regularly litigates state and local tax matters as well as counsels clients on state and local tax planning. In addition to representing clients in state and local tax controversies before administrative and judicial systems in jurisdictions throughout the United States, he has resolved hundreds of non-public record cases around the country. Craig has also provided advice regarding the potential tax consequences of complex restructurings involving the corporation income (franchise) taxes, the sales and use taxes, and miscellaneous taxes of many jurisdictions.  Craig has published numerous articles on state and local taxation and also frequently delivers lectures on state and local tax issues.  In 2019, Craig was selected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He also serves as an advisory board member for various professional organizations, publications, and centers, including Bloomberg Industry Group’s State Tax Advisory Board, the Georgetown Law Center, The National Multistate Tax Symposium, The Journal of State Taxation, and State Tax Notes.

Council On State Taxation

Karl Frieden is the Vice President/General Counsel of the Council On State Taxation (COST). Karl’s responsibilities at COST include managing its amicus program, leading its advocacy program on state tax legislation and regulation relating to conformity with federal tax legislation, and overseeing state tax research studies for COST’s affiliate – the State Tax Research Institute (STRI). Prior to joining COST, Karl was a tax partner with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. Earlier in his career, he was the Deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Karl has had extensive experience with most types of state and local taxes and with international income and indirect taxes. Karl has spoken on state and local and global tax issues at business, government and tax policy forums in the US, Europe and Asia. He has frequently testified before state legislatures and the US Congress on state tax policy issues. Karl is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he co-teaches a course on “Survey of State and Local Taxation.” He is the author of numerous articles on state and local taxation; and wrote the book, Cybertaxation: The Taxation of E-Commerce (CCH 2000) – the first comprehensive book written on the taxation of the digital economy.

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Honored as “Tax Lawyer of the Year” in 2011 by State Tax Notes, Jeff Friedman provides sophisticated state and local tax planning, strategic advice and advocacy to numerous Fortune 100 and industry-leading companies. His comprehensive practice includes state and local tax planning, compliance, legislation and policy, and litigation and controversy matters involving income, franchise, sales and use and property taxes. Jeff’s clients span a variety of industries, including e-commerce, energy, technology and telecommunications. A recognized thought leader on state and local tax issues, Jeff works on high-profile and precedent-setting litigation and controversy matters across the country. These matters impact critical questions on nexus, apportionment, the Multistate Tax Compact and the equal protection, due process and commerce clauses of the United States Constitution. Jeff is also a well-respected advocate on issues of tax policy, including the taxation of digital economy transactions.

Foley & Lardner, LLP

Lynn is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. Lynn is based in the firm’s Detroit office where she is a member of the Tax, Benefits, & Estate Planning Practice. Lynn has acquired more than three decades of experience as a tax attorney, including 14 years as corporate in-house counsel. She advises her clients on sophisticated multistate tax planning, audits, appeals and litigation and represents them in legislative and policy initiatives across multiple industry platforms. In addition, Lynn provides transactional support on the multistate tax implications of merger and acquisition transactions, defense of post-closing indemnity and escrow claims related to pre-closing liabilities. Her clients include foreign-based companies with U.S. operations, national Fortune 500 companies, as well as Michigan-based businesses of all sizes.

Her practice also includes unclaimed property and escheat audits and voluntary disclosures, due diligence support, risk review, and incentive assistance. Previously, Lynn was the leader of Honigman’s SALT practice. She is well-versed in City of Detroit tax matters, as well as other Michigan cities.

Lynn received her J.D. from Wayne State University Law School and LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.

Haas Law

June Summers Haas is the owner of Haas Law. Previously, she was a partner with Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn LLP and former commissioner of revenue for Michigan, serving in that capacity for three years. A frequent lecturer on nexus issues, she also served for three years as director of the MTC’s National Nexus Program. Ms. Summers Haas has more than 20 years’ experience in legal practice, and has been frequently involved in nationwide state tax projects, including negotiations with the Direct Marketing Association on use tax collection simplification and the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. A member of the ABA, she is admitted to the Michigan, California, U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Tax Court Bars. She has been named to The Best Lawyers in America 2006 and 2007 and Michigan Super Lawyers 2007-2009. Ms. Haas holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia, where she was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review, and a B.S. from George Mason University, graduating with distinction, and was the recipient of the Weber H. Peterson Award for Economics.

Multistate Tax Commission

Helen Hecht is the uniformity counsel to the Multistate Tax Commission, the administrative body created by the Multistate Tax Compact in 1967 to promote uniformity and compatibility in state tax systems. Ms. Hecht has been with the MTC since July 2014 and served until June 2020 as the MTC general counsel. Prior to coming to the MTC, Ms. Hecht worked for five years as tax counsel for the Federation of Tax Administrators, the Washington, D.C. based membership organization for the state revenue agencies. Before joining the FTA, Ms. Hecht was in private practice first with KPMG, LLP and then at the law firm Sutin, Thayer & Browne, PC, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ms. Hecht received her JD from the University of New Mexico Law School, graduating magna cum laude. She received bachelors and masters of accounting degrees from New Mexico State University. She is a certified public accountant, a member of the New Mexico bar, and admitted before the United States Supreme Court.

University of Georgia School of Law

Walter Hellerstein is  the Distinguished Research Professor & Francis Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law Emeritus at the University of Georgia School of Law and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is co-author of the leading treatise on state taxation, State Taxation vols. I & II, 3d ed. (Thomson Reuters 2022 rev.) (with tri-annual updates) and of the leading casebook on state and local taxation, State and Local Taxation, 11th ed. (West Academic, 2020). He is also co-author of Taxing Global Digital Commerce, 2d ed. (Kluwer Law International, 2020). Hellerstein’s work is regularly cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and by state courts throughout the nation. Hellerstein has also practiced extensively in the state tax field. He has been involved in numerous state tax cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, having successfully argued on behalf of taxpayers in both Hunt-Wesson, Inc. v. Franchise Tax Bd., 528 U.S. 458 (2000) and Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768 (1992). In 2008, Hellerstein was awarded the National Tax Association’s Daniel M. Holland Medal for outstanding lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance. Hellerstein earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and his law degree from the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The University of Chicago Law Review.

Alston + Bird LLP

Ms. Houghton is a nationally recognized expert whose practice focuses on state and local tax planning, tax controversies and unclaimed property/escheat matters. She chairs the Alston & Bird Tax practice and has served as a member and Chair of the firm’s executive committee. She previously served as general counsel to the Council On State Taxation (COST), where she filed U.S. Supreme Court briefs in cases impacting state taxation of multistate commerce and led a tax policy initiative addressing taxation of Internet transactions. Ms. Houghton has represented clients on a multi-jurisdictional basis with respect to significant tax disputes; negotiated favorable settlements with state and local jurisdictions; developed and advocated state tax policy and legislative positions that benefited client interests; and collaborated with clients to design transactional and organizational structures that have optimized direct and indirect tax burdens. Ms. Houghton also advises clients with respect to unclaimed property/escheat compliance, voluntary disclosure initiatives, planning opportunities, single- and multi-state audit defense, and litigation of state unclaimed property assessments. Ms. Houghton has co-authored two Bloomberg Multistate Tax Portfolios: Drop Shipments and Unclaimed Property. She lectures frequently at the Georgetown University Law Center on state tax and unclaimed property topics.

Ernst & Young

Joe is Managing Director at Ernst & Young’s National Indirect Tax group. Prior to this role, he was Executive Director of the Multistate Tax Commission, and served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue (1987-1995); president of both the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Southeast Association of Tax Administrators; chief financial officer for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County; and an Internal Revenue Service revenue officer. In private practice, Joe has worked at the District Attorney General’s office in Cookeville, TN (1984-1987); as a partner with Grant Thornton (1998-2004); and as Vice President for Tax Solutions at Liquid Engines. Mr. Huddleston serves on numerous state tax related boards, is a founding trustee of the Paul Hartman Tax Forum at Vanderbilt University Law School, and is a member of the Tennessee and American Bar Associations. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degree “LL.D” from the University of South Carolina.

BlankRome

Hollis Hyans is a Partner at BlankRome. She has extensive experience in general commercial litigation and has handled a wide range of state and local tax controversies, litigating or resolving state tax disputes across the nation, in courts and in administrative tribunals in more than 40 states and localities. She advises clients on matters arising in all of the states and localities, at all stages from the earliest responses to initial audit inquiries, dealing with audit disputes, filing administrative protests, and handling them from beginning to end. She is familiar with and has handled disputes in courts in nearly every state, dealing with discovery issues, witness preparation, depositions, pre-trial proceedings, trials, and appeals. She has experience in just about every area of state and local tax, including corporate income and franchise taxes, sales and use taxes, personal income tax, utility taxes, state unemployment taxes, and unclaimed property. She also advises on the state and local tax ramifications of various business transactions, and on tactics for reducing state tax problems before they become large and expensive.

RSM US LLP

As RSM’s Washington National Tax State & Local Tax (SALT) leader, Brian serves as a technical resource for the firm’s national practice across all state and local tax service lines. He tracks significant state case law and legislative and administrative activities daily, and coordinates the firm’s response to law changes. Brian frequently contributes articles of tax significance for internal newsletters and external publications such as the SALT Matters column in State Tax Notes, and is a member of the Bloomberg Industry Group State Tax Advisory Board. Brian regularly speaks on state and local tax issues before industry groups and at local, regional and national conferences, including the Hartman SALT Forum, SEATA, the ABA-IPT Advanced Income Tax Seminar, the NYU Institute on State and Local Taxation, IPT SALT symposiums, and COST events. Brian provides tax services to clients across the U.S., including advice on sales and use, credits and incentives, income and franchise, and property tax issues. He is sought after by clients across the firm for his advanced knowledge in state and local taxes.

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Kelvin Lawrence is a partner in the Columbus office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP who helps clients solve Ohio, multi-state and federal tax problems. He has advised clients on income tax, gross receipts tax, property tax, sales tax and use tax matters, including representation in audits, appeals, and voluntary disclosures. He has also counseled nonprofit clients on securing and maintaining federal and state tax exemptions. Kelvin is former Chair of the Ohio State Bar Association Taxation Law Committee, former Co-chair of the Columbus Bar Association Business Tax Committee, and currently serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association State and Local Tax Committee Pass-through Entity Tax Subcommittee. He frequently writes on Ohio and multi-state tax matters, and has presented at programs across the country, including those sponsored by the Tax Executives Institute and the Council on State Taxation. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the New York University School of Professional Studies Institute on State and Local Taxation, and a member of the American, Ohio State, and John Mercer Langston Bar Associations. He was recognized as an Ohio Super Lawyers “Rising Star” from 2014 to 2017, and among The Best Lawyers in America© in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Kelvin is a graduate of Florida A&M University and of the University of Michigan Law School.

Council On State Taxation

Douglas L. Lindholm, Esq. is President and Executive Director of the Council On State Taxation (COST). COST, with a membership of nearly 600 multistate corporations, is dedicated to preserving and promoting equitable and nondiscriminatory state taxation of multi-jurisdictional entities. Prior to taking the helm at COST, Mr. Lindholm served as Counsel, State Tax Policy for the General Electric Company in Washington, DC. Mr. Lindholm also served for three years as Legislative Director for COST, successfully directing COST’s legislative advocacy function, including development and management of member coalitions active on issues in numerous states.

Williams Mullen

A Partner with Williams Mullen, Stephanie Lipinski Galland has extensive legal experience in state and local taxation with an emphasis on representation before state and local taxing authorities in income, franchise, sales, use and unclaimed property controversies. She has represented clients in developing, implementing and defending tax positions in state audits. Her experience in a Fortune 500 company, as a tax partner in a national law firm and in the Virginia Department of Taxation provides her with valuable skills in all areas of taxation. state and local income tax, sales and property tax issues with a concentration on matters regarding tax and business planning, mergers and acquisitions (including due diligence issues), administrative appeals and negotiated settlements, tax incentive negotiations and maintenance, audits, unclaimed property issues including audits and voluntary disclosures, tax audits and multistate voluntary disclosures. She possesses broad experience in corporate governance, including interaction with operations and supply chain functions. This experience includes structuring domestic and international transactions, negotiating contract terms with third party vendors, negotiating with governments on the national, state/provincial and local levels for economic development projects and finance and tax accommodations.

HMB Legal Counsel

Fred O. Marcus is a principal in the law firm of HMB Legal Counsel, formerly known as Horwood, Marcus & Berk Chartered, where he co‐chairs the state and local tax practice group. Mr. Marcus concentrates his practice in state and local tax planning and the resolution of state and local tax disputes on a nationwide basis for multistate and multinational corporations. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and the California Appellate Court; has argued before the Illinois and Missouri Supreme Courts and the Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico and New Jersey Appellate Courts; and has tried cases before trial courts and administrative tribunals of numerous other states.  He is a frequent lecturer before such groups as the Council on State Taxation, the Tax Executives Institute, the Chicago Tax Club, New York University’s Conference on State and Local Taxation, Vanderbilt University School of Law’s Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum, Georgetown University School of Law’s Institute on State and Local Taxation and the California Tax Policy.  He is also an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law where he teaches state and local taxation in its Graduate Tax Program.

Mr. Marcus is a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation’s State and Local Tax Committee; a member of the Illinois Taxpayers’ Federation’s State Tax Advisory Board; a member of New York University’s State and Local Tax Conference Advisory Board; a member of Tax Management’s State Tax Advisory Board and a member of the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Director’s Practitioners’ Advisory Board.  He is the author of a Tax Management Multistate Portfolio entitled Limitations on the States’ Jurisdiction to Impose Net Income Based Taxes and has co-authored three additional Tax Management Portfolios(TM) entitled Sales and Use taxes:  The Machinery and Equipment Exemption, Illinois Net Income Taxes, and Illinois Sales and Use Taxes. He is also the co-author of Bloomberg’s Corporate Income Tax Navigator, Illinois; the co-author and editor of Bloomberg’s Sales and Use Tax Navigator, Illinois and the author of a chapter on Illinois Franchise Taxes for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education.

Mr. Marcus holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Juris Doctor Degree from DePaul University’s College of Law. He is the recipient of Bloomberg Tax’s 2018 State Tax Author of the Year Award as well as the Council on State Taxation’s 2015 Paul H. Frankel Excellence in State Taxation Award.

Multistate Tax Commission

Gregory Matson is executive director of the Multistate Tax Commission. Before pursuing a LL.M. in tax, he served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. After receiving his LL.M. from Villanova University School of Law’s Graduate Tax Program, he worked as a trial counsel for the Internal Revenue Service; later, he worked as a counsel and then as general counsel for the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue. Before joining the staff of the Multistate Tax Commission, he was a tax counsel at Tax Executives Institute, specializing in state and local tax and indirect tax matters. He received his B.A. from Weber State University and his J.D. from University of Utah’s College of Law. He serves on several state and local tax related advisory boards.

Jones Walker LLP

Alysse McLoughlin is a partner in the law firm of Jones Walker LLP and is based in the Firm’s New York office. She focuses her practice on state and local tax matters, with particular skill working with financial services companies. Alysse is a leader in publishing and speaking on the impact of US tax reform on the states, including the impact of the international tax reform provisions. Ms. McLoughlin was the head of state tax at Barclays, where she was responsible for all state taxes, including income, franchise, sales and use, and excise tax issues. Her responsibilities included establishment of state tax return filing positions and reserves, participation in the financial statement process, and the handling of all state tax audits. She has also held positions as state tax counsel at Lehman Brothers and attorney in the chief counsel division of the Internal Revenue Service. Ms. McLoughlin received her LL.M. from New York University School of Law and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She earned her B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Alysse is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.

Ryan, LLC

Mark Nachbar is a Principal in the National Tax Group at Ryan, LLC with over 40 years of experience delivering multistate tax services to corporate enterprises, focusing on minimizing corporate tax liabilities and limiting corporate tax exposures. In addition, Mark has spent a great deal of time bringing state credit and incentive opportunities for his clients. As a member of Ryan’s national tax group, Mark has authored a significant number of articles on tax developments as well as thought leadership articles regarding a variety of state and local issues. He is often quoted by various news agencies on state and local tax topics. Mark has authored “Income Taxes: State Tax Credits and Incentives” for Bloomberg Tax. His industry experience includes manufacturers, retailers, distribution companies, service providers, financial institutions, telecommunications providers, transportation companies and media concerns. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of state and local tax topics. In addition, he is an advisory board member for Multistate Corporate Tax Guide, The Journal of State Taxation and the Multistate Tax Advisory Board for Bloomberg Tax State Tax. He also serves as the co-chair for IPT’s Income Tax school. Mark lectures and writes articles for numerous organizations and publications. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Management degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Illinois – College of Law in Urbana, IL.

Gannett 

Walter Nagel is Vice President and Chief Tax Officer for Gannett in McLean, Virginia. Previously, Mr. Nagel was in private practice representing well known clients on tax and business matters, including multi-million dollar controversies.  He was a partner with Crowell & Moring LLP and Reed Smith LLP. He served as of counsel with Sullivan & Worcester LLP.  Mr. Nagel is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a past Chair of the American Bar Association State & Local Tax Committee, a former member of the District of Columbia Tax Revision Commission and on governors’ task forces in New York and Virginia. He also served as counsel to the United States Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce.

Council On State Taxation

Fred Nicely is a Senior Tax Counsel at the Council On State Taxation (COST). His role as Senior Tax Counsel extends to all aspects of the COST mission statement which is 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. 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.

University of Connecticut School of Law

Professor Richard D. Pomp is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. He has taught at Harvard, New York University, Columbia, University of Texas, and Boston College. He has been a Distinguished Professor in Residence at the Chulalongkorn Law School, Bangkok, Thailand, and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Tokyo Law School and at Harvard Law School. Professor Pomp has served as an expert witness in various courts throughout the country and as counsel and a litigation consultant to law firms, corporations, accounting firms, and state tax administrations. He has participated in various capacities in U.S. Supreme Court litigation. Professor Pomp has served as a consultant to cities, states, the Multistate Tax Commission, the Navajo Nation, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and foreign countries, including the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China, Indonesia, Gambia, Zambia, Mexico, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Vietnam.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Carley Roberts is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and is based in the firm’s Sacramento office. She advises Fortune 100 and industry-leading companies on all aspects of state and local tax matters. Her clients comprise a variety of industries, including energy, technology, telecommunications, media, retail and manufacturing. Carley’s practice consists of administrative and judicial litigation, state and local tax planning, and transactional work involving all U.S. state and local jurisdictions, where she has litigated numerous precedent-setting matters. These matters impact critical questions on apportionment, combination, exemptions and credits, nexus and constitutional violations involving income, sales and use, and property tax and all areas of local taxation. Particularly recognized for her leadership in California, Carley has successfully represented hundreds of matters before California’s tax agencies, administrative tribunals and courts.

Carley has been the recipient of numerous awards and is regularly featured in the legal profession’s “best of” and “who’s who” lists. In addition to being named as one of the 2016 Top 10 Outstanding Women in Tax for having significant impact on tax practice and tax policy, and 2014 Tax MVP of the Year for having the biggest wins and making the most significant contributions to the state and local tax community (SALT), she was also recognized as a key influencer in SALT and was featured in the State Tax Today “State Tax Spotlight.” In addition to being a sought-after speaker, Carley contributes to publications such as Tax Analysts’ State Tax Notes and Bloomberg Tax’s Daily Tax Report: State.

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Breen Schiller focuses her practice on all manners of state and local tax (SALT) planning, audit defense and the litigation of sophisticated multi­state and local tax issues. She represents clients ranging from privately-held mid-sized companies to multinational and multi-state Fortune 100 corporations. She provides strategic and practical tax planning and dispute resolution advice that addresses an extensive range of matters, including nexus business/non-business income, apportionment & alternative apportionment, unitary business principle, combined reporting, federal change reporting and credits and deductions; as well as various sales and use tax engagements such as nexus, exemptions, and inclusions and exclusions from the tax base. Practicing nationwide, Breen has extensive experience addressing company and industry-specific tax issues. She regularly develops proactive strategies addressing multi-state compliance related to both direct and indirect taxes, as well as, counsels high net worth individuals on residency related matters.

KPMG

Shirley Klenda Sicilian is National Director of State and Local Tax Controversy in KPMG LLP’s Washington National Tax office. In this role, Ms. Sicilian supports KPMG’s network of controversy specialists in every state and delivery of KPMG SALT controversy services nationwide. Ms. Sicilian is a recipient of the national Paull Mines Award for Outstanding Contribution to State Tax Jurisprudence. And Tax Analysts – State Tax Notes named Ms. Sicilian as a finalist for its Person of the Year (2013), citing her as “one of the most influential legal thinkers in the field.” Prior to joining KPMG, Ms. Sicilian was General Counsel for the Multistate Tax Commission, an intergovernmental agency whose membership includes forty-nine states and the District of Columbia. She previously served as Director of Policy and Research, and then General Counsel, for the Kansas Department of Revenue. Before working in the tax area, Ms. Sicilian worked in public utility regulation, serving as Chief of Economic Policy and as Assistant General Counsel for the Kansas Corporation Commission. Ms. Sicilian has been appointed to serve on a variety of advisory and deliberative boards; is a frequent writer, instructor, and speaker on state tax topics; and has authored several briefs before various State Supreme Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Her articles have appeared in various publications, including State Tax Notes, The Tax Lawyer, Proceedings of the New York University Institution on State and Local Taxation, and the Journal of Multistate Taxation. Her publications include co-authorship of CCH’s state corporate income tax chapter.

BDO, USA, LLP

Scott Smith is BDO’s National Technical Practice Leader – State & Local Tax. He was previously a partner with the firms Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC,  LeClairRyan and Plant Bauer & Smith, LLP, as well as a partner with KPMG’s State and Local Tax Practice, where he provided expertise on all aspects of income and franchise, employment taxation, client exposure, and liability assessment. Prior to joining KPMG, Mr. Smith was assistant counsel for the MTC at its Washington, D.C., headquarters office. Mr. Smith received his B.A. in history from Mount Union College, cum laude, his J.D. from University of Toledo College of Law, and his LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Frost Brown Todd LLP

Mark Sommer is a Partner of the Firm and tax attorney resident in the Louisville office of the law firm of Frost Brown Todd LLP, where he Chairs the Tax, Benefits & Estates Group and the Firm’s Tax Teams.  Now in his 35th year of private practice on a national scale, Mark’s comprehensive practice focuses on controversy, litigation and planning relating to tax matters, primarily state and local tax matters and incentives.  He has been involved as counsel in well over a thousand controversies and disputes regarding countless tax issues before the administrative and judicial systems of numerous jurisdictions, and assisted in hundreds of transactions and planning situations providing strategic advice.  Mark is a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel and also is a recognized “Super Lawyer” in Kentucky.  Mark has also been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America for twenty years in Tax Law and in Litigation & Controversy – Tax and was recognized by State Tax Notes as one of its “Persons of the Year” in 2013 and 2015.  He has served on several American Bar Association, Section of Taxation committees and projects, most recently serving as immediate Past Chair of the Committee on State and Local Tax.  He also serves on several advisory boards, including those for the Paul J. Hartman Memorial State and Local Tax Forum at Vanderbilt University, the Bloomberg State Tax Advisory Board and the NYU State and Local Tax Conference Advisory Board.  Mr. Sommer has written extensively in the area of state and local taxation.  His articles have appeared in numerous publications.  Mr. Sommer is a frequent speaker and lecturer on state and local tax matters at conferences, forums and groups such as IPT, Hartman SALT Forum, Kentucky Society of CPAs, COST, Tax Executives Institute, Georgetown’s Advanced State and Local Tax Conference, Ohio Tax Conference, Kentucky Boar Association (past Tax Section Chair), Louisville Bar Association (past Tax Section Chair), NYU, Tulane Tax Conference and the American Bar Association.  Mr. Sommer previously served as Chair of the SEATA Industry Council and presently serves as Director and Chairman of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation.  Mr. Sommer obtained his JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and his BSBA from Xavier University.

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP

Daniel L. Stanley is a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. Mr. Stanley’s practice concentrates on the Michigan Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Michigan Business Tax (MBT), Single Business Tax (SBT), sales tax, use tax, and property taxes. He is a lecturer for various tax organizations and tax conferences. Mr. Stanley received a B.S. from San Diego State University, an M.S. from Stanford University, and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Deployed Resources, LLC

Christopher J. Sullivan, Esq., is the Chief Legal Officer of Deployed Resources, LLC where he leads a broad range of business and legal initiatives.  Prior to joining Deployed Resources, Chris was a shareholder at a law firm in New Hampshire where he served as its President.  His legal practice focused on multi-state taxation representing clients in forums ranging from administrative agencies and court rooms to the Legislature. Chris represented corporate clients in tax matters before the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and the Vermont Department of Taxes, and advises companies on multi-state matters involving states across the country. Chris has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers in America and in 2019 was named Lawyer of the Year, Tax Law. Chris is a nationally recognized speaker on state tax issues and teaches frequently on New England Tax issues. Chris was a founder and served as the Treasurer of the New England State and Local Tax Forum, which expands education on multistate tax issues for New England companies and practitioners. Chris also serves on the Board of Trustees of the NYU Institute on State and Local Taxation. Appointed by the Senate President, he served on New Hampshire’s Study Commission on Apportionment on potential business tax reform and New Hampshire’s competitive position compared to other states. He teaches Multistate Tax at the University of New Hampshire Law School.  Chris is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center.

Georgetown Law

Professor Tatarowicz is a Professor in the Graduate Tax Program at Georgetown and Faculty Advisor of the State and Local Tax (SALT) Certificate Program. He is also Of Counsel at the law firm of Blank Rome LLP in Washington, D.C. Professor Tatarowicz has taught at the Law Center as an adjunct professor since 1984, and became a full-time professor in the Graduate Tax Program in 2011. Prior to joining the Law Center full-time, he served as the national leader of the State & Local Tax Practice at Ernst & Young LLP, where he established that Big Four firm’s State and Local Tax group. Phil has worked in the tax arena for over 30 years and founded Ernst & Young LLP’s State and Local Tax group. Over the course of his career, Phil has served as Ernst & Young LLP’s National Director of State and Local Tax Services, National Director of State and Local Tax Technical Services and the partner in charge of the State and Local Tax practices located in Chicago, the Midwest and North Central Regions and the National Tax Department. In addition to being the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Subcommittee on Interstate Transactions, Phil is chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on State and Local Taxes. He also is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Association of Attorney-CPAs. Further, he is a member of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC) where he chairs its Large and Mid-Size Business (LMSB) Subgroup. LMSB serves all corporations, Subchapter S corporations and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million. Phil was honored by being appointed as the 2009 Vice-Chair of IRSAC. In 2010, he became the chair of IRSAC.

HMB Legal Counsel

Marilyn A. Wethekam is a partner at HMB Legal Counsel in Chicago.  She has a national SALT practice representing multistate and multinational corporations in all areas of state tax. In 2010 she was named as the second recipient of the Council on State Taxation’s Paul Frankel Excellence in State Taxation Award.  She received the 2012 Bloomberg Tax, Frank Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Tax Law, was named one of the 2016 Outstanding Women in Tax by Tax Notes, named by Crain’s as one of Chicago’s Notable Women Lawyers 2018 and received the 2019 Institute for Professionals in Taxation Distinguished Service Award.

Ms. Wethekam advises her clients on multistate tax issues that involve income, franchise and transaction taxes.  Her eighteen years of corporate tax experience with Mobil Oil Corporation and Montgomery Ward & Co. provide her with an understanding of the complex issues encountered by multistate and multinational corporations.  She has formulated multistate audit strategies, drafted legislation, and represented multistate and multinational corporations in income, franchise, transactional tax matters in more than thirty-five states.

Ms. Wethekam is admitted to the bar in Illinois and Texas.

Ernst & Young

Steven Wlodychak is a principal with Ernst & Young LLP’s Indirect (State and Local) Tax practice. Based in Washington, DC, Mr. Wlodychak is also the State and Local Tax Leader of the firm’s Center for Tax Policy, coordinating Ernst & Young LLP’s point of view on emerging state and local tax legislative, judicial and administrative issues. He also leads its state and local transactions practice. Prior to moving to Washington, Mr. Wlodychak served in Ernst & Young LLP’s Los Angeles, California, and New York offices, was state tax counsel for a multinational insurance company and was an associate attorney for a large regional law firm. He also served in various positions in New Jersey state government, including in the Office of the Governor.

Grant Thornton LLP, Washington, D.C.

Jamie C. Yesnowitz is a principal and State and Local Tax (SALT) leader in the Washington National Tax Office of Grant Thornton LLP. In this role, he serves as a national technical resource for Grant Thornton’s SALT practice, devoting significant time to client matters. He follows current developments and hot topics in the SALT world, including state corporate income and sales tax legislation and policy, state tax conformity to federal tax provisions, state reaction to Wayfair, state corporate income tax apportionment rules and filing methods, and trends and developments. Jamie has served as Chair of the District of Columbia Bar Association’s SALT Committee, Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) SALT Technical Resource Panel, member of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, and is a recipient of the AICPA’s 2020 Jonathan Horn Distinguished Service Award.

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, New York

Peter Glicklich is the Managing Partner of the Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP’s New York office and a partner in its Taxation practice. For over 25 years, he has counseled North American and foreign-based multinationals and other institutions on their international and corporate tax concerns.

Peter concentrates his practice in the taxation of corporate and international transactions. He advises public and closely held corporations and REITs in connection with their mergers and acquisitions, cross-border financings, restructurings, reorganizations, spinoffs and intercompany pricing. Peter has advised entities in diverse fields, including real estate, infrastructure, finance, retail, manufacturing, mining, biotechnology, service software, transportation, telecommunications, beverages and pharmaceuticals.

He has worked with institutional investors, private equity, hedge and venture capital funds, foreign governments, pension plans, Fortune 50 companies, investment banks, commodities and securities dealers, insurance companies, and others. Peter also arbitrates tax-related contract disputes arising in connection with M&A and other transactions and handles tax controversies.

Manuel Benites
Peréz Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz, Buenos Aires

Manuel M. Benites, a founding partner of Peréz Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz, focuses his practice on tax law. Admitted to the bar in 1980, he is a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires (JD, 1980); master in laws, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (LLM, 1987). He is professor of Corporate Income Tax at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and professor of Tax-free Corporate Reorganisations, Universidad Católica Argentina, School of Law. He is a member of the Argentine Association of Fiscal Studies, IFA, the Tax Committee of the International Bar Association and of the Buenos Aires City Bar Association. He is the author of several articles on tax law and a lecturer and panellist at national and international

Ana Lucía Ferreyra
Pluspetrol, Montevideo, Uruguay

Ana Lucía Ferreyra, a William J. Fulbright Scholarship (2002-2003) and University of Florida graduate (LL.M. 2003), currently works as tax counsel for new business at Pluspetrol.  Previously, she was a partner at Teijeiro y Ballone Abogados offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a member of the International Bar Association and has been appointed as vice-chair of the Tax Committee for the period 2016-2017. Mrs. Ferreyra has written several publications related to her practice in Practical Latin American Tax Strategies, Latin American Law & Business Report, Worldwide Tax Daily, International Tax Review, Global Legal Group, Errepar, among others. She has been a speaker on tax matters at the International Bar Association, IFA Latin America, and IFA Argentina congresses and seminars. She has been a professor of international taxation at the Master Program in Taxation, Argentine Catholic University and CIDTI, Austral University.

Guillermo O. Teijeiro
Teijeiro y Ballone, Buenos Aires

Guillermo O. Teijeiro writes and lectures frequently on corporate and international tax law, with articles and books published by Bloomberg Industry Group, Law & Business Inc., Euromoney, Tax Analysts, The Economist, Thomson Reuters, Lexis-Nexis, Kluwer, Global Legal Group, and Ediciones Contabilidad Moderna, among others, and was named Bloomberg Industry Group’s Contributor of the Year in 2015. Mr. Teijeiro has been a member of the Board of the City of Buenos Aires Bar Association, as well as of the Board of the Argentine IFA Branch (Argentine Association of fiscal studies) and is currently president of the Argentine IFA branch for the period 2016-2018. A former plenary member of IFA Permanent Scientific Committee (2006-2014), he is currently a member of IFA General Council and vice president of the IFA LatAm Regional Committee. He graduated LL.B. from La Plata University, Argentina, and obtained an LLM degree from Harvard University, and later spent a year at Harvard Law School as a visiting scholar, under the sponsorship of the International Tax Program and the Harvard Tax Fund. Mr. Teijeiro teaches International Taxation at the Master Program in Taxation, Argentine Catholic University, CIDTI, Austral University, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Master Program in Taxation of Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires.

Tim Keeling
KPMG LLP, Sydney

Tim Keeling is an international tax partner with KPMG Australia, specialising in transfer pricing for over 12 years. Tim has previously worked in the ATO’s transfer pricing unit and therefore has had multi-faceted experience with respect to managing and addressing the transfer pricing matters of multinationals. Tim has a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Business Administration, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.

Adrian Varrasso
MinterEllison, Melbourne

Adrian Varrasso is a Partner with MinterEllison in Melbourne, Australia. Adrian’s key areas of expertise are tax and structuring advice for mergers, acquisitions, divestments, demergers and infrastructure funding. Adrian has advised on an extensive range of general income tax issues for Australian and international clients, with a special interest in tax issues in the energy and resources sectors and inbound and outbound investment. His experience includes advising on taxation administration and compliance issues, comprehensive tax due diligence reviews and managing tax disputes. Adrian also has tax expertise in the automotive sector and infrastructure sector.

He received his BComm (2002) and an LLB (Hons) (2002) both from the University of Melbourne. He is admitted as a barrister & solicitor in Victoria, and is a member of the Law Council of Australia (Taxation Committee Member and National Chair and also a member of the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG)); the Taxation Committee of the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia; the Law Institute of Victoria; and an Associate of the Taxation Institute of Australia.

Grant Wardell-Johnson
KPMG LLP, Sydney

Grant Wardell-Johnson joined KPMG in December 1987 and has been a partner since July 1997. From 2007 to 2009, he served as the leader of the KPMG Tax Mergers & Acquisitions Practice and since 2012, has served as head of the KPMG Australian Tax Centre. He was lead tax partner on several high-profile acquisitions and listings, including Dyno-Nobel, $1.7b (2005), Boart Longyear, $2.7b (2006), and Westfarmers acquisition of Coles, $20b (2007). Other clients have included AGL, CHAMP, Corporate Express, CSR, Lend Lease, Macquarie, Optus, and Standard Chartered Bank. An adjust professor of business and tax law at the University of New South Wales, Grant is also a Fellow of the University of Western Australia. He serves as co-chair of the Australian Tax Office’s National Tax Liaison Group (until December 2017), chair of the Tax Technical Committee of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand, a member of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Treasury Advisory Group, an advisor to the Board of Taxation, and a member of the Expert Panel to the Board of Tax Working Group on Hybrids. He holds a bachelor of Economics and bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Thierry Denayer
Stibbe, Brussels

Thierry Denayer is presently tax counsel at the Brussels office of Stibbe. Thierry holds a law degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (1978). He served as staff member at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam (the “IBFD”). He practiced tax law in Belgium for 30 years at the Brussels office of Linklaters and since 2009 at Stibbe, specializing in national and international corporate tax. He was chairman of the Belgian branch of the International Fiscal Association from 2012 to 2014.

Pascal Faes
Antaxius, Antwerp

Pascal Faes is a tax partner with Antaxius in Antwerp. He received his J.D. from the University of Ghent (1984); special degree in economics, University of Brussels (VUB) (1987); and his master’s in tax law, University of Brussels (ULB) (1991). He is a special consultant to Tax Management, Inc. Bloomberg Industry Group.

Henrique de Freitas Munia e Erbolato
Santos Neto Advogados, São Paulo

Henrique Munia e Erbolato is a tax lawyer in São Paulo, Brazil. Henrique concentrates his practice on international tax and transfer pricing. He is a member of the Brazilian Bar. Henrique received his LL.M. with honors from Northwestern University School of Law (Chicago, USA) and a Certificate in Business Administration from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management (both in 2005). He holds degrees in Postgraduate Studies in Tax Law – Instituto Brasileiro de Estudos Tributários – IBET (2002), and graduated from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (1999). He has written numerous articles on international tax and transfer pricing. He served as the Brazilian “National Reporter” of the Tax Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) – 2010/2011. He is an administrative judge at the Taxpayers Council of the Municipality of São Paulo – 2018/2020. Henrique speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Pedro Vianna de Ulhôa Canto
Ulhôa Canto, Rezende e Guerra, Advogados, Rio de Janeiro

Pedro is a tax partner of Ulhôa Canto, Rezende e Guerra Advogados, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and concentrates his practice on international and domestic income tax matters, primarily in the Financial and Capital Markets industry. Pedro served as a foreign associate in the New York City (USA) office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (2006-2007). He is a member of the Brazilian Bar. Pedro received his LL.M. from New York University School of Law (New York, NY, USA) in 2006. He holds degrees from his graduate studies in Corporate and Capital Markets (2006) and Tax Law (2004) from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, and graduated from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (2000). Pedro speaks Portuguese and English.

Jay Niederhoffer
Deloitte LLP, Toronto

Jay Niederhoffer is an international corporate tax partner of Deloitte, based in Toronto, Canada. Over the last 17 years he has advised numerous Canadian and foreign-based multinationals on mergers and acquisitions, international and domestic structuring, cross-border financing and domestic planning. Jay has spoken in Canada and abroad on cross-border tax issues including mobile workforce issues, technology transfers and financing transactions. He obtained his Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations.

Rick Bennett
DLA Piper

Rick Bennett has over 30 years of experience advising businesses and corporations on complex tax issues.

Rick’s well-established practice focuses on income tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and both inbound and outbound international taxation. He has served as lead tax counsel on several billion-dollar acquisitions and regularly advises clients in tax disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency. Rick has also appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, British Columbia Court of Appeal, Tax Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal.

Active in the tax community, Rick currently serves on the Board of Governors at the Canadian Tax Foundation and is a contributing editor to Bloomberg’s Tax Manager’s International Forum.

Peng Tao
DLA Piper, Hong Kong

Peng Tao is Of Counsel in DLA Piper’s Hong Kong office. He focuses his practice on PRC tax and transfer pricing, mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, and general corporate and commercial issues in China and cross-border transactions. Before entering private practice, he worked for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China from 1992 to 1997. His main responsibilities were to draft and review tax and banking laws and regulations that were applicable nationwide. He graduated from New York University with an LLM in Tax.

Julie Hao
Ernst & Young, Beijing

Julie Hao is a tax partner with Ernst & Young’s Beijing office and has extensive international tax experience in cross-border transactions such as global tax minimization, offshore structuring, business model selection, supply chain management and exit strategy development. She has more than 20 years of tax practice in China, the United States and Europe, and previously worked with the Chinese tax authority (SAT). She holds an MPA degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and an International Tax Program certificate from Harvard Law School.

Nikolaj Bjørnholm
Bjørnholm Law, Copenhagen

Nikolaj Bjørnholm concentrates his practice in the area of corporate taxation, focusing on mergers, acquisitions, restructurings and international/EU taxation. He represents U.S., Danish and other multinational groups and high net worth individuals investing or conducting business in Denmark and abroad. He is an experienced tax litigator and has appeared before the Supreme Court more than 15 times since 2000. He is ranked as a leading tax lawyer in Chambers, Legal 500, Who’s Who Legal, Which Lawyer and Tax Directors Handbook among others. He is a member of the International Bar Association and was an officer of the Taxation Committee in 2009 and 2010, the American Bar Association, IFA, the Danish Bar Association and the Danish Tax Lawyers’; Association. He is the author of several tax articles and publications. He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1991 (LLM) and the Copenhagen Business School in 1996 (Diploma in Economics) and spent six months with the EU Commission (Directorate General IV (competition)) in 1991–1992. He was with Bech-Bruun from 1992–2010, with Hannes Snellman from 2011–2013 and with Plesner from 2014–2016.

Christian Emmeluth
EMBOLEX Advokater, Copenhagen

Christian Emmeluth obtained an LLBM from Copenhagen University in 1977 and became a member of the Danish Bar Association in 1980. During 1980-81, he studied at the New York University Institute of Comparative Law and obtained the degree of Master of Comparative Jurisprudence. Having practiced Danish law in London for a period of four years, he is now based in Copenhagen.

Stéphane Gelin
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre, Paris

Stéphane Gelin is an attorney, tax partner with CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre. He specializes in international tax and transfer pricing. He heads the CMS Tax Practice Group.

Thierry Pons
Cabinet Pons

Thierry Pons is a partner with Cabinet Pons in Paris. He is an expert in French and international taxation. Thierry covers all tax issues mainly in the banking, finance and capital market industries, concerning both corporate and indirect taxes. He has wide experience in advising corporate clients on international tax issues.

Dr. Jörg-Dietrich Kramer
Siegburg

Dr. Jörg-Dietrich Kramer studied law in Freiburg (Breisgau), Aix-en-Provence, Göttingen, and Cambridge (Massachusetts). He passed his two legal state examinations in 1963 and 1969 in Lower Saxony and took his L.L.M. Degree (Harvard) in 1965 and his Dr.Jur. Degree (Göttingen) in 1967. He was an attorney in Stuttgart in 1970-71 and during 1972-77 he was with the Berlin tax administration. From 1997 until his retirement in 2003 he was on the staff of the Federal Academy of Finance, where he became vice-president in 1986. He has continued to lecture at the academy since his retirement. He was also a lecturer in tax law at the University of Giessen from 1984 to 1991. He is the commentator of the Foreign Relations Tax Act (Außensteuergesetz) in Lippross, BasiskommentarSteuerrecht, and of the German tax treaties with France, Morocco and Tunisia in Debatin/Wassermeyer, DBA. He maintains a small private practice as a legal counsel.

Meyyappan Nagappan
Nishith Desai Associates, Mumbai

Meyyappan Nagappan is a Leader in the International Tax practice at Nishith Desai Associates. He is a Pemanda Monappa Scholar and graduated from Cambridge University with a Masters of Law specializing in International Taxation and economics. He has done extensive work advising some of the biggest non-profit foundations, charities and impact investment funds, including structuring advice in relation to India’s first $1 billion (USD) education outcomes fund. He has also advised several top technology companies on tax and structuring issues apart from publishing academic articles on taxation of digital economy.

Prior to joining Nishith Desai Associates, he worked in the Chambers of Mr. Mohan Parasan, Solicitor General of India between 2010 and 2014, where he was involved in some landmark international taxation disputes in India. He has also been a regular speaker at conferences in India and abroad on issues relating to taxation of the digital economy, GAAR, MLI, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and blockchain. He leads the impact investment, social finance, tax policy, taxation of digital economy and GST practices at NDA.

Ravishankar Raghavan
Majmudar & Partners, International Lawyers, Mumbai, India

Mr. Ravishankar Raghavan, Principal of the Tax Group at Majmudar & Partners, International Lawyers, has more than 18 years of experience in corporate tax advisory work, international taxation (investment and fund structuring, repatriation techniques, treaty analysis, advance rulings, exchange control regulations, FII taxation, etc.), and tax litigation services. Mr. Raghavan has a postgraduate degree in law and has also completed his management studies from Mumbai University. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Raghavan was associated with Ernst & Young and PwC in their respective tax practice groups in India. He has advised Deutsche Bank, Axis Bank, Future Group, Bank Muscat, State Street Funds, Engelhard Corporation, AT&T, Adecco N.A., Varian Medical Systems, Ion Exchange India Limited, Dun & Bradstreet, Barber Ship Management, Dalton Capital UK, Ward Ferry, Gerifonds, Instanex Capital, Congest Funds, Lloyd George Funds and several others on diverse tax matters. Mr. Raghavan is a frequent speaker on tax matters.

Peter Maher
A&L Goodbody, Dublin

Peter Maher is a partner with A&L Goodbody and is head of the firm’s tax department. He qualified as an Irish solicitor in 1990 and became a partner with the firm in 1998. He represents clients in every aspect of tax work, with particular emphasis on inbound investment, cross-border financings and structuring, capital market transactions and US multinational tax planning and business restructurings. He is regularly listed as a leading adviser in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Tax Lawyers, The Legal 500, Who’s Who of International Tax Lawyers, Chambers Global and PLC Which Lawyer. He is a former co-chair of the Taxes Committee of the International Bar Association and of the Irish Chapter of IFA. He is currently a member of the Tax Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland.

Louise Kelly
Deloitte, Dublin

Louise Kelly is a corporate and international tax director with Deloitte in Dublin. She joined Deloitte in 2001. She is an honours graduate of University College Cork, where she obtained an accounting degree. She is a Chartered Accountant and IATI Chartered Tax Adviser, having been placed in the final exams for both qualifications. Louise advises Irish and multinational companies over a wide variety of tax matters, with a particular focus on tax aligned structures for both inbound and outbound transactions. She has extensive experience on advising on tax efficient financing and intellectual property planning structures. She has advised on many M&A transactions and structured finance transactions. She led Deloitte’s Irish desk in New York during 2011 and 2012, where she advised multinationals on investing into Ireland. Louise is a regular author and speaker on international tax

Dr. Carlo Galli
Clifford Chance, Milan

Carlo Galli is a partner at Clifford Chance in Milan. He specializes in Italian tax law, including M&A, structured finance and capital markets.

Giovanni Rolle
WTS R&A Studio Tributario Associato, Member of WTS Alliance, Turin – Milan

Giovanni Rolle is a partner of R&A Studio Tributario Associato, a member of WTS Alliance. He is a chartered accountant who has long focused exclusively on international and EU tax, corporate reorganisation and transfer pricing, and thus has significant experience in international tax planning, cross-border restructuring, and supply chain projects for both Italian and foreign multinationals. He is a member of IFA, of the Executive Committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation – European Branch, and of the International Tax Technical Committee of Bocconi University, Milan. A regular contributor to Italian and foreign tax law journals, he is also a frequent lecturer in the field of international, comparative, and European Community tax law.

Shigeki Minami
Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Tokyo

Shigeki Minami is a lawyer licensed in Japan and a partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Tokyo. His practice focuses on tax law matters, including transfer pricing, international reorganizations, anti-tax-haven (CFC) rules, withholding tax issues, and other international and corporate tax issues, and, with respect to such matters, he has acted as counsel in various tax disputes on behalf of major Japanese and foreign companies. His recent achievements include the successful representation of a Japanese multi-national company in a transfer pricing dispute before the National Tax Tribunal, which resulted in the cancellation of an assessment of more than $100 million (USD), and the successful representation of a U.S.-based multinational company in a tax dispute involving an international reorganization before the Japanese court, which resulted in the cancellation of an assessment of more than $1 billion.

Akira Tanaka
Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune, Tokyo

Akira Tanaka is a partner of Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune. He holds an LLB degree from the University of Tokyo and a JD degree from the University of Tokyo School of Law. He was admitted to the Japanese Bar in 2008. He is a member of the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association and IFA.

Terri Grosselin
Ernst & Young LLP, Miami, Florida

Terri Grosselin is a director in Ernst & Young LLP’s Latin America Business Center in Miami. She transferred to Miami after working for three years in the New York office and five years in the Mexico City office of another Big Four professional services firm. She has been named one of the leading Latin American tax advisors in International Tax Review’s annual survey of Latin American advisors. Since graduating magna cum laude from West Virginia University, she has more than 15 years of advisory services in financial and strategic acquisitions and dispositions, particularly in the Latin America markets. She co-authored Tax Management Portfolio—Doing Business in Mexico, and is a frequent contributor to Tax Notes International and other major tax publications. She is fluent in both English and Spanish.

José Carlos Silva
Chevez, Ruiz, Zamarripa y Cia., S.C., Mexico City

José Carlos Silva is a partner in Chevez, Ruiz, Zamarripa y Cia., S.C., a tax firm based in Mexico. He is a graduate of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) where he obtained his degree in Public Accounting in 1990. He has taken graduate Diploma courses at ITAM in business law and international taxation. He is currently part of the faculty at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. He is the author of numerous articles on taxation, including the General Report on the IFA’s 2011 Paris Congress “Cross-Border Business Restructuring” published in Cahiers de Droit Fiscal International. He sits on the Board of Directors and is a member of the Executive Committee of IFA, Grupo Mexicano, A.C., an organization composed of Mexican experts in international taxation, the Mexican Branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA). He presided over the Mexican Branch from 2002-2006 and has spoken at several IFA Annual Congresses. He is the Chairman of the Nominations Committee of IFA.

Martijn Juddu
Loyens & Loeff, Amsterdam

Martijn Juddu is a senior associate at Loyens & Loeff based in their Amsterdam office. He graduated in tax law and notarial law at the University of Leiden and has a postgraduate degree in European tax law from the European Fiscal Studies Institute, Rotterdam. He has been practising Dutch and international tax law since 1996 with Loyens & Loeff, concentrating on corporate and international taxation. He advises domestic businesses and multinationals on setting up and maintaining domestic structures and international inbound and outbound structures, mergers and acquisitions, group reorganisations and joint ventures. He also advises businesses in the structuring of international activities in the oil and gas industry. He is a contributing author to a Dutch weekly professional journal on topical tax matters and teaches tax law for the law firm school.

Maarten J. C. Merkus
KPMG Meijburg & Co., Amsterdam

Maarten J.C. Merkus is a tax partner at Meijburg & Co Amsterdam. He graduated in civil law and tax law at the University of Leiden, and has a European tax law degree from the European Fiscal Studies Institute, Rotterdam.

Before joining Meijburg & Co, Maarten taught commercial law at the University of Leiden.

Since 1996 Maarten has been practicing Dutch and international tax law at Meijburg & Co. Maarten serves a wide range of clients, from family-owned enterprises to multinationals, on the tax aspects attached to their operational activities as well as matters such as mergers, acquisitions and restructurings, domestically as well as cross-border. His clients are active in the consumer and industrial markets, travel leisure and tourism sector and the real estate sector.

In 2001 and 2002 Maarten worked in Spain. At present Maarten is the chairman of the Latam Tax Desk within Meijburg & Co, with a primary focus on Spain and Brazil.

Luis F. Briones
Baker & McKenzie Madrid SLP

Luis Briones is a tax partner with Baker & McKenzie, Madrid. He obtained a degree in law from Deusto University, Bilbao, Spain in 1976. He also holds a degree in business sciences from ICAI-ICADE (Madrid, Spain) and has completed the Master of Laws and the International Tax Programme at Harvard University. His previous professional posts in Spain include inspector of finances at the Ministry of Finance, and executive adviser for International Tax Affairs to the Secretary of State. He has been a member of the Taxpayer Defence Council (Ministry of Economy and Finance). A professor since 1981 at several public and private institutions, he has written numerous articles and addressed the subject of taxation at various seminars.

Eduardo Martínez-Matosas
Gómez-Acebo & Pombo SLP, Barcelona

Eduardo Martínez-Matosas is an attorney at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Barcelona. He obtained a Law Degree from ESADE and a Master of Business Law (Taxation) from ESADE. He advises multinational, venture capital and private equity entities on their acquisitions, investments, divestitures or restructurings in Spain and abroad. He has wide experience in LBO and MBO transactions, his areas of expertise are international and EU tax, international mergers and acquisitions, cross border investments and M&A, financing and joint ventures, international corporate restructurings, transfer pricing, optimisation of multinationals’ global tax burden, tax controversy and litigation, and private equity. He is a frequent speaker for the IBA and other international forums and conferences, and regularly writes articles in specialized law journals and in major Spanish newspapers. He is a recommended tax lawyer by several international law directories and considered to be one of the key tax lawyers in Spain by Who’s Who Legal. He is also a member of the tax advisory committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain. He has taught international taxation for the LLM in International Law at the Superior Institute of Law and Economy (ISDE).

Walter H. Boss
Bratschi AG, Zürich

Walter H. Boss is a partner with Bratschi AG, Zürich. A graduate of the University of Bern and New York University School of Law with a master of laws (tax) degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1980. Until 1984 he served in the Federal Tax Administration (International Tax Law Division) as legal counsel; he was also a delegate at the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs. He was then an international tax attorney with major firms in Lugano and Zürich. In 1988, he became a partner at Ernst & Young’s International Services Office in New York. After having joined a major law firm in Zürich in 1991, he headed the tax and corporate department of another well-known firm in Zürich from 2001 to 2008. On July 1, 2008, he became one of the founding partners of the law firm Poledna Boss Kurer AG, Zürich, where he was managing partner prior to joining Bratschi AG.

Dr. Silvia Zimmermann
Pestalozzi Rechtsanwälte AG, Zürich

Silvia Zimmermann is a partner and member of Pestalozzi’s Tax and Private Clients group in Zürich. Her practice area is tax law, mainly international taxation; inbound and outbound tax planning for multinationals, as well as for individuals; tax issues relating to reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions, financial structuring and the taxation of financial instruments. She graduated from the University of Zürich in 1976 and was admitted to the bar in Switzerland in 1978. In 1980, she earned a doctorate in law from the University of Zürich. In 1981-82, she held a scholarship at the International Law Institute of Georgetown University Law Center, studying at Georgetown University, where she obtained an LL.M. degree. She is Chair of the tax group of the Zürich Bar Association and Lex Mundi, and a member of other tax groups; a board member of some local companies which are members of foreign multinational groups; a member of the Swiss Bar Association, the International Bar Association, IFA, and the American Bar Association. She is fluent in German, English and French.

Charles Goddard
Rosetta Tax LLP, London

Charles is a partner with Rosetta Tax LLP, a U.K. law firm which specializes in providing “City” quality, cost-effective tax advice to businesses and professional services firms. Charles has wide experience of advising on a range of corporate and finance transactions. His clients range from multinational blue-chip institutions to private individuals. The transactions on which he has advised include corporate M&A deals, real estate transactions, joint ventures, financing transactions (including Islamic finance, structured finance and leasing), and insolvency and restructuring deals.

James Ross
McDermott, Will & Emery UK LLP, London

James Ross is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP, based in its London office. His practice focuses on a broad range of international and domestic corporate/commercial tax issues, including corporate restructuring, transfer pricing and thin capitalisation, double tax treaty issues, corporate and structured finance projects, mergers and acquisitions and management buyouts. He is a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford and the College of Law, London.