Graduate “Tax”
Guest Speaker Series
Volume 2 – 2013-2014
The Graduate “Tax” Guest Speaker Series brings today’s leading
accounting professionals into the classroom to share their real
world experiences with students at Cal Poly.
The Orfalea College of Business
graduate “Tax” Guest Speaker Series
provides accounting students with a
unique platform from which to share
questions and ideas with some of
California’s top tax practitioners.
Guest Speakers will be high-level
professionals, including partners from
top accounting firms, and boutique
firm executives - many of whom work
in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and the
*
The seminars cover an
Bay Area.
array of sophisticated tax topics
ranging from partnership hedge fund
allocations to reverse section 1031
Accounting students
exchanges.
interested in taxation are strongly
encouraged to attend the seminars,
which will be scheduled during
normal class hours.
Further
information can be found in your class
syllabus.
This is the perfect
opportunity to interact with tax
professionals, learn more about
complex concepts in tax, as well as
identify
prospective
tax-related
careers.
*Please be advised guest speaker availability, dates and topics are
subject to change without notification
“The Graduate ‘Tax’ Guest Speakers Series provides a wonderful opportunity for the students to interact
with accounting professionals.” - Rodney P. Mock, J.D., LL.M., Associate Professor of Accounting
JIM BESIO
Jim is an Executive Director in Ernst & Young’s West Region state and local tax practice. He has
over 20 years of experience as a state and local tax consultant, and currently serves as the
Indirect Tax Markets Leader for Ernst & Young’s San Jose Office. Since joining Ernst & Young in
1994, Jim has been involved in a variety of state tax projects including tax minimization, audit
representation, FAS 109, tax due diligence, state tax refund reviews, tax credit studies, and
business re-location and re-structuring projects. Jim works with numerous clients including many
listed in the Fortune 500, and serves a variety of diverse industries.
BRIAN BYRNE
Brian is a partner in the Ernst & Young’s San Jose office providing tax consulting and compliance
services for over 24 years. Brian has extensive experience providing tax consultation with
multinational clients and emerging growth companies on complex and technical tax accounting
issues. Over the last 22 years, Brian has also defended, facilitated and negotiated examinations
with the Internal Revenue Service, the Franchise Tax Board and various other state and
international tax authorities.
JENNIFER CAMPBELL
Jennifer is an audit senior manager in KPMG’s Santa Clara Technology, Media and
Telecommunications practice. She has 15 years of experience providing financial statement audit
and audit of internal control services. Jennifer has provided professional audit services to several
large companies. Her audit experience ranges from SEC filings, SOX 404, and reporting matters
such as equity transactions, business combinations, and foreign currency transactions. Jennifer
participated in a rotation to KPMG’s Global Services Center in New Jersey from 2004 – 2006,
where she worked with KPMG’s global and U.S. leadership. She also assisted with KPMG’s
implementation of PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5.
JAMES CODY
Jim is a Director in Estate and Trust Services at Harris myCFO, Inc. and is responsible for delivering
comprehensive family office solutions to individuals and families of substantial wealth. He
specializes in philanthropy, estate and trust planning and counsels clients on sophisticated tax
saving, wealth preservation and wealth transfer strategies. He has more than 25 years of
professional experience. Prior to joining Harris myCFO, Jim led the Estate and Trust practice group
for a San Francisco area law firm, where he practiced law for over 17 years.
SCOTT COOPER
Scott is currently the CFO of WaveTec®. He has spent nearly his entire career in financial and
accounting positions at high technology and medical device companies in Silicon Valley and
Orange County. Prior to joining WaveTec®, he was Corporate Controller at IntraLase Corp. during
a period of rapid growth from a private company through IPO to the ultimate sale of the company
to Advanced Medical Optics. Scott has held several financial management positions and began his
career in public accounting at KPMG. He is a Certified Public Accountant, holds a BS degree from
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has an MBA from the University of
Michigan.
STEVEN FAGGELLA
Steven recently joined BDO as a tax partner in our San Francisco office. He brings more than 25
years’ experience in industry and public accounting including more than 21 years with a Big Four
firm. Steven has extensive experience in tax matters including both international and domestic
structures for both public and private companies. He specializes in complex corporate structures
for clients that are both international and domestic. In addition, Steve has extensive experience
with corporate reorganizations, workouts and mergers and acquisitions.
GEORGE FAMALETT
George is a Tax Partner in the NorCal tax practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Current
responsibilities include market leader for the Northern California State and Local Tax practice. As
a member of the State and Local Tax Practice, he provides tax consulting services on an array of
domestic tax issues to a wide range of technology, telecommunications, financial industry and
consumer product clients.
RONALD GONG
Ron is a Managing Director in the Palo Alto office of Harris myCFO, leading an integrated team of
wealth management professionals who serve clients throughout Silicon Valley and the US. Ron
has over 25 years of tax experience helping affluent clients manage a broad range of personal
wealth matters. Ron’s background with a Big 5 international accounting firm and over a decade
at Harris myCFO allows him to combine his tax and extensive business knowledge to provide
clients with a single comprehensive wealth management resource.
EMILY HALL
Emily is a Senior Manager at WTAS LLC in San Francisco. She has over 9 years of experience in
public accounting. Her practice area focuses on corporate federal and state tax compliance,
consulting, and provision services for public and privately held clients. As part of the Commercial
group, Emily focuses on helping clients coordinate corporate income tax planning and
compliance. She also assists clients with income tax provision preparation and coordination with
client’s financial statement auditors. Before joining WTAS, Emily practiced with international
professional services firms in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.
ALEX HAYES
Alex is a Tax Director in Deloitte’s Silicon Valley practice and has more than 18 years of delivering
international tax services to both US and Non-US multinationals. Alex has worked in public
accounting for the majority of his career, but also has industry experience, having served as the
Senior Director of International Tax for KLA-Tencor Corporation, a $2 billion publicly-traded
semiconductor manufacturing equipment company.
DAVID P. HERING
David is a partner in KPMG LLP’s Washington National Tax Corporate practice and is based in
Silicon Valley. He is responsible for reviewing KPMG tax opinions and other advice for technical
accuracy and to ensure compliance with applicable professional standards. He specializes in
subchapter C and consolidated return issues, including reorganizations, acquisitions, divestitures,
liquidating and non-liquidating distributions, and debt restructurings.
PAUL T. KANGAIL
Paul is a tax partner in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Office – Asset Management Practice and
is based in San Francisco. Paul has over 20 years of experience providing tax consulting and
compliance services to clients in numerous sectors of the financial services industry. He has
extensive experience working with hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real
estate funds, and mutual funds. Paul works closely with his clients in analyzing entity structuring
and the taxation of their investments.
DAVID KANNER
David is a Partner with Seiler LLP, a premier Bay Area accounting firm serving high-net-worth
clients, closely-held businesses and nonprofit organizations. He specializes in tax planning,
compliance and business and accounting services. He is a Certified Public Accountant with more
than 35 years of public Accounting experience. David holds a Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
KEN LEE
Ken is a partner specializing in the State and Local Tax (SALT) practice of PwC. He provides service
to some of their largest and most notable clients in Silicon Valley. Ken has extensive experience
in core income/franchise tax, sales and use tax and other specialties. Since 2007, he has led SALT
initiatives in support for the M&A Tax Practice in the SF Bay Area Market. Ken joined PwC in 1998
as an experienced associate in the San Jose office. He has been a featured speaker at Committee
on State Taxation (COST), Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT), Tax Executives Institute
(TEI) and other tax and business organizations.
NANCY MORIARTY
Nancy is a tax partner in the Palo Alto office of Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP. She specializes in
providing income and estate planning to high net worth individuals and closely held businesses.
Her expertise also includes stock option planning and advising clients on tax efficient methods for
diversification of their concentrated equity positions. She has 22 years of public accounting
experience.
JIM MAROCCO
Jim Marocco is the Corporate Controller for Google Inc., a $50 billion Fortune 100 information
and technology company. He started with Google over ten years ago and during that span he has
been responsible for a variety of key financial activities including accounting and controls,
compliance, forecasting and analysis, financial and order management systems, strategic deal
support and managing outsourced operations. Jim currently manages a global team of 175
people covering over 200 entities in more than 40 countries. Prior to joining Google, he held
various financial and management positions at technology companies including the parenting
media start-up Dr. Spock Company, Lycos, NEC Technologies and Fujitsu. Jim holds a B.S. degree
in Economics from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
SADLER NELSON
Sadler is a member of Ernst & Young LLP’s International Tax Services practice for the West SubArea. He is based in San Jose, California, and regularly advises clients on a wide variety of
international tax matters. Sadler has extensive experience in the development and
implementation of cross-border restructurings. Sadler began his career in the technology,
communication and entertainment industry group of Ernst & Young LLP’s National Tax
Department in Washington, D.C.
JENNIFER A. PETERSEN
Jennifer is a Tax Partner in KPMG’s State Tax practice serving as the leader for KPMG’s Bay Area
State Tax practice. She has more than 16 years of experience in multi-state income and
transaction tax planning, controversy, FAS 109/FAS 5 and compliance matters. Jennifer is
responsible for a broad range of clients, including many publicly traded fortune 500 companies,
and has extensive experience with a wide range of complex multi-state tax matters relating to her
client’s businesses.
BRIAN D. ROSE
Brian is a Tax Partner in the Los Angeles office of Deloitte Tax LLP within the firm’s national
Strategic Tax Review practice. For the past dozen years, Brian has worked with over 300
companies assisting with various federal tax accounting method, revenue recognition and fixed
asset opportunities. Brian is also a national leader in Deloitte’s fixed asset practice, which
specializes in analyzing a client’s capitalization and depreciation policies and procedures to
identify significant recurring tax saving opportunities and assisting them with regulatory and
compliance issues related to fixed assets.
NEIL ROSENBERG
Neil is a Private Equity, Venture Capital and Real Estate Tax Partner based in PwC's San Francisco
office and serves as the NorCal Tax Leader for these practices. Neil has over 28 years of
experience servicing the tax needs of funds and their GPs. He has broad experience in providing
advice on a variety of issues including structuring, investor issues, unrelated business taxable
income, allocations and succession issues. Neil represents several major funds and has advised
them on multitude of transactions from GP ownership, fund formation, portfolio transactions,
distributions and liquidations. Neil specializes in Partnership Tax, REITs, Investment partnership
and related transactions.
EDWARD SCHULTE
Edward is a tax principal at Rothstein Kass, and runs the Walnut Creek, CA tax practice. He has
over 12 years of experience in public accounting and is focused in the alternative investment
industry. He specializes in the taxation of hedge funds, mutual funds and private equity funds.
Prior to joining Rothstein Kass, Ed was a Tax Senior Manager at a Big 4 in San Francisco, and
before that he was a Tax Manager at another Big 4 in Minneapolis.
NAVIN SETHI
Navin is a tax principal in Rothstein Kass’ San Francisco office. Navin has over 15 years of
experience as a CPA and attorney, focused primarily on the alternative investment industry. He
serves clientele in the hedge fund, fund of funds, private equity and venture capital industries,
advising them on tax matters as well as investment entity structuring. Prior to joining Rothstein
Kass, Navin was a tax attorney at a large oil and gas company in Houston. Navin later joined a Big
Four firm in San Francisco, where he specialized in the financial services industry.
MARTIN J. SKRIP
Marty is a Managing Director at WTAS, a national tax consulting firm with over 500 professionals
located in 14 offices throughout the US. Marty works in the Corporate Tax Practice. Previous to
joining WTAS in 2011, Marty was a tax partner at KPMG LLP for 20 years and was with KPMG over
30 years. At KPMG he was a corporate tax partner servicing clients in the technology, consumer
markets and container leasing sectors. He also held various leadership positions including the
Business Unit Risk Management Partner-Tax, responsible for the Silicon Valley, San Francisco,
Oakland, Sacramento, Phoenix and Honolulu offices.
JEFF SOKOL
Jeff has nearly 18 years of public accounting experience with Deloitte working primarily with high
technology and manufacturing clients. Jeff has practiced in Deloitte’s San Jose office since 2001.
Jeff primarily serves large, multinational, publicly-traded companies but also works closely with
venture-funded start-ups. Before working out of the Deloitte San Jose office, Jeff worked in
Deloitte’s National Tax Office in Washington, D.C. where he was a member of the Subchapter C
group, specializing in mergers and acquisition-related tax issues.
ROBERT TERPENING
Rob is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Tax practice with more than 20 years of experience serving the
tax planning, financial reporting, tax compliance and risk management needs of technology and
life science companies in all phases of growth, from VC backed startups to billion dollar
multinationals. In addition to his client serving responsibilities, Rob leads our West Tax
Accounting and Risk Advisory Services practice.
JAMES G. TOD
Jim is a Partner in the Passthroughs Group for KPMG’s Washington National Tax Practice. The
Passthroughs Group is responsible for providing advice to KPMG professionals and clients
regarding the federal taxation of partnerships, real estate investment trusts and S corporations
across all major industries. In addition, the Passthroughs Group advises on specialty areas such as
like-kind exchanges, oil and gas, leasing, and excise taxes.
SCOTT B. WIGGINS
Scott is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Special Acquisition Services (SAS) group, based in San
Francisco. The SAS group is a multi-national team of tax, accounting, and consulting professionals
serving one of the world’s leading private equity firms with its acquisition, disposition and
restructuring transactions. Prior to joining SAS, Scott was a member of the Sub C Group in
Deloitte’s Washington National Tax Office where he served multinational companies in a variety
of industries. Scott has also worked as part of Deloitte’s Strategic Tax Advisory Team, performing
in-depth reviews of clients’ overall federal income tax posture.
MIKE YATES
Mike is a tax partner in the San Jose office of Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP. He has over 30 years of
experience in providing tax and financial planning services to companies, entrepreneurs,
executives, employees, and tax exempt entities. He specializes in providing tax consulting
services to companies in transition including initial financing, international expansion and exit
strategies. In addition, Mike has extensive experience in advising business owners on the most
advantageous tax strategies for a merger, acquisition or sale of a business. He is also the trusted
advisor and CFO for a small number of high net-worth clients.
Graduate Tax Guest Speaker Series
2013-2014 Academic Year Schedule
Summer Intersession 2013 Qtr Classes
Speaker(s)
GSA 546 – Tax Research and Administative Procedures
Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
GSA 529 – Effective Communications Skills for
Managers
Instructor:
Beena Khurana – [email protected]
Ken Lee
Brian Byrne
Jennifer Campbell
Emily Hall
Scott Cooper
David Kanner
Fall 2013 Qrtr Classes
BUS 320 – Federal Income Tax for Individuals
Sec 1 Instructor:
Herb Hunt
Mike Yates
BUS 417 - Taxation of Corporations and Partnerships
Instructor:
Jeff Sokol
Paul Kangail
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Neil Rosenberg
GSA 537- State and Local Taxation
Instructor:
Eddy Quijano – [email protected]
George Famalett
GSA 538 - Current Developments in Taxation
Instructor:
Jeff Tolin – [email protected]
Robert Terpening
GSA 540 - Taxation of Corporations and Partnerships
Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Martin J. Skrip
Jennifer A. Peterson
David P. Hering
Steven Faggella
Winter 2014 Qrtr Classes
Speaker(s)
BUS 320 – Federal Income Tax for Individuals
Sec 1 Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Brian Rose
BUS 320 – Federal Income Tax for Individuals
Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Jim Besio
Spring 2014 Qrtr Classes
Speaker(s)
GSA 536 – Taxation of Trusts, Estates, and Transfer
Taxes
Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Jim Cody
Ron Gong
Nancy Moriarty
GSA 549 – Advanced Taxation of Flow-Through Entities
Instructor:
Rodney Mock – [email protected]
Navin Sethi
Paul T. Kangail
James G. Tod
Edward Schulte
GSA 550 – Adavanced Corporate Taxation
Instructor:
Jeff Tolin – [email protected]
GSA 551 – International Taxation
Instructor:
Jeff Tolin – [email protected]
Scott B. Wiggins
Sadler Nelson
Alex Hayes
Graduate “Tax” Speaker Series
California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407