ADJUNCT FACULTY

Madeleine Barber is a consultant and an adjunct professor in the Villanova University Graduate Tax Program. She has over 30 years of global tax and finance experience, driving and enabling long-term value creation through her various financial leadership roles. Her experience spans a broad spectrum of complex finance matters, in varied business situations, supporting and advising multinational companies across diverse industries. She is well known for her technical tax and accounting expertise, ability to successfully manage risks in complex environments and her ability to lead through growth and change.  

Most recently, Barber served as Deputy CFO & Chief Accounting Officer for CBRE Group, Inc., where she led a 500+ global organization including Controllership, Risk & Assurance, External Reporting & Technical Accounting, Finance Operations, Tax and Treasury. 

Prior to joining CBRE, Barber was Senior Vice President and Chief Tax Officer of Tyco International Plc. As a senior executive at Tyco, she played a key role in leading the company through significant transformative change and restructuring, including the spin-off of Covidien, TE Connectivity and ADT, as well as the merger of Tyco Flow Control with Pentair and the merger of Tyco International with Johnson Controls Inc. Over the course of her 12 years at Tyco, she led several initiatives to restructure Tyco’s businesses, including hundreds of M&A transactions, resulting in significant cash and P&L savings.  Her responsibilities were later expanded to lead the restructuring of Tyco’s global finance function, implementing a new operating model, along with innovative technology solutions, to drive greater efficiencies and service capabilities within the finance function. She served on the board of several subsidiaries, including Tyco’s public debt issuer, overseeing capital markets strategy and management of Tyco’s multi-billion debt portfolio. In 2008, she was a recipient of the Chairman’s Award in recognition of her leadership and teamwork.

Barber began her career at Arthur Andersen LLP and was promoted to Partner in 2000. In 2002, she joined KPMG LLP as a partner. While at Andersen and KPMG, she advised companies, from start-ups to multinational Fortune 200 companies, across a broad range of industries, including pharmaceutical, consumer products, financial, life sciences and technology. She helped clients develop and execute complex international tax strategies, M&A transactions, IPOs, cross-border financing, supply-chain transformations and post-acquisition integration strategies.

Barber earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Villanova University and a JD & LLM from Villanova Law. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Graduate Tax Program at Villanova Law and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Villanova’s School of Business. 

Barber served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Tax Council Policy Institute and the International Fiscal Association. She is a frequent lecturer and speaker on corporate and international tax topics.

She currently serves on the board of Dress For Success, Greater Philadelphia, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools needed to help women thrive in work and in life.

Education

• BS, Villanova University
• JD, Villanova University
• LLM, Villanova University

Dan Bligh is a Managing Director with Deloitte Tax based in Philadelphia PA. He has over 18 years of experience serving corporate clients with their tax needs, including tax compliance, tax accounting and general tax consulting. He is a member of the Deloitte Income Tax Accounting & Provision Competency Group. 

Throughout his career Bligh has worked to help clients improve efficiencies with their tax reporting through enhancements to their process and implementing technology solutions. He also helped to develop and implement a standardized process within his prior firm for preparing income tax provision calculations, including the development of a firm software platform to improve quality and efficiency. Bligh serves many large, multinational corporations in a provision review capacity, supporting Deloitte’s audit team.

Education

• BS, Saint Joseph’s University
• MT, Villanova University

Matt Bower is an accounting professional with experience in creating, implementing, and driving organizational transformation through technology-focused solutions aimed at solving complex business problems. Currently, Bower is a senior manager in Crowe’s State and Local Tax practice where he develops digital solutions for his clients using data automation, data visualization, and robotic process automation. Previously, he held positions at Faegre, Drinker, Biddle & Reath and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he authored tax insights articles regarding state and local tax matters and presented on state and local tax matters at Tax Executive Institute (TEI) and Chicago Tax Club meetings.

During his time with PwC Labs, Bower was charged with commercializing PwC’s internal digital solutions platform. He ultimately brought digital on demand which automated his client’s order to cash, procure to pay, internal audit and other business functions to market during September of 2020. 

A native of Pennsylvania, Bower earned his bachelor's degree from Wilkes University and completed his master's in taxation at the University of Hartford. Matt is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the AICPA. He resides in Mechanicsburg, PA with his wife, Erin and daughter, Vivienne.

Mark Cox is a managing director within Global Tax Management’s State & Local Tax (SALT) practice. His diverse knowledge of indirect (sales and use) tax allows him to provide his clients with exceptional service specifically in the areas of sales tax compliance, refunds, and audit representation.

Cox had over 20 years of indirect tax experience before joining GTM in 2010. His experience and knowledge of sales and use tax has allowed him to successfully direct and grow the indirect tax area of the SALT practice. He has delivered hundreds of sales tax seminars for clients and implemented improved procedures that result in permanent client savings. Cox has also taken great pride in mentoring clients and members of his staff.

Prior to joining GTM, Cox was regional director of a sales tax consulting firm, and an assistant director with Ernst & Young, serving the mid-Atlantic area SALT practice. Cox later founded Tax Management Associates, a sales tax consulting firm. He represented clients in obtaining sales tax refunds in 34 states, and in defending and reducing sales tax audit assessments in PA, NJ, NY, CA and nine other states.

Cox was born and raised in the Philadelphia area and currently resides in Newton Square, PA with his wife Jean and their three children. He is actively involved in community and charitable organizations, including the GESU School and St. Rose of Lima (inner city Catholic mission schools within Philadelphia). Cox is also a member of the Association for Computers and Taxation (ACT) and the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT).

Robert Deitz is the vice president-tax at Aramark Corporation, responsible for global tax administration for income and indirect taxes, tax controversy, tax planning, and financial reporting of taxes.  Prior to this role, Deitz held the VP role at several other global companies in a variety of industries including natural resources, commercial financing and pharmaceutical.  He entered the corporate world as a tax counsel for General Motors, having started his career at the IRS serving roles in the National Office- Chief Counsel’s group drafting a variety of regulations, revenue rulings and private letter rulings related to the timing of income and deductions. 

Deitz is a graduate of the George Washington Law School and has spoken on many panels over the years, including the ABA, TEI, Philadelphia Tax Conference, ACC, IFA, and the EY Business Roundtable.  

Thomas J. Donnelly serves as senior vice president of state and local tax for Comcast Corporation and NBCUniversal.  In this role, he is responsible for state tax planning, policy, compliance, credits, incentives, financial reporting, audits, litigation, legislation and the state and local tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Donnelly has led Comcast’s State and Local Tax practice since joining the company in 1994.

Prior to joining Comcast, Donnelly practiced tax and commercial law with the Philadelphia office of Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz and previously worked in the Philadelphia office of Coopers & Lybrand. He holds a CPA (inactive) & BS in accounting from Villanova University. Additionally, he received MT and JD degrees from Villanova Law and is a member of the Order of the Coif, a national legal honor society for law school graduates.

Donnelly has lectured on various tax topics at numerous seminars. He resides in Havertown, PA with his wife Lucille and their family.

Education

• BS, Villanova University
• JD, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
• MT, Villanova University Graduate Tax Program 

Feinstein is a director at Deloitte Tax LLP where he has practiced since 1996. Prior to joining Deloitte, Feinstein was a tax partner in the law firm of Duane, Morris & Heckscher and in the law firm of Zapruder & Odell. Feinstein has over 25 years of experience in advising multinational companies and large privately held companies on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions, structuring of international operations, financial products, and foreign currency transactions, as well as other tax matters. His clients include companies in the manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, and financial services industries, among other industries.

Feinstein serves as international tax leader for a leading multinational securities exchange and several multinational manufacturing concerns. He has been a frequent lecturer in the United States and Europe on a variety of tax topics, such as mergers and acquisitions, international reorganizations, structuring of international joint ventures, foreign tax credit planning, taxation of financial products, and foreign currency transactions, as well as other topics.

Feinstein serves on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Tax Conference and serves as co-chair of the conference. Feinstein is currently serving as chair of the Foreign Currency Task Force of the International Tax Technical Resource Panel of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is the principal author of the task force’s two sets of comments on proposed section 987 regulations.

Education

• BS, Temple University (1975)
• JD, cum laude, Brooklyn Law School (1982)
• LLM (Taxation), New York University (1984)

Jon G. Finkelstein is a principal in the Passthroughs group of KPMG’s Washington National Tax practice. His practice is primarily focused on providing tax planning advice to partnerships, limited liability companies and other passthrough entities. Finkelstein has particular expertise in structuring complex joint ventures, restructurings, acquisitions, and dispositions involving operating businesses and real estate assets. He is a former chair of the Real Estate Committee of the American Bar Association (Tax Section) and is the current vice chair of the Passthroughs and Real Estate Committee of the District of Columbia Bar Association (Tax Section).  He is also a member of the Real Estate Roundtable’s Tax Policy Advisory Committee. Finkelstein frequently publishes articles in leading tax publications and speaks at professional conferences across the country. Prior to joining KPMG, he was a partner a McDermott Will & Emery LLP, an international law firm.

Education, Licenses and Certifications

• BA, Columbia University
• JD, University of Minnesota Law School, magna cum laude
• Bar Admissions – New York and District of Columbia
  

Noel Fleming is a founding partner of Fleming Petenko Law where he focuses his practice on serving the legal needs of nonprofit organizations primarily in the areas of corporate law and governance, charitable trusts, federal, state and local tax matters, fiduciary duties, charitable fundraising, and related matters. He regularly acts as outside general counsel to a variety of nonprofit organizations including publicly supported charities, private foundations, mental health organizations, social service providers, museums, educational institutions, and health care facilities.

Fleming is active in the Pennsylvania nonprofit community and is the chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Charitable Organizations Committee. He writes and speaks frequently on legal matters related to the operation of nonprofit organizations and has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer in the field of nonprofit law.

Education

• BBA, Temple University Fox School of Business and Management, summa cum laude
• MBA, Temple University Fox School of Business and Management
• JD, Temple University Beasley School of Law, cum laude
• LLM, Temple University Beasley School of Law

Anna Gooch is the Christine A. Brunswick Public Service Fellow with the Center for Taxpayer Rights. She works with the Center to develop an LITC Support Center which will match LITCs with pro bono attorneys, create training and resources for LITC practitioners, and identify barriers to taxpayer’s rights and identify solutions.

Before beginning her current fellowship, Gooch was a research fellow with the Center, focusing on state tax administration and taxpayer rights. Prior to joining the Center, she worked in Deloitte's International Tax practice in San Francisco. With Les Book, Gooch edits content for "IRS Practice & Procedure" created by Michael Saltzman. She also reviews chapters in the ABA Tax Section's "Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS" for the 8th and 9th editions.

Since graduating from law school, Gooch has served low-income clients in Villanova's Federal Tax Clinic and the LITC at the Justice & Diversity of the Bar Association of San Francisco.  She received her JD, MBA, and LLM from Villanova University. 

Christopher Harvey is a managing partner and attorney at the firm Harvey Ballard & Bornstein, LLC. He specializes in the legal transactions surrounding estate and income tax planning, estate administration, estate and trust tax return preparation, and business transactions and planning.

Harvey serves as an adjunct professor of law teaching Decedents, Estate and Trusts; Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates; Estate Administration; Federal Wealth and Transfer Taxation; and Estate Planning II. He has previously taught Taxation of Property Dispositions. Harvey participated as an outside advisor and guest lecturer to the Internal Revenue Service and aided in the creation of the Estate Planning Certificate Program offered by the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and other state accounting societies.

Harvey has lectured on over 800 occasions on estate and tax planning topics and was distinguished as the Outstanding Discussion Leader for the New Hampshire Society of Certified Public Accountants for the years 1997 and 1998.

Education

• BS, University of Delaware, Accounting (1989)
• JD, Villanova University School of Law (1994)
• LLM, Villanova University School of Law (1995)

Robert Hegadorn currently supports the scholarly work of faculty as a faculty liaison librarian and as the foreign, comparative, and international law specialist. In addition to his reference and research support, he teaches several sections of Legal Research in the first-year curriculum. He also guest lectures on a variety of research topics including health law, litigation writing, and tax law for the Clinic and the Graduate Tax program.

Before joining the Law Library staff in 2006, Hegadorn practiced law in Missouri, and was later a reference librarian at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law Library. He earned his BA from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, his JD from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, and his MA, Information Science and Learning Technology, from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Information Science and Learning Technology. 

Practice Experience

• Reference librarian at the MU School of Law Library

David Hillegass is a director in the State and Local Tax Group at Global Tax Management.  He specializes in indirect taxes from both a technical and a technological perspective.

Since joining GTM in June 2016, Hillegass's primary responsibilities have included supporting clients’ indirect tax compliance function, assisting with technical consultation on matters of indirect tax law, and providing implementation and remediation services for clients’ indirect tax technology.  In addition, David provides support for clients’ fixed asset software modules.

Prior to joining GTM, Hillegass began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.  He spent a total of eight years in various functions within the organization.  Hillegass serviced clients in aspects covering multiple areas of taxation, including: state and local sales and use taxes, state and local income taxes, payroll taxes, and trust taxes. Hillegass spent the latter portion of his previous experience assisting in the implementation and issue remediation of clients’ indirect tax technology in addition to providing indirect tax consulting. His goal is to provide high quality client service while identifying opportunities for efficiencies and tax savings.

Designation: CPA, MST

Education

• BS, University of Notre Dame, Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from 
• MS in Taxation, Villanova University Graduate Tax Program

Denise Hintzke is a managing director in the Financial Services Tax Practice at Deloitte where she serves as the Global Market Leader for their Global Information Reporting Practice.  In her role, Hintzke works closely with the Deloitte Member Firms and clients as they address the demanding requirements of various information reporting regimes on their business and products, including U.S. information reporting, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, the Common Reporting Standard, Qualified Intermediary and Digital Assets.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Hintzke was a managing director and tax counsel at a large custodial bank. In this role, she was the lead advisor to the Asset Servicing Division on U.S. tax information reporting requirements, including cost basis and prior to that, was the lead advisor to all of the bank’s business units relating to tax information reporting. 

Hintzke has over thirty-five years of experience advising clients and internal business units on the intricacies of the tax law and assisting organizations in their endeavor to implement requirements and best practices related to their tax withholding and reporting responsibilities, including Qualified Intermediaries. 

Hintzke has participated on numerous committees and working groups through-out her career, including most recently the OECD Business Industry Association Committee on Digital Assets.  She is a well know speaker on information reporting topics, including QI, FATCA and CRS. And has authored several articles on these topics.

Hintzke received her BA from the University of Wisconsin, her JD from New York Law School and her LLM in Taxation from Villanova. She is admitted to the NY and NJ Bars.

Morgan Holtman's practice focuses on transactional tax planning for, and tax controversy representation of, corporations, partnerships and other entities in a variety of contexts, including acquisitions, dispositions and restructurings. Holtman has extensive experience in partnership taxation across a variety of industries and in domestic and cross-border contexts, with particular emphasis on complex equity structures, partnership restructurings and mergers and acquisitions.

Drawing on nearly two decades of experience in the national office of a Big Four accounting firm and an Am Law 50 law firm, Holtman knowledgeably counsels clients on domestic and cross-border transactional matters; partnership formation, distribution and liquidation; partnership mergers, conversions and restructurings; transfers of intangibles and the impact of recent tax legislation.

Holtman also is a frequent speaker at tax conferences and seminars.

Jennifer W. Karpchuk, Esq. is a shareholder and co-chair of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s State and Local Tax group.  She represents companies and individuals in various matters related to state and local taxation, through all stages of audit and litigation.  She currently serves in a number of leadership roles, including as Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Tax Section and Vice Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Tax Section. Additionally, Karpchuk is a vice chair of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Committee and serves on the board of directors for the Philadelphia Tax Conference. 

Karpchuk regularly publishes articles on various SALT topics in national tax journals and publications and is a frequent speaker on SALT issues at both local and national conferences. She is co-author of The Legal Intelligencer’s Pennsylvania Tax Handbook, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the ABA’s Property Tax Deskbook, and the State Transaction Taxes Chapter of PLI’s Technology Transactions Treatise. 

Karpchuk is ranked in Chambers, was named a Best Lawyers in Tax for 2021 and 2022, has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star since 2016, and was selected as a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by The Legal Intelligencer for 2021.  

Conor LeFevour is a managing director in the Private Client Services practice at Andersen in the Chicago Office. He has more than 11 years of experience working with high-net-worth individuals and multi-generational family offices providing coordinated income, estate, and gift tax planning

Additionally, LeFevour has a wide range of experience working with both operating and investment partnerships with a focus in family office structures and funds.

Prior to joining Andersen, LeFevour worked at Navigant Consulting with a focus in litigation related forensic accounting.

John Lehrer is the tax group leader for BakerHostetler’s Washington, DC office. He has a broad-based federal tax practice that focuses on “one-off” business acquisition and disposition transactions but, unlike many M&A tax attorneys,

Lehrer continues to act as outside general tax counsel assisting the C-suite and the internal tax team with day-to-day matters after the deal is done. His practice also includes representing clients before the IRS and other taxing agencies and both assisting tax controversy matters and obtaining client-specific guidance from taxing agencies.

Lehrer's legal background is unique, as he has worked in-house as Deputy General Counsel for an international energy management and consulting company and managed an operational business unit for the company. He also worked in the national office of a Big Four accounting firm, focusing on M&A transactions.

Ilya Lipin is a principal and Atlantic Region State and Local Tax Practice Leader at BDO USA, LLP. He has more than 14 years of state and local tax consulting experience in multi-state income taxes, sales and use taxes, tax controversy, compliance and filing methodologies, and various state and local tax aspects that arise from mergers & acquisitions or restructuring transactions.

Lipin advises clients on potential state and local tax risks and exposure while simultaneously identifying tax savings and refund opportunities. He has assisted many businesses, including U.S. inbound companies, in determining their nexus footprint, taxability of their products and services, and helped them obtain voluntary disclosure agreements (VDAs) in order to bring them into state tax compliance. Additionally, Ilya has successfully represented clients before Pennsylvania Board of Appeals, Pennsylvania Board of Finance and Revenue, and other state and local administrative tax agencies. 

Lipin has worked with start-up, middle-market, Fortune 500, and private equity clients in manufacturing, software and technology, healthcare, hospitality, real estate, life sciences, professional services, and retail sectors.

Lipin regularly publishes articles in national tax journals and has been a frequent speaker on state and local tax issues, including national seminars and webinars. 

Jonathan A. Liss is a senior policy analyst with the City of Philadelphia Department of Revenue. As a member of the technical staff, he is responsible for monitoring federal, state, and local tax legislation and evaluating its potential impact on Philadelphia taxes, in addition to developing internal tax technical training programs. Liss's responsibilities also include drafting guidance on the Department’s business tax policies. He is also a frequent speaker on Philadelphia business taxes to practitioners and small businesses at educational seminars.

Prior to joining the Philadelphia Department of Revenue, Liss worked for several global public accounting firms, providing a broad range of multistate tax services to Fortune 500 and middle-market clients. Liss also spent 21 years as a director of state and local tax audits for Rohm and Haas Company, a Philadelphia-based, multinational producer of specialty chemicals that was acquired by The Dow Chemical Company in 2009.

Liss received his undergraduate degree in accounting, with honors, from Drexel University and his MS in Taxation from Temple University. He has served on the State and Local Tax Committee of the Tax Executives Institute Philadelphia Chapter (TEI), Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce tax committee, and Philadelphia Revenue Commissioner’s Tax Advisory Committee. Liss is formerly a member of the Council on State Taxation’s (COST) Board of Directors and was an active participant in COST conferences and schools for many years. Liss has also been an adjunct professor at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business since 2012. He designed a State and Local Tax course which is taught to undergraduate business students at Drexel. Liss is also a member of the LeBow College of Business Accounting Advisory Council.

Debbie Martino is currently director of tax & controls for Graham Partners, a Private Equity firm. She is responsible for evaluating and implementing tax planning strategies across the federal, state, and local tax areas for both direct and indirect taxes at the portfolio companies. Additionally, she provides operational finance support, assists with the formulation and implementation of tax strategies for M&A transactions, and is responsible for the communication of tax changes to key stakeholders.

Martino has over 28 years of experience working in the tax field.  In addition to working in corporate tax planning and advisory for Lincoln Financial Group, she worked 15 years in public accounting for two of the largest accounting firms serving multi-national clients and Fortune 500 companies. During her work experience in public accounting, as tax director for a privately held company and AVP of Tax Planning and Advisory for Publicly Traded Insurance Company, Martino oversaw and coordinated services including tax accounting and financial reporting, tax compliance and reporting, tax planning and tax controversy both domestically and globally.

Martino is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Drexel University and a Master of Science in Taxation from Villanova University.

Debbie has taught Corporation Tax at Drexel University in the Master of Accounting Program since 2013 and began teaching at Villanova in the early 2017. She has coordinated, wrote and taught tax technical training sessions both in Public Accounting and Private Industry.  Debbie also serves on the Board for the Philadelphia Tax Conference.

Robert M. Maxwell is an adjunct professor at Villanova Law where he teaches Decedents' Estates and Trusts as well as Wealth Tax, and Fundamentals of Testamentary Planning in the Graduate Tax program. In addition to teaching at Villanova, he is currently working for Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP preparing estate, inheritance and gift tax returns for their Philadelphia and New York offices.

Prior to March of 2023, Maxwell worked at The Glenmede Trust Company, N.A. for over 23 years, where he most recently served as director of estate and trust settlement in Glenmede’s Philadelphia office for the last nine years. He was responsible for oversight of all aspects of estate administration for estates where Glenmede served as executor including preparation of death tax returns, post-mortem planning, and management of the court accounting group that prepares accountings for trusts and estates as required by the Courts.  Before joining Glenmede in 1999, Maxwell was employed by First Union National Bank, first as an administrative officer in the Equipment Leasing Department and then as a tax officer in the Death Tax Unit.

Maxwell has been a lecturer and author for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and other professional continuing education organizations on such topics as Federal Estate and Gift Tax Preparation, Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Preparation, Federal Estate Tax Portability, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax, Powers of Appointment, and the Responsibilities, Risks, and Rewards of Estate Settlement.

Maxwell received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania (1984 and 1986). He received a Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law (1989). He currently serves as Chair-Elect of the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He is also a member of the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council. Mr. Maxwell holds the Accredited Estate Planner® designation. 

He lives in Montgomeryville, PA, with his wife, Julia R. Toner, Esq. (JD, Villanova Law, 1989) and Franklin the Welsh Terrier.  

• BA, University of Pennsylvania (1984)
• MA, University of Pennsylvania (1986)
• JD, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law (1989)

Brian McGowan is a co-founder and partner in both McGowan & Co., LLP and McGowan & Co., LLC. Brian is a CPA and is a member of both the American and Pennsylvania Institute of CPA’s having formerly served on the Ethics Committee for the PICPA.

McGowan graduated from LaSalle College and holds an MS (Masters in Tax Law) from Widener University. Early in his career, he spent several years as a U.S. Treasury Agent before working at Sun Oil Co. He participated in most mergers and acquisitions for the company and was a member of the Office of the President. Prior to going independent in 1980, he was the CFO for Sun Information Services (later known as SunGard).

McGowan has taught at both Penn State University and Widener University Graduate School. Brian is married and proud to be partners with his two sons.

Education

• BA, La Salle University
• MS, Widener University
  

Erica McReynolds is a director in PwC’s National Tax Services, Exempt Organization Tax Services practice.  Erica performs compliance and consulting services for various tax-exempt organizations including universities, hospitals, and tax-exempt trusts.  Her annual compliance experience includes large to mid-size universities, hospital systems, VEBAs and tax filing for trusts tax-exempt under IRC 401(a).  Her consulting experience includes assistance in resolving tax controversy, questions around unrelated business income, issues surrounding the private business use of tax-exempt bonds, US and cross border structuring, compliance with IRC section 501(r), and ASC 740 for tax-exempt entities. She is also experienced in state unrelated business income tax issues. 

McReynolds is a speaker at the Philadelphia Bar Institute (“PBI”), National Association of College and University Business Officers (“NACUBO”), American Health Lawyers Association (“AHLA”) and Healthcare Financial Management Association (“HFMA”).

McReynolds received her undergraduate degree (a BA in Human Services) in 2001 from Villanova University (cum laude).  She obtained her Juris Doctor and LLM (Taxation) degrees from Villanova Law in 2005 and 2008 respectively. She is a member of the Philadelphia and New Jersey Bar Association.

Drew A. Morris is a member of Nachmias Morris & Alt, LLC.  His practice covers all aspects of business and individual federal, state, local and international taxation including advising S Corporations, C Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships at all stages of an entity’s life cycle including joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, taxable and non-taxable reorganizations, restructurings, spin-offs, recapitalizations, tax planning, tax efficiencies, and strategic partnerships and alliances. 

Morris also assists clients at all levels of federal, state, and local tax controversy matters, including audits of corporations, estates, and individuals, responses to assessments, abatement requests, and appeals. 

In addition, Morris advises non-profit organizations regarding corporate governance and tax-related issues, and he assists with the formation of tax-exempt organizations and completion and submission of exemption applications. He is also a frequent lecturer and panelist on various tax matters.

Education

• BA, Brandeis University
• JD, Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, cum laude
• LLM in Taxation, New York University Law School
• MBA, Drexel University

Kayci Petenko is a founding partner of Fleming Petenko Law in Philadelphia where she focuses her practice on advising a variety of tax-exempt organizations, including private foundations, public charities, hospitals, schools, supporting organizations, and donor-advised funds. She advises clients on many types of matters including corporate formation and qualification for tax-exempt status, corporate governance, fiduciary duties, charitable fundraising, charitable contribution issues, federal and state tax law compliance, contract negotiation and drafting, corporate restructuring, unrelated business income tax, and related matters. She previously worked for a law firm providing legal advice and services to nonprofit organizations and as a tax associate in the Tax Advisory Group of an accounting firm.

Petenko frequently speaks on legal matters related to the operation of nonprofit organizations. She has been selected as a Rising Star in Pennsylvania by Super Lawyers® and a One to Watch by Best Lawyers in America in the field of nonprofit law. She received the Outstanding Young Lawyer award through the American Bar Association Nonprofit Lawyer Awards. She was also designated as a Lawyer on the Fast Track by The Legal Intelligencer.

She is serving as a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Tax Council. She has also served as a volunteer tax preparer and instructor for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) & Military VITA programs.

Education

• BSM, Tulane University, A.B. Freeman School of Business
• JD, Rutgers University School of Law
• MBA, cum laude, Rutgers University School of Business
• LLM, with distinction, Temple University Beasley School of Law

Ralph Pike is the Office Managing Director of Andersen Tax’s Dallas office. He has over 19 years of experience in serving clients and practices in the firm’s Private Client Services area with a concentration on individual income, estate and gift taxation. His responsibilities include providing comprehensive tax planning solutions to high net worth clients and family office clients, on tax issues relating to:

• Individual income tax
• Partnerships
• S corporations
• Fiduciary income tax
• Limited liability companies
• Estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes

Before joining Andersen Tax, Pike was with Arthur Andersen then KPMG, where in addition to his client responsibilities in Chicago, he also served in several firmwide roles including a two-year tour of service in the firm’s Washington National Tax Office.

Ralph has served on the Estates, Gifts and Trusts Committee of the Illinois CPA Society. He also is an adjunct professor for Villanova University Law School and teaches Estate and Gift Taxation.

Education

• BS (Accounting), Northern Illinois University
• JD, University of Illinois Law School

Joseph Ronan is the managing principal of the law firm Ronan Law Group, PLLC, and a member of the Pennsylvania, New York, District of Columbia and Vermont bars. In his current firm, Ronan focuses on income tax issues, executive and equity compensation matters, retirement planning, qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation plans and related matters. Prior to starting his own firm, Ronan worked in the tax and benefits areas at Morgan Lewis, Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and Blank Rome. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America (for Taxation) and Super Lawyers, and is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell.

Ronan earned his BA in philosophy (with honors) from Haverford College, and his JD and LLM from New York University School of Law. While in NYU Law School, he served as the Research Editor of the NYU Review of Law and Social Change.

Ronan has been chair of the Tax Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association, as well as chair of a committee of the ABA Tax Section. He has served as board chair at Friends Select School, president of the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and as a board member with Philabundance. He has also received alumni awards from Friends Select and Haverford. He also served as chair of the Selectboard for the Town of Sharon, Vermont for several years.

Ronan has been a frequent speaker for the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Association and at ABA events and has written several published articles on tax and employee benefits matters. In addition to teaching Executive Compensation, he has taught Tax II and Compensation Planning in the Villanova LLM program and Business Planning in the JD program. Ronan is also now an adjunct with Vermont Law School where he works with students on entrepreneurship issues. He has also obtained an MA in English Literature from Rutgers-Camden with a thesis on the American poet Wallace Stevens (who was also a lawyer and worked in the suretyship area for a major insurance company).

Education

• BA, Haverford College (1976)
• JD, New York University School of Law (1979)
• LLM, New York University School of Law (1983)
• MA, English Literature, Rutgers University - Camden (2017)

James Saxenian is a senior manager in KPMG’s Mergers & Acquisitions Tax practice. He joined KPMG in 2014 and is based in KPMG’s Tysons Corner, VA office.

Saxenian has over 25 years of experience representing private and publicly owned companies in many areas of federal taxation relating to their ongoing operations and business transactions. He advises clients on the tax aspects various corporate restructuring transactions, including tax-free mergers and reorganizations, spin-offs, taxable stock and asset acquisitions and dispositions, like-kind exchanges, joint ventures, debt restructurings, and intercompany restructuring transactions.

Saxenian's experience includes advising clients on the optimal tax structure for a transaction; delivering tax opinions and client memoranda on corporate restructurings; preparing private letter ruling requests, transaction cost analyses and Section 382 calculations; managing tax due diligence engagements; and assisting audit and tax compliance teams with various corporate tax issues. Jim has also written several published articles on mergers & acquisitions tax topics.

Prior to joining KPMG, Saxenian was a tax attorney at Jones Day and then was a partner at Dow Lohnes PLLC in Washington, DC, where he represented tax and business clients predominantly in the media, communications and entertainment industries.

Education

•  BS in Accounting, summa cum laude, State University of New York at Albany,
• JD, with honors, George Washington University
•  LLM in Taxation, with distinction, Valedictorian, Georgetown University Law Center

Chris Siegle is the senior wealth advisor and Executive Director in the Scottsdale office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He is a member of the global Wealth Advisory group, offering clients and the professional community the insights gathered from extensive law practice, tax expertise, and exposure to the most interesting and innovative estate and tax planning techniques in the United States and internationally. 

Siegle works with clients and their advisors to educate on the operation and efficiency of federal estate, gift generation-skipping transfer and income tax techniques. Before joining the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in 2010, Siegle was a partner in a Phoenix-based regional law firm where he practiced for over 13 years in trust and estate, tax and business planning practices. 

Siegle has spoken and written nationally on tax and estate planning matters through the USC Tax Institute, the Notre Dame Estate Planning and Tax Institute,  the American Bar Association Tax Section, Matthew Bender Books/LexisNexis Major Tax Planning 2020, 2022, 2023, Aspatore Books Inside the Minds of Family and Business Succession Planning, Thomson Reuters’ Estate Planning Journal, Strafford CLE, and numerous seminars for Bar Associations, Estate Planning Councils, Community Foundations, the American Bar Association,  law firms, CPA firms, and other professional organizations throughout the United States. His teachings in GSTT planning, qualified small business stock planning, charitable planning with trust income tax planning, crypto currency, selling remainder interests and promissory notes, planning with retained interests and Code §§ 2036, 2038, 2043 and 2703, 1202 stock, securities laws for estate planners, income tax planning, and planning with life insurance have assisted professionals in elevating their practices. He is an adjunct professor of law in the Graduate Tax Program online LLM/MT at Villanova University. 

Seigle is a member of the State Bar of Arizona, the Maricopa County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He is an Accredited Estate Planner as designated by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils.  He is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estste Counsel (ACTEC). Siegle is a Captain (retired) of the United States Navy, having served for 30 years from 1990-2020. He is married to his wife Molly, and has two adult, high performing children, Brianna (25), and Jason (22) living in Scottsdale, AZ. 

Education and Honors:

• AB, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• JD (with Honors), University of Tulsa College of Law
• MSS (Master of Strategic Studies), The United States Army War College
• LLM (taxation), Villanova University School of Law

Melissa Skilliter is the Director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) in the Columbus office of Southeastern Ohio Legal Services (SEOLS), a position she has held since 2008. Through the LITC, she handles tax controversies with the IRS, including U.S. Tax Court cases, examinations, and other cases before the IRS. She completed Villanova’s online LLM program in 2018. She joined SEOLS in 2005 as a staff attorney in the Zanesville, Ohio office with a general civil legal practice.

Education

• BA, political science, manga cum laude, Bowling Green State University (2001)
• JD, Georgetown University Law Center (2004)
• LLM, Villanova Law (2018)

Richard A. Smolen is an attorney and manages a family office for Tekloc Enterprises LLC in Newtown Square, PA, where he focuses on tax planning, charitable planning, estate planning, and employee benefit issues. He also performs employee benefits, charitable giving, and tax planning consulting services for Teasmo Consulting LLC. He has represented businesses and individuals in matters such as correcting retirement plan administration errors under IRS and DOL correction programs, preparing 401(k) and 403(b) plan documents; counseling clients on ERISA requirements, preparing and reviewing Forms 5500 and 5300; counseling clients on employee benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions and in bankruptcy; and representing plan fiduciaries in DOL investigations.

Smolen has advised individuals on the use of complex estate tax and charitable planning techniques, such as grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, family limited partnerships, charitable remainder unitrusts, charitable lead annuity trusts, charitable gift annuities and donor advised funds. He has formed, managed, and recommended governance structures for non-profit organizations, and has regularly filed applications for tax exemption with the IRS. He regularly prepares and reviews federal, state, and local tax filings on behalf of individuals, businesses, trusts, estates, and charities.

He is an adjunct professor of law at Villanova Law and was previously an adjunct professor of law at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. Smolen works with the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts to provide governance and strategic planning services for representing local arts organizations. He is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Tax-Exempt Group, and the Young Lawyers Division Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group.

Smolen received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, his JD degree from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, his M.B.A. degree from Temple University Fox School of Business and Management, and his LLM degree (Taxation), with distinction, from James E. Beasley School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Education

• BA, University of Pennsylvania
• JD, Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law
• MBA, Temple University Fox School of Business and Management
• LLM in Taxation, Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law

Michael Stratis is a principal with PwC's International Tax Services practice. He has more than 13 years experience, focusing on international tax planning and transactional matters for private and public corporations. Stratis spent two and a half years on secondment with PwC's Swiss firm, serving in a dual role as an international tax and value chain transformation specialist, facilitating substance-based planning in Switzerland and Europe. He has significant experience in the areas of cross border structuring, inbound and outbound planning, acquisitions and divestitures, foreign tax credits, supply chain and value chain transformation projects. 

Mike Swanick recently retired from PwC, one of the Big 4 international accounting firms, where he was a Senior Partner.  Over more than three decades with the firm, Mike held many leadership roles including serving as the Global Leader of the Firm’s Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences practice. In this role, heled the Firm’s 10,000 employees who worked in the health care industry.  Swanick served as the lead partner on many of PwC’s largest clients including AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squib, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Schering Plough, Shire and Teva.  He also was on the US Health Industry leadership team which managed the services (e.g., audit, consulting and tax) to all of the PwC Health Industry clients.

As a PwC partner, Swanick was internationally known for his expertise in finance, risk management and tax. With relationships spanning the globe, he had a knack for building key professional networks and attracting and retaining talent. He also led the Firm’s inbound practice and served on the Lead Tax Partner Program Committee. He led numerous growth initiatives and quality control efforts, all while achieving some of the highest retention rates and people engagement results in the firm.

From a governance perspective, Swanick is currently on the Paoli Hospital Foundation Board where is serves on the audit committee. While at PwC, he was a member of the 18-member Board of Partners and Principals, where he served on the audit, finance, risk and clients committees. Swanick has extensive experience interacting with audit committees, boards of directors, and senior management, and is passionate about helping organizations work through their most pressing issues. Swanick previously served for 8 years on the Board of Trustees for St. Joseph’s University where he was on the finance and audit committees and was formerly the audit committee chair. He also attended numerous board governance programs at Stanford, Wharton and Kellogg School of Management.

In the community, Swanick is actively involved in a number of industry associations and community organizations.  He is also an adjunct professor teaching accounting and taxation at St Joseph’s University, Villanova Law & Business School and Penn State University, MBA program.  He also volunteers as a tax aide for AARP during tax season preparing income tax returns for predominately senior citizens.

Swanick joined PwC after obtaining a BS in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University in 1981 and an MS from Villanova Law School in 1984.

Nicole Tomlin is an associate attorney at Hanlon Niemann & Wright, P.C., where she focuses her practice on estate planning and estate administration for families who have a family member with a disability, creation of first party special needs trusts and third party supplemental benefits trusts, guardianship, and accessing services from the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Division of Developmental Disabilities.   

Tomlin serves as a court-appointed attorney to those deemed to be incapacitated.  

While in law school, Tomlin volunteered with the Domestic Violence Project and served as the Associate Managing Editor of the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion. As a City Year Greater Philadelphia AmeriCorps Member, she spent a year tutoring in inner city schools. She volunteers her time with the Monmouth County SPCA.  

Tomlin is a graduate of Bucknell University and Rutgers University School of Law. She holds an LLM in Taxation from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.  She is an adjunct faculty member of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Graduate Tax Department.    

Tomlin is a member of the Elder Law Section and Disability Section and the Tax Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association. She frequently lectures on a variety of disability-related legal topics.    

Education

• BA, Bucknell University (2004)
• JD, Rutgers School of Law (2008) 
• LLM, Villanova Law School (2021)

Drew VandenBrul is a managing director in Grant Thornton’s Philadelphia office and leads the Legal Entity Optimization (LEO) practice nationally. He has over 30 years of experience as a state & local tax professional advising companies across all industries on complex multistate tax planning, tax controversy, transaction, and compliance matters, including income, franchise, realty transfer, and sales & use taxes. VandenBrul's time in Philadelphia includes 10 years with Arthur Andersen, over 4 years with Exelon Corporation, and 11 years with KPMG, including 3 years as a Tax Partner. Drew is a member of the AICPA and an active member of the state and local tax committees of the PICPA, Tax Executives Institute, and Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (co-chair). He served on the 2003 Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission. VandenBrul received his BS in Accounting and Finance from Lehigh University and his Master of Taxation from Villanova University.

Benjamin M. Willis is a contributing editor for Tax Notes Federal and Tax Notes International. He has worked in PwC’s national mergers and acquisitions and international tax services groups, designing and implementing inbound and outbound cross-border transactions for multinational firms, and as an attorney-adviser in the Treasury Office of Tax Policy. He also worked as a senior technical adviser in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, as a senior corporate tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, and as leader of the corporate tax group in BDO’s national office. He writes the column Willis Weighs In. He received his JD from New England Law Boston and his LLM from Boston University School of Law and specializes in cross-border corporate taxation with strong experience in the taxation of passthrough entities.

A member of the Pennsylvania Bar, Woehrle is adjunct instructor of wealth management at the College for Financial Planning (CFFP) in Centennial, CO where he teaches masters level courses in estate and pension planning. From 2020 through 2023, he served as full professor and chair of the masters in financial planning program.

Woehrle is the emeritus holder of the Guardian/Deppe Chair in Pensions & Retirement Planning. Prior to his retirement from The American College, he was an Associate Professor of Taxation with course responsibility for Huebner School 321 Income Taxation and Irwin Graduate School 817 Personal Tax Planning, 814 Qualified Retirement Plans and 842 Executive Compensation. Chris also taught the online editions of GS 839 Planning for Philanthropic Impact, GS 849 Charitable Giving Applications and Planning, and GS 859 Gift Planning in a Nonprofit Context. Woehrle also has written DP 1700 Seminar in Tax Planning and Policy for students in its PhD in Financial Planning program. Finally, he has designed an introduction to financial, tax and compensation planning for Glenmede Trust Company and a business succession planning program for Mass Mutual.

Woehrle has served as a member of the editorial board of Trusts & Estates magazine since September of 2014. He has written extensively on how to improve retirement income through philanthropic planning. In recognition of his writings on use of charitable giving in coordination with financial and retirement planning, he received from Trusts & Estates a 2017 Distinguished Author Award.

Prior to his arrival at The American College, Woehrle enjoyed a seventeen career as a senior development professional and executive. During his tenure as senior associate vice president and acting senior vice president of institutional advancement, Drexel University was a five time achiever of Philanthropy 400 status awarded to the most productive development programs in the United States. As vice president of development for The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Woehrle led the completion of its highly successful endowment campaign creating one of the largest endowed funds for a performing arts organization. He also served as director of planned giving for the Princeton HealthCare System Foundation during its Design for Healing campaign, one of the largest ever for a community hospital system.

A magna cum laude graduate of Cornell University, Woehrle earned his JD and LLM (Taxation) from Villanova Law where he has been teaching charitable gift planning since 2009. He also is a member of the Graduate Tax Program Advisory Board.

Woehrle is married to Lann Salyard Woehrle, MD, a retired member of the medical staff at Pennsylvania Hospital. In addition to supporting his wife’s philanthropy in pancreatic cancer research, he has endowed a named scholarship at his prep school and supported two bricks and mortar campaigns each at the major gift level. The couple are members of the leadership board of the McGovern Institute of Brain Research at MIT in Cambridge, MA where they established a research fund for investigation of psychiatric diseases.