Live Stream: Tennessee Federal Tax Conference

Cass is a shareholder at Carlton Fields in Atlanta. He focuses on tax law and business transactions, with deep experience in the intersection of tax-exempt organizations and for-profit enterprises. Before joining the firm, he was a professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law, teaching courses on federal income taxation, nonprofit organizations, and business taxation, including corporate and partnership tax. His research and speaking engagements have centered on federal income taxation and social enterprise law.

Cass has played a significant role in shaping nonprofit and business law in Georgia. He co-founded the Nonprofit Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia and helped modernize Georgia's Nonprofit Corporations Code. He was also involved in drafting Georgia's Limited Liability Company Act, Limited Liability Partnership Act, and the state's benefit corporation legislation.

A fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, Cass previously served as a partner and practice leader in the tax group at Morris, Manning & Martin LLP, in Atlanta. His background in both academia and legal practice gives him a unique perspective in advising clients on complex tax and business matters.

John Bunge is a tax and private wealth services attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office. Mr. Bunge helps clients navigate the confluence of tax planning, business succession planning and estate planning, and seeks to find the most elegant solutions possible to reach their goals.

Mr. Bunge's wealth preservation experience includes income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax minimization, through the use of irrevocable trusts, sales and gifts to trusts, charitable-interest trusts and grantor-retained annuity trusts, among other sophisticated wealth planning strategies. He also advises families on the formation of investment entities, such as family limited partnerships and family LLCs.

Mr. Bunge helps clients reach their charitable goals, using charitable giving techniques to minimize income, estate and gift taxes, and advising clients on the formation and operation of tax-exempt organizations, including private foundations.

He also counsels families regarding the formation, structuring and operation of family offices and private trust companies.

Additionally, Mr. Bunge helps clients minimize income taxes through individual, partnership and corporate tax planning. He also has experience assisting taxpayers through IRS audits, appeals and U.S. Tax Court litigation.

BRETT R. CARTER, ESQ., is a founding member of Carter Shelton Jones, PLC a tax boutique law firm in Nashville, Tennessee, representing clients on all state and local tax matters, business planning and estate and succession planning.. Mr. Carter represents taxpayers before the Tennessee Department of Revenue and local taxing authorities as well as the Chancery and Appellate courts of Tennessee, focusing on all Tennessee taxes, including Tennessee sales and use tax, franchise and excise tax, property tax and business tax. He also assists taxpayers with tax planning related to Tennessee and multistate tax matters. Mr. Carter is a frequent lecturer on Tennessee and multistate tax matters for national organizations such as IPT, COST and various state and local tax institutes. Mr. Carter is also a contributing author to the ABA Property Tax Deskbook (Tennessee) and State Tax Notes. He is a member of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, the American Bar Association Tax Section, and the Independent SALT Alliance. Mr. Carter received his BS degree in Accounting from the University of Tennessee, his law degree (with honors) from the University of Memphis, and his LLM in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. He clerked for Chief Judge Mary Ann Cohen on the United States Tax Court.

Bergin is a Principal at Elliott Davis Advisory. He is a licensed attorney with extensive experience in tax law, planning, consulting, and transaction services. As the firm's National Tax Practice Leader, he steers the firm's strategic tax thought-leadership and serves as a firm-wide resource and subject matter expert. Bergin's experience includes consulting and advisory services for customers of various industry sectors, utilizing his legal and consulting background to advise customers of all types and sizes on issues of domestic and cross-border restructuring, acquisitions, credits and incentives, spin-offs and other divestitures, and other tax advisory needs.

Bergin is also the firm's pioneering Sustainability & ESG Practice Leader. He and his team offer comprehensive services to enhance companies' environmental needs, such as conducting readiness assessments, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting, reporting, and preparing effective responses to customer or vendor data requests. The practice also develops and implements sustainability improvement strategies tailored to the organization's needs.

Prior to Elliott Davis, he served as in-house counsel to a global non-profit in the higher education industry and with two global Big-Four firms.

Aaron Flinn is a private wealth services attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office. Business owners and entrepreneurs, corporate officers and executives, and investors and families with inherited assets seek advice from Mr. Flinn for the purpose of ensuring financial stability and continued prosperity. Serving clients with trust and estate as well as wealth preservation needs, he helps craft and deliver strategies that reflect the client's values while capturing the tax benefits available under their given circumstances. He also works with assisting business owners in succession planning and other issues often encountered by closely held companies.

Mr. Flinn offers advice to clients on how to protect and retain wealth through strategic planning related to income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations also rely on him for day-to-day guidance in relation to taxation and governance matters.

Mr. Flinn also assists trust officers and other fiduciaries in the administration trusts and decedents' estates, and works with ultra-high-net-worth families with regard to all facets of Private Family Trust Companies in Tennessee, including the migration of trusts and other administration issues.

Public and private organizations alike look to Jon Gaston for counsel on a wide range of federal and state tax transactional issues related to tax planning, structuring mergers and acquisitions, business formations, dispositions, and other restructurings. Clients benefit from Jon's accounting background—he understands business and is able to see the "whole picture" from the client's perspective.

Non-profit corporations regularly seek guidance from Jon when navigating unfamiliar tax-exempt matters and taxation issues peculiar to Tennessee. Tax-exempt and non-profit organizations seek counsel in relation to a wide range of matters including:

Jon also represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state tax authorities in audits, appeals, and obtaining letter rulings.

Stacy E. Gibson is the assistant commissioner and director of the Tennessee Department of Revenue's Audit Division. She has also served as an Administrative Hearing Officer. Prior to working for the Department of Revenue, she worked first in private practice in Nashville and then served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tennessee Attorney General's Tax Division.

Gibson earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and a law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in Nashville, Tenn.

Robert Guth represents clients in a wide range of multistate tax matters. He helps clients plan for the future, manage compliance, navigate audits, and resolve disputes with taxing authorities. Robert is also well regarded in Nashville's nonprofit and public policy communities. He serves on the board of several nonprofits, has organized and advised community and policy organizations, and presented to law makers and public policy groups on tax topics and economic and community development.

Prior to joining Bass, Berry & Sims, Robert served as assistant general counsel for taxation and as the special counsel to the Financial Control Division at the Tennessee Department of Revenue. In this role, he served as the Department's primary attorney for corporate income and franchise taxes, the Hall individual income tax, and taxation of petroleum products. He also advised the Department on tax-increment financing and local sales tax issues. Robert earned his LL.M. in taxation and his law degree from Boston University School of Law.

Jay Hancock is a Shareholder of LBMC, PC, and leads the firm's State and Local Tax practice. Jay has significant experience assisting taxpayers with a variety of state and local tax issues, including developing multistate tax minimization studies and reorganization strategies for public and private companies; advising with respect to nexus and tax liability concerns; analyzing state tax ramifications stemming from mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; identifying and securing state tax credits and negotiated incentives; and managing and resolving state audits, appeals and ruling requests.

Prior to coming to LBMC in 2019, Jay served as a Managing Director with EY in its Nashville office. He has over 26 years of state and local tax experience. He got his start in state and local taxation in 1996 by serving as an Assistant AG in the Tax Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, where he represented the Tennessee Department of Revenue in state tax litigation, assisted administrative agencies in applying the law and developing regulations, and authored opinions on various state and local tax issues.

Jay obtained his JD from the University of Maryland. He and his wife Linda both attended the University of Tennessee for undergraduate studies. They reside in Brentwood, Tennessee, and have three adult children.

Bryan Howard is a tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office, where he works with ultra-high-net-worth families regarding their estate planning, closely held businesses, tax planning, philanthropy and asset protection matters. Mr. Howard assists clients to ensure an orderly and tax-efficient transmission of their wealth from one generation to the next.

Mr. Howard advises the owners of closely held businesses with respect to entity structure, federal and state income tax minimization, succession planning, as well as an exit from the business. He helps philanthropic clients to determine the appropriate vehicle for accomplishing their charitable objectives while obtaining income tax benefits. Mr. Howard was the principal drafter of the Tennessee Investment Services Trust Act that has enabled many Tennesseans to protect their assets from future creditors.

Many of Mr. Howard's clients have worked with him for a number of years. He often represents two or three generations of a family and/or siblings and cousins of his clients. Mr. Howard regularly works with formal and informal family offices, including their various advisors.

Steve Jasper is a member at Bass, Berry & Sims in its Nashville office. He advises clients in a wide range of tax disputes regarding Tennessee's sales and use tax, franchise and excise taxes, business tax, and property taxes. Steve represents his clients in negotiations with taxing authorities and, as necessary, guides businesses through administrative proceedings or trials. As a reflection of his experience in state tax matters, on multiple occasions Steve has been selected by the Tennessee Department of Revenue to help draft major rewrites to significant portions of Tennessee's tax statutes. Steve also assists expanding or relocating businesses in Tennessee achieve the maximum value they can through state tax incentives, payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreements and state grant programs to help grow the state's overall economic base.

Steve is a graduate of the University of Missouri where he received a law degree and bachelor's degree. Prior to joining Bass, Berry & Sims, Steve produced the evening newscast for local ABC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri, KMIZ-ABC 17.

Dr. Chris Kuehl is a Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. He provides forecasts and strategic guidance for a wide variety of corporate clients around the world. He is the chief economist for several national and international organizations, Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, National Association of Credit Management, Finance, Credit and International Business and the Business Information Industry Association. He is also the economic analyst for several state accounting societies – Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.

Prior to starting Armada in 1999 he was a professor of economics and finance for 15 years – teaching in the US, Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Singapore and Taiwan. He holds advanced degrees in economics, Soviet studies and East Asian studies.

Chris is the author of Business Intelligence Briefs and Executive Intelligence Briefs - both publications from Armada. He is also responsible for the Credit Manager's Index from NACM and Fabrinomics from the FMA.

Jeff is the Managing Director, Tax Policy, Washington National Tax with Deloitte. He has over 25 years of experience in the tax policy arena and is currently responsible for communicating emerging tax developments in the U.S. Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department, and the federal courts to the Firm and its clients. Jeff oversees the content development of Tax News & Views as well as thought leadership publications on issues such as the U.S. deficit and fundamental tax reform.

His Capitol Hill experience includes working on tax and budget issues for former U.S. Senator and Senate Finance Committee member Steve Symms, R-Idaho.

Jeff holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Idaho and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Brian is a member of the Tax Practice Group at Frost Brown Todd. He concentrates his practice on tax planning and tax controversies, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. In addition, Brian has recently focused a significant amount of his practice on advising clients with respect to establishing Opportunity Zone Funds and Qualified Opportunity Zone Businesses.

Bruce McGovern is a tenured member of the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston, where he also serves as Director of the school's Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. Previously, he served for many years as the school's Vice President and Associate Dean for Academic Administration. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from Fordham University School of Law. After law school, he served as a judicial clerk for Judge Thomas Meskill on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. He then practiced law with the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He subsequently earned an LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he taught as a visiting faculty member before joining the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston.

Professor McGovern teaches and writes in the areas of business organizations and taxation. His courses include Federal Income Taxation, U.S. Taxation of International Transactions, Partnership and Subchapter S Taxation, and Federal Tax Procedure. He frequently speaks on recent developments in federal income taxation. Professor McGovern is a member of the Council of the State Bar of Texas Tax Section, a former Chair of the Houston Bar Association Section of Taxation, and a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.

Joseph serves in the Private Enterprise Tax practice of KPMG. Based in Atlanta, Joseph works to build and expand the practice and serve clients throughout the Southeast and nationally.

Joseph is an accomplished corporate finance tax leader with experience in multiple industries at both Fortune Five and closely held private companies. He is a skilled executive with the ability to understand complex business situations, apply technical expertise, develop relationships to communicate collaborative solutions and bring value to an organization and its shareholders.

Joseph joined KPMG from Georgia Pacific LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc.) where he served as a Senior Tax Director. Joseph’s responsibilities included federal, international, and state reporting, compliance and tax planning for corporations and partnerships in business, corporate, and foundation operations. Among Joseph’s talents is his ability to partner with key stakeholders - legal, treasury, accounting, technology and business leadership to create meaningful outcomes.

Prior to joining Georgia Pacific LLC, Joseph was the state tax counsel at GE Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric Company. Joseph started his career with KPMG working in the Financial Institutions and State & Local Tax practices.

John Rose is the National Tax Director with Aprio Advisory Group. He has extensive experience providing technical tax consulting and compliance services to multinational businesses, individual taxpayers and tiered partnership structures. His experience includes tax research, tax conflict resolution and tax practice management. John conducts advanced research and constantly monitors tax guidance to address both clients’ and team members’ tax questions. He provides guidance on creating structures to limit and defer tax liabilities, including the use of offshore operations, and help clients understand the impact that emerging tax codes will have on their business and personal finances.

Hale Sheppard is a partner with Eversheds Sutherland. With more than two decades of experience, Hale defends clients in tax audits, appeals, and Tax Court litigation, with a focus on tax disputes, international tax, employee retention credits, qualified opportunity zones, conservation easements, and captive insurance.

Hale has a proven track record of success in the courtroom, with extensive experience litigating cases before the Tax Court, District Courts, and Federal Courts of Appeal. His deep understanding of tax law enables him to secure favorable rulings from the IRS National Office for his clients. When a private letter ruling is not required, Hale skillfully navigates other administrative remedies to achieve optimal tax outcomes.

As a prolific tax writer, Hale has authored over 300 major articles in leading law reviews and tax journals. His work is frequently cited by peers in prestigious journals, legal briefs, and books, underscoring his authority in the field.

In addition to his writing, Hale is a sought-after speaker, regularly lecturing at regional and national organizations on a wide array of tax topics.

Anne Waters is a partner at Blankenship CPA Group with more than twenty-five years of experience in estate planning, tax planning and consulting. She graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1994 and worked with several large law firms in Nashville prior to joining Blankenship in 1998. For her undergraduate work, she attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Accounting. Her primary focus area is estate planning, including estate and gift tax, wills and trusts, and trust and estate income tax work with a focus on high net-worth clients. Within Blankenship, Anne's primarily servs as a tax partner and also participates in training with the learning and development team

Anne is a member of the Tennessee Society of CPA's Nashville Chapter Board and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Middle Tennessee.

Anne lives in Franklin, Tennessee, where she raised her three children, who have now relocated far and wide. She enjoys traveling the world with her children and cheering on her son’s college baseball team in St. Louis.

Chris Wilson is a tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office. Mr. Wilson helps nonprofit organizations and companies in a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, retail, cable television, real estate, professional services, waste management and software, with a range of state tax planning and state tax litigation matters in both administrative and judicial forums.

Managing Director, Portage Point Partners, Palm Beach, FL
Retired Principal, former Ernst & Young LLP National State and Local Tax Policy Leader for Americas Tax Policy.

Steve Wlodychak is a Managing Director with the Transaction Advisory Services practice of Portage Point Partners, LLC, a state and local tax columnist for Tax Analysts, Adjunct Professor for the Graduate Tax Program at Villanova University's School of Law and a retired principal and the former State and Local Tax Policy Leader for EY's Americas Tax Policy in Washington, DC. Previously, Steve worked in EY's Los Angeles and New York offices, was a state and local tax attorney for an international insurance company and an associate attorney with a major New Jersey regional law firm. In addition, he worked in state government in New Jersey, including for the governor of the state. A frequent speaker and writer on state and local tax developments, EY awarded Steve its first ever lifetime achievement award as tax educator of the year in 2017. He also was a guest lecturer on state and local tax matters for the LL.M. in taxation program at the Georgetown University School of Law.

Steve holds degrees from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Seton Hall University’s School of Law and a master's degree in tax law from New York University's School of Law.

Dr. Marilyn Young is a Professor of Accounting at Belmont University. She joined the faculty in 2001. She has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Tax Accounting from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Mississippi.

Her industry experience includes work as a Tax Accountant for Deloitte and Frasier, Dean, and Howard and as a Tax Specialist in Corporate Finance at Empire Berol Corporation. Before coming to Belmont University, she taught at Lipscomb University. Her teaching experience at Belmont includes both undergraduate and graduate classes in taxation and financial accounting. Dr. Young also helps non-accounting students prepare to enter the Master in Accountancy program by teaching in the Summer Accounting Institute. She has presented her research at various regional and national conferences and published articles in Tax Adviser, Journal of Accountancy, State Tax Notes, Strategic Finance, Issues in Accounting Education, Tennessee CPA Journal, Economics and Politics, and Journal of S Corporation Taxation.

Dr. Young holds membership in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA), American Accounting Association, and American Taxation Association. She is currently a member of the AICPA IRS Advocacy and Relations Committee and a member of the TSCPA Nashville Chapter Board. The AIPCA has twice awarded her honorable mention for the Bea Sanders/AICPA Innovation in Teaching Award. She received an Outstanding Teaching Award from Lipscomb University and Outstanding Teaching Award from the Jack C. Massey College of Business at Belmont University. Named multiple times as the Most Inspirational Professor of The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business and the Faculty Member of the Year by the Beta Alpha Psi chapter in the Jack C. Massey College of Business, Dr. Young was presented with Belmont's highest faculty honor, The Chaney Distinguished Professor Award, in 2005.