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Meet Our Speakers

 

K. Glenn Aldridge has served in several leadership positions where he has gained extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, business consulting, financing and occupational fraud. Aldridge has served clients in a variety of industries including hospitality, distribution, printing and advertising, retail, business services, construction, technology, not-for-profit organizations and real estate entities.

 

His experience has been primarily focused on providing audits, reviews, compilations, consulting and agreed-upon procedures for closely held businesses, not-for-profit organizations, service organizations, and employee benefit plans. Aldridge has advised clients on fraud prevention practices and conducted occupational and third party fraud examinations and investigations involving the loss of several millions of dollars through embezzlement, asset misappropriation, contract and procurement fraud, vendor fraud, Internet/computer fraud and fraudulent financial statements.

 

Prior to forming Aldridge Shelley, Aldridge was an audit partner and director of employee benefit plan and not-for-profit services at two top 25 Atlanta CPA firms. Previously he was at Egleston Children’s Health Care System in Atlanta, working in the corporate finance department. Aldridge also serves as an instructor with AuditSense, a company that specializes in providing training and consulting services to CPA firms.

 

Aldridge graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in accounting and is a CPA in the state of Georgia. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) where he serves as a peer review captain. He is also a member of the Georgia Society of CPAs (GSCPA) and a former member of the GSCPA peer review report acceptance board. He also conducts peer review of, quality control services for, and audit efficiency consulting services to CPA firms of all sizes.

 

 

E. Bart Daniel was nominated by President Bush to serve as United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina and confirmed by the United States Senate in 1989. He served until 1992 having been awarded numerous national honors for his service.

 

Daniel graduated from law school in 1980, and began serving as an Assistant State Attorney General assigned to its Economic Crime Unit. He prosecuted financial crimes, tax fraud and other white collar cases in State Court for two years. For the next four years, Daniel served as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting fraud, securities, tax, and customs violations.

 

In 1985, Daniel entered private practice where he concentrated on white collar criminal defense and selected civil litigation. In March 1991, Daniel was presented the United States Attorney's Flag Award, the highest award given to any United States Attorney, for his outstanding achievements in the prosecution of Operation Lost Trust, the largest legislative public corruption case in our nation's history.

 

Daniel returned to private practice in 1992. Since that time, he has been active in white collar, health care, environmental, securities and business litigation. He has successfully defended numerous white collar prosecutions including health care fraud, environmental crimes, customs, and securities violations. Daniel has obtained numerous not guilty verdicts in federal and state white collar criminal trials.

 

Daniel prosecuted the state's first criminal environmental case and has been active in the prosecution and defense of such cases on both the federal and state levels. He has spoken before the American Bar Association, as well as at numerous conferences and seminars on white collar, health care, securities and environmental crimes.

 

Daniel has served as Special Counsel to the Governor, conducting an internal investigation into allegations of public corruption and influence peddling in state government. He also served as Lead Counsel for the South Carolina House of Representatives before a Three­Judge Federal Panel in the trial involving reapportionment and the drawing of district lines. Daniel also was appointed Special Counsel by the South Carolina Secretary of State to handle a complex security fraud matter with national implications.

 

Daniel has both prosecuted and defended False Claim Act or "whistleblower" actions in the U.S. District Court. He has been selected each year for South Carolina Super Lawyers and is an AV Peer Review Rated lawyer by Martindale Hubbell.  Daniel currently serves a three year term on the Board of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys.

 

Alanna Clair is a member of Dentons' Law Firms sector group. Her practice focuses on professional liability and law firm defense, commercial litigation, insurance defense, and trademark matters. She has national experience in complex litigation, including extensive motions practice, trial preparation and depositions, and appellate briefing.

 

Alanna writes and lectures regularly on issues of lawyer liability, legal malpractice defense, and ethics.  She is the co-author of The Lawyer’s Handbook: Ethics Compliance and Claim Avoidance, a legal treatise published by American Lawyer Media that provides practitioners with tools to ensure attorney compliance with ethics rules while minimizing the risks of legal malpractice claims. Alanna also contributed to the representations that led MLA's insurance department to be named the Insurance Litigation Department of the Year for 2012 by the Daily Report.  

 

In addition to the above, Alanna is committed to pro bono and serving the community. Her pro bono efforts often focus on appellate, criminal, and benefits issues. She has been recognized by the D.C. bar as a member of the Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll multiple times, as well as by MLA as a Gold Medallion Recipient for over 100 hours of annual pro bono work (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013) and as a Bronze Medallion Recipient for over 50 hours of annual pro bono work (2012).  She was also appointed to the D.C. Bar Foundation’s Young Lawyers Network in 2013 for a two-year term.

 

A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Alanna was a Notes Editor, a quarterfinalist in the Campbell Moot Court Competition, and an active member of Michigan’s Criminal Appellate Advocacy clinic. As an undergraduate at Wellesley College, Alanna was the President of the national champion Mock Trial team.

 

 

Lance Einstein has extensive experience representing clients that have controversies and compliance issues with the Internal Revenue Service and various state tax authorities. He also works closely with clients and CPAs in devising strategies to minimize potential taxes, penalties, and interest.

 

Lance also assists clients with devising and implementing estate plans that accomplish their goals with minimal disruption and tax costs. He has experience preparing wills, trust agreements, powers of attorney, and partnership agreements. Lance is licensed in both Georgia and Florida, which equips him to deal with the numerous issues that arise for clients with affairs in both states.

 

Lance also has experience in choice-of-entity formation and organization and income tax planning.

 

Lance is married and lives in Brookhaven. He enjoys playing tennis and golf, watching sports, and traveling.
 

Karen Fortune serves as a Partner in IAG Forensics’ forensic accounting and litigation services practice. Fortune has over twenty years of experience, comprised of both public and private practice, having spent several years in public accounting and serving as a CFO for a biotechnology firm. She possesses extensive experience in financial reporting, auditing of both public and private companies, addressing complex accounting issues, evaluating and designing internal controls, and performing corporate investigations.

 

She assists attorneys on cases involving corporate internal investigations, fraud allegations and securities litigation. Additionally, she specializes in matters involving complex financial analyses, M&A disputes and the application of Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS). Fortune has testified as an expert witness and has provided assistance to attorneys on several aspects of a case from the complaint stage through trial.

 

Fortune is a member of the AICPA, has chaired the Fraud Prevention and Detection Division of the Georgia Society of CPA’s FVS Section, is active in the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers and GSCPA, and sits on the Board of Directors of various non-profit organizations.

Fortune has a Master’s degree in accounting from the University of Florida’s Fisher School of Accounting.

 

 

David Golden, partner with Troutman Sanders, works include planning, compliance, transactions, and civil tax controversies.  He is involved in a variety of matters relating to state and federal taxation of corporations, partnerships, individuals, tax exempt entities and industrial development bonds.  He also provides a full range of trust and estate planning services. 

 

Some highlights of David’s career include, developing litigation strategy and participating in the litigation of AT&T v. Collins, in which Fulton County Superior Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals, in a case of first impression, sanctioned the use of the unitary method of apportionment, representing a multimillion dollar state tax savings to AT&T.

 

He also successfully negotiated the value of a closely held business with the District Counsel's office of the IRS where the liquidation value of the business was far in excess of the going concern value.

 

Representing the purchaser, David negotiated all tax aspects in a $20+ million stock acquisition, including treating the transaction as an asset purchase for income tax purposes to maximize the purchaser's tax benefits.  In addition, he developed tax savings strategies to enable a seller of stock in his closely held company to eliminate approximately $1.5 million of income tax liability.

 

David was selected as a Super Lawyer in Estate Planning & Probate by Law & Politics and Atlanta Magazine (2004-2015) and named to Georgia Trend magazine’s Legal Elite in taxes, estates, and trusts (2004-2013).

 

He graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State University, then earned his law degree at the University of Georgia and his LL.M. at Emory University.

 

 

Karen L. Hawkins is the past Director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility.  Prior to her IRS position, she was in private practice as a Member of Taggart & Hawkins, P.C., bringing 30 years of practice experience to her IRS position.
 

Hawkins is a past Chair of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California, a past chair of the ABA Taxation Section Subcommittee on Civil Penalties, and the ABA Taxation Section IRS Liaison Meetings Committee. She served as a Director on the Council of the ABA Taxation Section and as the Section's Vice-Chair Professional Services. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.

She is the founder of the San Francisco Pro Se/Pro Bono Tax Court project, and she played a key role in efforts to reform the innocent spouse statute. Her honors include the V. Judson Klein Award from the State Bar of California Taxation Section in 2002; the National Pro Bono Award from the American Bar Association Tax Section in 2004; The Distinguished Alumna Award from Golden Gate University Scholl of Law in 2004; the Jules Ritholz Memorial Merit Award from the ABA Tax Section Civil & Criminal Tax Penalties Committee in 2008; and, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California in 2012. In September, 2012, Golden Gate University School of Law Library dedicated its Tax Law Collection in Hawkins’ name. When she was in private practice, she wrote and spoke extensively on all aspects of civil and criminal tax controversy issues and on ethics in tax practice.

Hawkins earned her J.D. and MBA - Taxation degrees at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.  She also holds a M.Ed. from the University of California, Davis. Her B.A. is from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

 

 

Vivian Hoard is an attorney at Atlanta based Taylor English where she helps solve complex tax controversy issues for both individual and business clients. By focusing her practice on civil and criminal tax controversy, tax litigation, whistleblower claims and voluntary offshore disclosures, Hoard has become a leader in the tax field. She has successfully represented individuals, small businesses and their owners, publicly traded companies, professional athletes and their agents, entertainers, lawyers and accountants.

Hoard regularly consults with accounting firms during audits to help them and their clients understand their procedural options for resolving disputes at the lowest level possible. If the accountant is unable to resolve the matter, Hoard will assist the taxpayer and accountant with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appeals and at the U.S. Tax Court or U.S. District Court. Most cases are successfully settled. Occasionally a case presenting a unique legal issue or an unresolved fact pattern must be tried.

Hoard has successfully settled or tried civil tax controversies involving many varied tax issues, including tax shelter/sham transactions, conservation easements, family limited partnerships, excise taxes, passive loss issues, the civil fraud penalty, hobby loss issues, worker classification, trust fund liability, innocent spouse claims and much more. Hoard also has successfully represented taxpayers voluntarily disclosing offshore accounts and taxpayers targeted for criminal prosecution.

 

No taxpayer may be prosecuted for a tax crime until the U.S. Justice Department approves the prosecution. Until that time, the investigation remains confidential. Hoard focuses on resolving criminal tax cases before they are referred for indictment and become public.

She earned her under graduate and law degree at the University of Georgia School of and her LLM at Emory University School of Law.

 

 

Jeff Kess, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has been practicing taxation and general business law for more than 25 years. He has achieved national recognition for his expertise in the field of tax controversy. Kess has represented thousands of clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the State of Georgia, and other state taxing authorities. He also works closely with CPAs in devising strategies to eliminate or minimize potential taxes, penalties and interest for their clients.
 

Kess has served in leadership positions with numerous professional and community organizations. He has shared his knowledge and experience by speaking to a wide variety of groups, including the Georgia Society of CPAs, the State Bar of Georgia, the Family Law Section and the Tax Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, The North Atlanta Tax Council, the National Business Institute, and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia.

 

Kess is the proud husband of Beth and proud father of Noah and Adam.

 

David W. Klasing has earned dual California licenses that enable him to simultaneously practice as an Attorney and as a Certified Public Accountant in the practice areas of Taxation, Estate Planning and Business Law. He is an “A” rated current member of the Better Business Bureau. He has a 10.0 AVVO rating.

 

He provides businesses and individuals with comprehensive Tax Representation, Planning & Compliance Services and Criminal Tax Representation. He has more than 20 years of professional tax, accounting and business consulting experience, coupled with extensive knowledge about federal and state tax codes, regulations and case law.

 

As a former auditor, Klasing uses his past experience in public accounting to help his clients avoid tax problems before they develop where possible. As a Combo Attorney CPA he aggressively protects his clients’ interests during audits, criminal investigations or in Tax Litigation. Klasing has assisted thousands of businesses and individuals through the audit / litigation and appeal process, and Klasing has a proven and sustained record of achieving favorable results for the clients he serves.

 

Klasing is admitted to practice before all California State Courts, the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the United States Tax Court.  His education includes a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis in accounting, from California State University Los Angeles, a master’s degree in taxation from Golden Gate University and a Juris Doctor from Western State University College of Law. Having earned a master’s degree in taxation with an emphasis in the gift and estate tax arena, along with having taken classes in Law School on Estate’s, Trusts and California Community Property, Mr. Klasing practices in the estate, trust and accounting areas.

 

Klasing’s professional involvement includes serving as the current Education Committee Chair for the American Association of Attorney Certified Public Accountants, former chair of the California State Bar Association, Tax Procedure and Litigation Committee, the 2013 chair of the Orange County Bar Association Taxation Section. He is also a member of the American Bar Association Tax Section; the Orange County Bar Association, Tax, Business and Corporate Law, Trust & Estate Sections, and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants State Committee on Taxation.

 

 

Lisa M. Lukaszewski is a member of Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s Private Wealth Services practice group. Lisa has extensive experience administering sophisticated trusts and estates, managing probate matters and representing clients in trust and estate related litigation, as well as structuring and drafting estate plans for high net worth individuals. 

Lukaszewski’s experience includes representing both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in complex trust and estate administration. Lisa has counseled major national charities, banking and financial institutions, corporate fiduciaries and individuals through the administration process and prides herself on approaching each matter proactively to achieve efficient and effective solutions for her clients. 

In contested matters and litigation, Lisa has experience managing cases from inception through appeal, and has achieved favorable verdicts and settlements for her clients. 

Lukaszewski also advises affluent individuals in all aspects of wealth and tax planning and drafts comprehensive estate plans. 

Lukaszewski is a member of the American Bar Association and the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago. 

Lisa earned her law degree, magna cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law, where she was a member of the DePaul Law Review and The Order of the Coif, and her undergraduate degree, with high honors, from DePaul University School of Music. 

 

 

Mark R. McBride, a licensed attorney and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), has practiced law for over 30 years, primarily in the area of taxation.

 

McBride received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with majors in Accounting and Finance from the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration in 1978, after only 2½ years of study. In 1981, McBride received aJuris Doctor from the University of Toledo College of Law. That same year he received a Master of Business Administration with a major in Taxation from the University of Toledo College of Business Administration.  McBride was licensed as an attorney in 1981 and as a CPA in 1984.

 

McBride has represented clients with tax and financial issues before many federal, state, and municipal courts. He has represented clients in several U.S. Court of Appeals cases, including United States v. Storey, 640 F.3d 739 (6th Cir. 2011), In re Mickens, 173 F.3d 855 (6th Cir. 1999), and In re Myers, 216 B.R. 402 (6th Cir. BAP 1998). McBride also presented oral arguments in the case of In re Hindenlang, 164 F.3d 1029 (6th Cir. 1999), a published U.S. Court of Appeals case judged by The Lasser Tax Guideto be the 8^th most important tax case in the United States for the year.

 

McBride has also represented clients with criminal tax issues before the Department of Justice, United States District Courts, and Ohio state courts. McBride works frequently and comfortably with the Internal Revenue Service, as well as state and municipal taxing agencies.

In addition to his representation of clients, McBride has taught a variety of taxation and business courses at the college and graduate level and he has lectured on a variety of tax topics nationwide. Recently, McBride was selected by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”) to participate in the drafting of questions for use in future CPA examinations administered to CPA candidates. McBride had seventy percent (70%) of his questions selected for future use.

 

McBride is a member of the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants (“AAA-CPA”), where he is a Director and the former President of the Ohio Chapter.  He also is a member of the AICPA, the Toledo and Lucas County Bar associations, and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

 

 

Stacie Polashuk Nelson is a partner in Holland & Knight's San Francisco office and is a member of the firm's Private Wealth Services Group. Since 1998, Nelson has concentrated her practice on all aspects of contentious trust, estate and conservatorship matters. Her practice includes will and trust contests, accounting disputes, disputed conservatorships, breach of fiduciary duty matters, financial elder abuse matters, as well as trust and estate administration. She is an experienced trial attorney, but she is dedicated to finding the best resolution for the client, including client counseling, mediation, settlement negotiations and/or trial. Her administration practice focuses on assisting clients with post-death administration of trusts and estates and securing and protecting bequests made to individuals and charitable beneficiaries. Nelson’s clients include individuals, families, charities, and professional and institutional fiduciaries.

 

Nelson's experience includes some of the most sensitive and high-profile cases in her field. For example, she was admitted to appear pro hac vice in the New York County Surrogate's Court as a key member of the jury trial team propounding and defending the will of Huguette Clark, in the matter of The Estate of Huguette M. Clark, File No. 1995 - 1375A. 

 

In addition, Nelson also devotes a portion of her practice to pro bono legal services and is the chair of the Holland & Knight Mickey Rooney Elder Financial Abuse Pro Bono Project for the San Francisco office. Through this project, Nelson and the San Francisco office provide legal services to elder adults who would otherwise not have the financial ability to protect themselves. In addition to her pro bono legal work, Nelson is active in her community and local charitable organizations.

 

 

Byron G. Sabol is an international speaker, consultant and author. His speaking engagements in three continents include audiences from a wide variety of industries and professions. Sabol has serviced clients in12 countries. Sabol and his staff pioneered business generation, personal communications, client service, and career advancement methodologies currently utilized by professionals in the US, the UK, and Europe. His consulting clients include some of the most successful and prestigious professional service firms in the United States, UK, and Europe.

 

As Executive Vice President of the largest promotional fund for the Mechanical Construction Trades Industry in North America, Sabol was awarded the Diogenes Award presented by the University of Southern California School of Business and the Sales and Marketing Executives Association of Southern California for Excellence In Consumer Education.

Sabol is author of the popular book, Taming The Beast: Success With Difficult People [ByeCap Press]. He has a bachelor's degree in Marketing and an MBA in Management with Honors. He has been a part-time faculty member at five universities in California and Florida. He has more than 30 articles published by professional journals in the US and Abroad.

 

 

Vivian Lee Thoreen chairs the firm's California Private Wealth Services Group. She is a litigator and experienced trial attorney whose practice – both in Superior Court and in the California Courts of Appeal – focuses on complex trust, estate, conservatorship and guardianship matters. She represents individuals, families, charities and financial institutions in cases including will and trust disputes, contested conservatorships and guardianships, breach of fiduciary duty matters, and elder abuse matters. Thoreen’s experience includes some of the most sensitive and high-profile cases in her field. Whether the matters can be resolved by mediation or require trial, Thoreen’s clients benefit from her deep personal commitment and nuanced grasp of law and often byzantine facts.

 

An active member of the community, Thoreen is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and serves on the State Bar of California Trusts & Estates Section executive committee and the board of directors of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation. She is an active member of and previously served on the board of governors of the Korean American Bar Association. She has been a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section executive committee, and is an active member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Thoreen has the ongoing pleasure to provide pro bono services through her relationships with Bet Tzedek, Public Counsel and the Alliance for Children’s Rights.

 

 

Alan Zipp is a Certified Public Accountant, Attorney at Law, Certified Valuation Analyst, Certified Business Appraiser, AICPA Accredited in Business Valuation, Certified Fraud Examiner, author, lecturer, and discussion leader for the American Institute of CPAs. Since 1970, he has provided specialized tax and financial planning advice to individuals and small businesses. He has a Master of Science degree in Taxation and has completed graduate work in Management Information Systems at the Wharton School.

 

In addition to tax matters, he has developed a specialty in the area of divorce tax and financial planning and related litigation support services. In 1980 he wrote his first book, Divorce: Tax Facts and in 1985 his second, Handbook of Tax and Financial Planning for Divorce and Separation, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. He was awarded first place in the American Bar Association 's Family Law Section essay contest for his article, "Divorce Valuation of Business Interests: A Capitalization of Earnings Approach," Family Law Quarterly, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 1989. He wrote chapter 18 of the John Wiley & Sons' Handbook of Financial Planning for Divorce and Separation on the topic of business valuations for divorce purposes.

 

He authored Divorce: Tax and Financial Planning: A Short Course for the College for Financial Planning and Analyzing the Value of Your Client 's Business: A Short Course for the College for Financial Planning.

In addition, he wrote Divorce: Valuation, Tax, and Financial Strategies, published by Research Institute of America as part of its tax advisor's planning series.

 

Zipp has also written numerous articles and papers on topics ranging from tax matters, litigation support issues, business valuation, and legal issues. For more than 20 years, he was an AICPA instructor for various courses including the annual AICPA Corporate and Individual Income Tax Workshops and the Small Business Valuation Case Study Course for the AICPA's Advanced Business Valuation education program. and the AICPA self-study course Business Valuation Methods, for CPA training in the field.

 

He regularly presents lectures and seminars before professional organizations including local CPA and Bar associations, national organization conferences, State CPA Societies, and AICPA conferences and seminars. He served on the AICPA steering committee on Divorce where he was involved in the planning of the annual conferences on the CPAs Role in Divorce Tax and Financial Planning.

 

In the course of his practice, Zipp has been called on to provide expert witness testimony at divorce trials on a wide range of tax and financially related issues including pension and business valuations. He was Chairman of the Montgomery County, Maryland Bar Association's Taxation Section and was elected Treasurer of that Bar Association.