Southwest Tax Conference Speakers

  Robert Anderson,ESQ is a Partner at the firm Holland & Hart. He graduated from McGeorge School of Law   LL.M. 1983 University of Florida   J.D. 1976. University of Florida   B.S. 1973. Member, Clark County Bar Association, American Bar Association - Tax Section and Business Law Section.  Certified Public Accountant. (Nevada).  Former Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University, where he taught classes in Corporate Reorganizations, and regularly teaches classes at both the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and in the MBA program at the University of Nevada, Reno.  Additionally, he has co-authored numerous materials for CLE presentations on federal income tax law and the formation and operation of Nevada business entities with a particular emphasis on limited liability companies.  He is a former Chairman of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Nevada. Chairperson of Research Venture, Inc. DRI Research Park Board of Directors. Member Sierra Angels and Vegas Valley Angels. Board of directors of Boys Hope Girls Hope, Las Vegas.  More than 25 years experience in advising closely held and public companies on Federal income tax and Merger & Acquisition matters.  He has been profiled in Corporate Counsel Magazine as one of the best corporate lawyers in Nevada and has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in both corporate law and tax law since 1989.

Marc Zine CPA, IRS SBSE Senior Stakeholder Liaison Specialist is currently a Senior Stakeholder Liaison Specialist in the Stakeholder Liaison Field unit of the Internal Revenue Service – Small Business and Self-Employed Division, in which he works with industry and trade associations, small business owners, tax professionals, as well as in conjunction with other Federal, State and local government agencies.  He has worked for the IRS since 1979 - eleven years as a Revenue Agent, eleven years as an Appeals Officer and the last eight years in education and outreach. Marc holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Sacramento State University with a major in Accounting and a minor in Economics.  He is a licensed CPA in California.

  Gregg P. Benson Attorney –Associate Holland & Hart Attorneys,  Practice Areas – Tax, Mergers & Acquisitions.  Member, Nevada Bar Association Tax Section, Member Clark County Bar Association, Member Arizona Bar Association Tax Section, Member Idaho Bar Association Tax Section.  Boston University LLM Taxation 2006, Gonzaga University J.D. 2005, Southern Utah University BS 2002

  Michael D. Bosma, CPA is the Managing Shareholder of The Bosma Group, P.C.  He earned his BS in Accounting and Master of Science in Tax at UNLV.  He is a member of the AICPA and the Nevada Society of CPAs.  He is president of the Arrow Creek Equity Members Association.  He is the Alumni Relation Chair of Leadership Reno Sparks.  He is past practice leader for Grant Thornton’s Reno office Technology and Manufacturing practices.  He has an overall general expertise in federal taxation and multi state income, sales, and property tax.

  Robert Brome, CPA is a Shareholder for the firm Kafoury, Armstrong, & Company in their Las Vegas office.  He earned his BS from the University of Wyoming in Laramie.  He is a member of the AICPA and Nevada Society of CPAs.  His primary responsibilities include tax compliance and planning.  He has a very diversified background with over thirty years experience in the field.

  Brian Fralick, CPA is a Senior Tax Manager for the firm Grant Thornton LLP in their Reno Office.  He earned his BS at the University of Nevada, Reno.  He is a member of the AICPA, Nevada Society of CPAs, Northern Nevada AGC, University of Nevada, Reno College of Business Alumni Association, Builder’s Association of Northern Nevada, Northern Nevada CFMA.  He heads up the Reno Office Construction Practice for Tax and Participates Nationally in the Construction, Real Estate & Hospitality Groups.  He specializes in SFAS 109/FIN 48 and Section 199 DPAD.

  Nina Gallagher, CPA, MST is a Senior Tax Manager at the Las Vegas firm of LL Bradford & Company.  She earned her BS at the University of Massachusetts, and her MST at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts. She is the Secretary of the Southern Nevada Estate Planning Council, member of the AICPA, and Nevada Society of CPAs.  She is Chair of the Taxation Committee, member of the Board of Directors and member of the MAP committee for the Nevada society of CPAs.  She specializes in Estate Planning, and Taxation of High Net Worth Individuals.

  Carlene Gaydosh, CPA is a Shareholder for the firm Kafoury, Armstrong, & Company in their Las Vegas office. Carlene has over twenty years experience in both public accounting and as a small business owner. She began her career with the Las Vegas office of Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte) and has worked for several medium and small local accounting firms in the Las Vegas area.  She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has served as a member of council for the Institute. She is Immediate Past-Chairman of the Nevada Society of CPAs and is Past-President of the Las Vegas Chapter of the NSCPA.  She is the Chair of the Legislation Committee. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Women Presidents' Association, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Nevada Community Foundation. She is also active in Ducks, Unlimited. Her specialties are taxation, litigation support and business valuation. Ms. Gaydosh is licensed to practice in Nevada.

 Chris White is a manager in the Pacific Southwest International Tax Practice. Chris has more than nine years of tax experience.  He has served public and private clients in the real estate, technology, manufacturing, retail and distribution, financial services and entertainment industries.  He also serves one of the largest UK based private equity funds. Chris has advised clients on various aspects of outbound and inbound taxation, including international expansion, acquisitions and restructurings; foreign tax credit planning; multi-dip financings; and foreign tax reduction.  He also has extensive experience with accounting for income taxes under ASC 740 (SFAS 109).  In addition, he is regularly involved in co-ordinating advice from overseas Deloitte offices and specialist service lines in the US.  Chris is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles and is a certified public accountant.

Carolyn Hinchman Gray received her JD from the University of Texas Law School and her LLM in Taxation from Georgetown.  Carolyn clerked for the Honorable Judge Bohdan A. Futey of the Court of Federal Claims and was a litigation associate with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates) before coming to IRS Chief Counsel in 1998 as a Senior Attorney.  Carolyn became Senior Counsel in 2002 and joined the IRS, Office of Professional Responsibility in 2004, as Senior Counsel.  Carolyn was named Deputy Director of OPR in January 2008. 

  Mark Hutchison, ESQ is a senior member of Hutchison & Steffen, LLC.  He graduated Phi Kappa Phi from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (high distinction) and received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University. Mark practiced for the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Mark is admitted to practice and has litigated cases in both state and federal courts of Nevada and California, federal courts of Arizona and Wyoming, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Governor Kenny Guinn appointed Mark to the Ethics Commission for the State of Nevada. Jim Gibbons re-appointed Mark to the Ethics Commission in January 2008. In February 2008, his fellow commissioners selected him as the Chairman of the Commission. Mark continues to serve in that position today. In 2005, the Nevada Supreme Court appointed Mark to the prestigious Bar-Bench Committee to provide advice and recommendations to the Court. Lead trial counsel in a 17-week jury trial (after 10 years of litigation) against the State of California's taxing authority involving numerous torts and resulting in a jury verdict in the client's favor of over $138 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages—one of the largest jury verdict awards to a single plantiff in U.S. history.

  Jimmy T. Man is a Partner with Deloitte in their Los Angeles office.   He has over 11 years of experience providing international tax consulting and compliance, Jimmy’s clientele includes public and private companies in the gaming, life sciences, technology, retail and distribution, and entertainment industries.  His practice area includes the development and implementation of various restructuring plans for U.S. multinational corporations for ETR reduction, subpart F, and foreign tax credit planning purposes.  Jimmy has presented on U.S. international tax issues before Tax Executives Institute.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Taxation from the University of Southern California and is a California CPA. 

Vince Picardi, Special Agent Department of the Treasury.  He graduated from Lee University in 1989 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Accounting and Business Management. He graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center during January of 1999 with honors in academic achievement and firearms proficiency. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center - Advanced Investigator Program Federal Law Enforcement Training Center - Certified Firearms Instructor  Federal Law Enforcement Training Center - Law Enforcement Rifle Program  Sigarms Academy – Factory Certified Sig Sauer Armorer. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) since March of 1991. September of 1998 criminal investigator conducted numerous investigations leading to the prosecution of both IRS employees and private individuals for a variety of federal crimes in the states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Nevada. Federal Air Marshal after the 9/11 attacks. Currently FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Las Vegas.  Member Nevada Fight Fraud Task Force.  Other duties include firearms instructor, evidence custodian, armorer, tactical rifle deployment, and member of the management training cadre’.

  Keith Pierce, CPA - Tax Partner in the Reno Office of Grant Thornton LLP.  Keith has been with Grant Thornton for 11 years, and has over twenty-two years of public accounting experience. Keith has worked in both the audit and tax departments during his career which provides him a unique perspective on the financial statement and income tax concerns of the clients he serves.  Keith has led the tax consulting practice in structuring acquisitions and reorganizations, strategic planning, analyzing benefit and compensation plans and executing cost classification studies. He has worked with publicly traded corporations and privately held companies with their SFAS 109/FIN 48 issues for tax provisions, throughout a variety of industries.

  Charles P. Rettig is a member in the firm Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher, & Perez, P.C.  At Pepperdine University, he obtained his J.D., cum laude, 1981; New York University, LL.M. in Taxation, 1982, University of California at Los Angeles, B.A., 1978.  He was admitted in 1981, California and Arizona; 1982, U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California and U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Ninth Circuits; 2004, Hawaii; U.S. District Court, District of Arizona; U.S. Claims Court; U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii.  Beverly Hills (Past Chair, Tax Section), Los Angeles County (Member and Past Chair, Committee on Tax Procedure and Litigation), Hawaii State (Member, Tax Counsel) and American (Member: Section on Taxation; Committee on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties; Vice-Chair Committee on Tax Court Appointments) Bar Associations; State Bar of California (Chair, Taxation Section, 1999-2000; Member, Tax Procedure and Litigation Committee; Past-Chair, State and Local Tax Committee); State Bar of Arizona (Inactive: Member Taxation Section). Recipient: V. Judson Klein Award for Outstanding Achievement in Taxation, Taxation Section, State Bar of California; Presidents Award for Outstanding Contributions, Hawaii Society of CPA's, 2004; Top 100 Super Lawyers, 2005 and Super Tax Lawyers, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in Los Angeles County; Directors Award, IRS Los Angeles District, 1998. Conference Speaker of the Year, CSCPA Education Foundation, 2001. UCLA Award for Extraordinary Efforts. Instructor of the Year Award, Golden Gate University Graduate Tax Program, 2002. Institute Chair, UCLA Extension Annual Tax Controversy Institute. Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel. Member: IRS Advisory Council; California Franchise Tax Board, Advisory Board. Planning Committee Member: USC Tax Institute (Chair, subcommittee on Ethics, Compliance and Enforcement); 67th NYU Institute on Federal Taxation. CSEA Professional Affiliation. Associate Member, CSCPA Society (Liaison Committee on Taxation, Los Angeles Chapter) and Hawaii CPA Society. Instructor, Estate Planning, University of California at Los Angeles, Extension, Attorney Assistant Training Program, 1988—. Member: U.S. Tax Court Judicial Conference, 1999, 2005 and 2007; National Board of Advisors, Graduate Tax Program, New York University School of Law. Adjunct Professor, Golden Gate University, School of Taxation, 1996—. Member, Advisory Board: CCH Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure; Graduate Tax Program, Chapman University School of Law. Faculty of Lecturers, CSCPA Education Foundation, 1997—.(Certified Specialist, Taxation Law and Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization)

Sam Shad is a veteran broadcaster.  Sam has been covering Nevada politics on radio and television for the past thirteen years.  He began with a talk radio program in 1990 on KHIT, which eventually moved to KROW 780 AM where he also did daily commentaries.  In the early nineties Sam hosted "The Daytime Show" on the ABC affiliate in Reno, which leaned heavily toward politics.  In 1994 he hosted the critically acclaimed "Monday at Four" program on the ABC affiliate, which highlighted debates between candidates in that year's election races.  Sam was the political interviewer for all of the elections from 1994 through 2002 on the ABC affiliate's morning show and hosted "Nevada News Makers" on that channel for the past ten years.  It's fair to say that Sam has interviewed every major political figure in the state over the last thirteen years.  Sam Shad began his broadcasting career in Reno in 1978 on KGLR radio and is a member of the Nevada Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Catherine Tobin, LMSB Team Manager, Las Vegas office. Large and Mid-Size Business Division, Internal Revenue Service. Ms. Tobin manages the IRS large case teams responsible for examinations of companies throughout Nevada with assets of $10 Million and higher. Many of the examinations conducted by the group are within the casino industry or casino-related industries. Catherine has also worked on issue management teams and National Office projects. Ms. Tobin joined the IRS in 1991 as a Revenue Agent in Las Vegas. In 2001 she became a manager for the Small Business/Self-Employed Division in Las Vegas, working within the tip compliance program. In 2003 she moved to LMSB as a team manager. She has received awards for team work and assistance to the public. Ms. Tobin has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UNLV and is presently attending Boyd Law School.

  Gary E. Watkins Small Business/Self-Employed Operating Division (SB/SE) CL&D, Stakeholder Liaison Division, BSA/Special Programs Senior Analyst, BSA  23 Years With the IRS  BS Business Administration, The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina; MBA, University of Tennessee Following graduation from The Citadel in 1976, was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and served a total of 22 years (active and reserve) before retiring in 1998 as a Commander, Supply Corps. began career with the IRS in 1986 as a Revenue Agent assigned to the Compliance Enforcement Team (CET) located in Chattanooga, TN, working criminal information items and prime fraud leads. eventually transferred to a General Program Compliance Group located in Knoxville, TN, where worked primarily corporate income and employment tax examinations.  In 2000, was selected as a Senior Tax Specialist in Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) and moved to Columbia, SC.  In 2002, was selected for the Senior Management Readiness Program and as a result, completed several extended acting assignments and served as Program Lead for various National Initiatives.  In October 2005 assumed the position as the Stakeholder Liaison Senior Analyst for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

Renae Welder, JD -  Principal Deloitte  Multistate Tax Services Practice.  She has extensive state tax planning and controversy experience in income and franchise tax, as well as sales and use tax. Renae regularly consults with clients regarding entity structuring for multistate expansion, implications of mergers and acquisitions, state tax filing positions, and the utilization of pass through and hybrid entities.  Renae serves large multistate public and private companies in the manufacturing and technology industries and consults with them regarding state tax issues related to FAS109 and FIN 48.  Renae has been a guest lecturer for various organizations including COST, Institute of Management Accountants, National Business Institute and the Arizona Bar Association.  Renae received her Bachelor of Science in Business - Management and Finance from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School. She is a member of the Minnesota State Bar and American Bar Association.