College of Business: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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MS Tax Program Faculty

 

Provided below is a complete list of current faculty members.

Bernadette C. Abdow
Dover Corporation Director, Tax Reporting
babdow@kpmg.com

Bernadette Abdow is a Director in KPMG's Chicago office Federal Tax Practice, where she focuses on multinational companies in a variety of industries. She has over 25 years of experience in corporate income tax consulting, compliance and planning. Bernadette earned a BBA from Loyola University of Chicago and an MST from Bentley College in Waltham, MA. Prior to joining KPMG, she worked for Tribune Company, Technology Solutions Company and Zenith Electronics.

Bernadette specializes in accounting for income taxes and serves on several tax provision reviews and preparation projects for multinational companies. She has developed and instructed KPMG internal technical training and external courses on accounting for income taxes.

Glenn Aquino
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, (Retired) Tax Partner
Gaquino12@comcast.net

Glenn was a senior partner with over thirty-seven years of experience in providing tax, accounting and business advice to a diverse client base. He was responsible for the overall planning, implementation and coordination of all tax and accounting services. He had hands-on client service experience as well as management responsibility for tax professionals with industry and/or functional tax expertise. He has broad and general expertise and has served public and privately-held businesses with multinational and multistate footprints. His focus has been in the corporate and partnership areas with particular emphasis in the areas of tax accounting, accounting periods and methods, tax due diligence/mergers and acquisitions, consolidated returns and the tax impacts of bankruptcy/insolvency.

Glenn holds a Bachelor of Science (BSC) in Accounting from DePaul University as well as a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from DePaul University College of Law. He also holds a Masters of Law in Taxation (LLM) from John Marshall Law School. He is a CPA and member of both the AICPA and the Illinois CPA Society. Glenn has regularly instructed at local and national internal training courses as well as client and trade seminars on a myriad of technical topics. He will also be instructing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Masters of Accounting program.

Gregory A. Bergmann
Deloitte LLP, Partner
gbergmann@deloitte.com

Greg has over twenty years of experience specializing in multistate income and franchise taxes. He received a B.A. in accountancy from Northern Illinois University and a J.D. from the University of Illinois School of Law. He is a CPA and a member of the state and local tax committees of the Chicago Bar Association and the American Bar Association. A frequent instructor and speaker on state tax matters, Greg has written several articles on various state tax issues. He co-teaches the Multijurisdictional Taxation class in the MS Tax Program in Chicago for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Greg is a partner in the Chicago office of Deloitte Tax LLP. Prior to joining Deloitte, Greg was a partner at Arthur Andersen. Greg specializes in state and local income, and franchise tax compliance, and planning for multistate entities. He has significant experience in multistate income and franchise tax compliance, involving pass-through entities including partnerships and S corporations. Greg also has significant expertise in California, Michigan, and Illinois tax issues. His clients include major retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and professional service firms.

John Chandler
Associate Professor of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
chandlej@illinois.edu

John earned his B.A. from the College of William and Mary, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. He joined the Illinois faculty in 1978. He is the current Director of the MAS program. He served as the Director of the Office of Information Management from 1987-1993. His teaching interests focus on accounting and management control. Professor Chandler has published in the area of information technology in such journals as the Journal of Expert Systems, Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, Contemporary Accounting Research, Decision Sciences, and Management International Review. In 1991 he was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for research on "Computer-mediated Collective Induction." He was also the recipient of a Weldon Powell Achievement Fellowship in 1996.

John's research focuses on control of not-for-profit organizations and machine learning applications to business problems. He is also a consultant on cost, control and information systems analysis, domestically and internationally.

Stanley T. Cichowski
Deloitte Tax LLP, (Retired) Director
scichowski@deloitte.com

Stan Cichowski was a Director in Deloitte Tax LLP's Multistate Tax Services Group based in Chicago. He was responsible for federal, state and local transaction, and excise tax issues, with special emphasis on Illinois issues. He represented clients in a wide variety of state tax matters. He has been involved in regulatory and legislative changes for clients. Stan received a B.A. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a J.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law.

Prior to 1994, Stan served as the Deputy General Counsel with the Illinois Department of Revenue for 15 years. His responsibilities included administration and management of the Sales and Excise Tax Legal Division. He also served as the Policy Development Coordinator to the Director of Revenue as an expert in tax policy matters, issued legal rulings for audit, reviewed sales and excise tax litigation cases and drafted regulations and proposed legislation. Stan was involved in many of the major legislative changes in Illinois taxes. He managed an administrative hearings docket that averaged approximately 1,000 cases with a value in excess of $100 million. He drafted the Illinois Telecommunications Excise Tax Act, which was upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court and has become a model for state taxation of telecommunications.

Stan is a retired Army Reserve Judge Advocate Lieutenant Colonel. He served on active duty as an intelligence officer, an Appellate defense counsel in Washington, D.C., and as chief of military justice and foreign military claims commissioner in Tehran, Iran. In addition, he was engaged in private practice in Iran, specializing in private international law, claims arbitration and telecommunications and representation for the former Government of Iran.

Howard S. Engle
Deloitte, Partner
hengle@deloitteretired.com

Howard S. Engle received his undergraduate degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in taxation from DePaul University. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the American and Illinois Societies of Certified Public Accountants.

A partner with the Chicago office of Deloitte, Mr. Engle specializes in advising U. S. multinationals on all aspects of conducting business outside the United States. Mr. Engle was previously an international tax partner with Andersen and coordinated Andersen's international tax practice in the Midwest. He has also served as an adjunct associate professor of accountancy in the graduate Tax Program at DePaul University.

Mr. Engle has served as editor of the "International Developments" column for The Journal of Corporate Taxation and a member of the editorial board of The Tax Advisor. In addition, he has authored numerous articles on international tax issues.

Jonathan Fotzler
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, (Retired) Director
jonathan.fotzler@us.pwc.com

Jonathan Fotzler is a mergers and acquisitions tax manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the Chicago office and has been with PwC over 6 years. Jonathan assists with providing a wide range of tax services to both corporate and private equity clients, including tax-efficient financing, buy-side and sell-side tax due diligence, corporate reorganizations, spin-offs and joint ventures.

Jonathan received his Bachelors degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1997 and both a Juris Doctor and Masters in Accounting from Indiana University at Bloomington in 2002

J. Fred Giertz
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Professor of Economics
jgiertz@illinois.edu

J. Fred Giertz is a professor of economics and member of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has held this position since 1980. He now serves as interim head of the Department of Economics until August 2009. He received his Ph. D. in economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1970.

Professor Giertz's major research interests are in the areas of public finance, public choice, and regional economic development. He specializes in state and local taxation and expenditure analysis and in regional economic development issues. He has consulted with a variety of different governments, firms, and other organizations on tax and economic development issues.

Professor Giertz follows general macroeconomic issues, especially as they impact Illinois. He writes frequently on Illinois budget issues in publications such as State Tax Notes and compiles the U of I Flash Index, a monthly indicator of the Illinois economy. He is also a columnist for State Tax Notes.

In 2000, Fred was named the Executive Director of the National Tax Association, a 1,600 member organization of tax professionals located in Washington, D. C.

Laura Guzman
Ernst & Young LLP, Senior Manager
laura.guzman@ey.com

Laura is a Senior Manager in Ernst & Young’s Chicago-based Real Estate Private Equity Tax group. Laura has over 14 years of industry and public accounting experience serving private and publicly held REITs, real estate partnerships, advisors, fund managers, and developers. She has managed Federal and state compliance issues in the partnership and REIT areas. Laura’s has experience serving clients in the real estate and energy industries. Laura is co- leader of EY’s Professional Women’s Network and Latino Professional Network. Laura has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master of Science in Taxation degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Illinois CPA Society.

Michael T. Hart
Ernst & Young LLP, Partner
michael.hart@ey.com

Michael is a Tax Consulting Partner in the Chicago office of Ernst & Young. As part of Ernst & Young's federal tax group, Michael provides tax services to a variety of private equity and real estate related clients including real estate investment trusts, corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. He has structured real estate trust elections, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and foreign investments. Mike has performed tax consulting analysis related to debt cancellation issues, debt to equity conversions, equity investment write-offs, as well as structuring tiered partnership structures. Mike has assisted clients working through income, loss and debt allocations in various partnership agreements.

Mike is a Certified Public Accountant. He has a B.A. from Loyola University, a J.D. degree from The John Marshall Law School, and an LL.M. degree in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. Michael is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois Bar.


Michael Lawler
KPMG, Partner
mlawler@kpmg.com

Michael is a Tax Partner in KPMG's Chicago office Federal Tax Practice, Consumer and Industrial Markets, group where he focuses on the US tax obligations of multi-national companies. Michael has a Batchelor degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Taxation from DePaul University. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Michael's engagement experience includes assisting clients in relation to acquisitions, disposals, restructuring international transactions, tax planning, and overseeing tax compliance obligations. Michael is also well-versed in the application of US FAS 109 income tax accounting principles and serves as the lead partner on several multi-national income tax provision reviews and preparation engagements.

William C. McAlpine
Managing Director
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

W. Kurt Meier
U.S. Treasury Department, Tax Advisor
wkurtmeier@hotmail.com

W. Kurt Meier serves as the Senior Advisor to the Chief and Deputy Chief of Appeals for the Internal Revenue Service. In this position, he advises Appeals executives on the operations of the administrative forum for taxpayers contesting an IRS compliance action. Appeals’ mission is to resolve tax disputes without litigation; it provides an efficient, independent administrative appeal process for all taxpayers.

Prior to this position, Mr. Meier served as the Deputy Chief, Appeals, since 2008. Mr. Meier was formerly the Director of Field Operations – West for the Retailers, Food, Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare (RFPH) Industry within the Large and Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB). Prior to becoming the Director, Mr. Meier served as the Senior Industry Advisor for the RFPH Industry and to the LMSB Commissioner’s office.

Prior to joining the IRS, Mr. Meier was the Senior Engagement Coordinator for Ernst & Young in Chicago. In this position, he was responsible for coordinating tax requirements for companies and advising clients on all aspects of tax compliance. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, he was Director of Taxes for Morton International. In that position, Mr. Meier was the senior tax executive responsible for the company’s worldwide tax operations. He is past president of the Tax Executives Institute (TEI), Chicago Chapter and has been a member of several professional organizations including: the American Bar Association, The International Fiscal Association, the Tax Foundation, the Chicago Tax Club, the Committee on State Taxation and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Meier has led a number of educational forums within the IRS and frequently speaks to a wide array of professional and trade associations. He is a lecturer on tax policy and procedure within the Masters in Taxation program at the University of Illinois. In addition, he co-authored a large case tax manual of “Best Practices” with the IRS and TEI.

Mr. Meier is a certified public account and attorney earning his degree in finance from the University of Southern California and his law degree from the University of Illinois, College of Law.


Gregory Mudd

Pritzker Family Office, LLC, Vice President
gmudd@pritzkerfamilyoffice.com

Greg received his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from DePaul University and was a graduate of the first class of the Masters in Taxation program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Chicago. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society.

Greg is a Senior Tax Manager at Blackman Kallick, LLP, where he has been for the last two years. Previous to Blackman Kallick, Greg was at The Northern Trust Company where is was the department head of the Business Tax Reporting Group and the Wealth Management Reporting Group.

Greg also has worked at Deloitte Tax L.L.P., as a Tax Manager and started his tax career a Topel Forman L.L.C.


Katherine M. Scherer
Deloitte Tax LLP, Partner
kscherer@deloitte.com

Kathy Scherer is the Midwest Regional Tax Managing Partner (RTMP) at Deloitte Tax LLP. In her role as Midwest RTMP, Kathy has overall responsibility for Operations, Marketplace and HR matters occurring throughout the region. The Midwest Region Tax Practice has over 1,000 personnel and has several locations in Illinois, Minneapolis, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.

In addition to her role as Midwest RTMP, Kathy serves as a Lead Tax Partner or Advisory Tax Partner on a number of major corporate clients in Chicago. In this role, Kathy is responsible for directing the tax teams serving these accounts, serving as the "face of Deloitte" in dealing with the Chief Tax Officers of these companies, and coordinating with Deloitte's other functions to provide integrated service to such clients.

She has over 20 years of experience in providing corporate tax advisory services to public and private companies in the Midwest. Kathy is a Certified Public Accountant and earned her BBA from the University of Michigan.

Jeff Shaw
Deloitte Tax LLP, Director
jeshaw@deloitte.com

Jeff is a Lead Tax Director in Deloitte's Chicago Tax Practice with over 13 years of professional experience serving clients in a wide variety of industries. Jeff works with clients on many different aspects of federal taxation including areas of mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, reorganizations, consolidated tax returns, tax accounting, tax minimization and transactional support. He has extensive experience advising clients on domestic and cross-border transactions, corporate restructurings including corporate workouts, bankruptcy and refinancing transactions. Jeff also has extensive experience in applying the US FAS 109 income tax principles and serves as the lead tax director on several multi-national income tax provision reviews.

Jeff has a B.S. degree in Finance and Accounting from Marquette University. He earned his master's degree in taxation from DePaul University. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the American and Illinois Societies of Certified Public Accountant

Brian T. Whitlock CPA, JD, LLM
Blackman Kallick & Plante Moran , Partner
brian.whitlock@plantemoran.com

Brian T. Whitlock is the tax partner-in-charge of Wealth Transfer and Philanthropy Services at the certified public accounting firm of Blackman Kallick, LLP. He earned his B.A. from Northwestern University, and a J.D. and L.L.M. from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Brian has been a Partner of Blackman Kallick since 1990. The WTS Group develops and implements wealth transfer strategies for high net worth individuals; prepares business valuations of operating entities and investment partnerships; and handles the tax administration of trusts and estates. He is adept at tailoring estate tax deferral and wealth transfer strategies that fulfill the personal and non-tax objectives of our clients. In addition, Brian oversees the tax administration and compliance issues related to tax-exempt organizations, foundations, estates, and trusts.

Brian is currently a member of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, the ICPAS Tax Executive Committee, and the ICPAS Tax Advisory Committee. He served on the ICPAS Board of Directors from 1997 through 2005 and was Chairperson of the Board of Directors in 2004-2005.

 

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