Emerging Leaders

Emerging Leader: Riny Mathai

“It’s complicated.” That buzz phrase often carries a negative connotation. But for Riny Mathai, not so much. Mathai first became interested in tax during a tax research class at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. “I liked the complexity of some of the issues… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Jennifer Bowers

When Jennifer Bowers was in eighth grade, her math teacher had students complete US tax returns for a variety of taxpayers using Forms 1040-EZ, 1040-A, and 1040. “The examples were simple,” she says, “but I remember thinking I could do that and determined I would need to become a CPA.… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Brian Kaufman

Brian Kaufman is very familiar with the aphorism, “like father, like son.” Kaufman’s father was a tax accountant for thirty-five years at Arthur Andersen. Because of that, Kaufman says, he had absolutely no desire to go into tax. “It seemed so boring and esoteric. I was really set on being… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Agnieszka Samoc

Agnieszka (Ag) Samoc likes puzzles. And for Samoc, practicing tax is a lot like solving puzzles. Her education gave her the requisite tools, such as legal analysis methods and quantitative abilities through accounting, that enabled her to solve tax puzzles effectively. “And then, right when I was graduating college in… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Allen Rider

Many Nissan owners wouldn’t trade their cars for any other brand. For Allen Rider, Nissan represents a lot more than just a great car: “I was attracted to work at Nissan for two reasons, the relocation of Nissan’s North American headquarters to Tennessee and its products. I grew up in… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Jodi Snedigar

Preparing tax returns can be time consuming. But check out how Jodi Snedigar got started in her tax career. After college graduation, Snedigar worked at an accounting firm in Springfield, Illinois. She had small children, and the partners had her work in the office, without her having to travel to… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Karin Li

Is there a connection between tax and math? To Karin Li, there certainly is. During her MBA studies, her professor assigned her a research project related to estate tax law, leading Li to make a discovery that would impact her professional life. “I found tax to be incredibly complex and… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Chris Anderson

As a senior in college, Chris Anderson had an epiphany while attending an information session for internship interviews. It was the early nineties. There was a recession; the financial crisis of the time was the failure of the savings and loan institutions. And the Big 8 had just become the… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Jason Weinstein

Jason Weinstein first became interested in tax when he was working after college for the governor of New Jersey. “The governor’s office wanted to push through a package of tax reform. I only had tangential involvement in the whole thing, but it was my job to write the governor’s briefing… Read more »

Emerging Leader: Kevin Reddick

While studying for his B.B.A. in accounting, Kevin Reddick realized that he found tax inherently fascinating because it was similar to three-dimensional chess, which he describes as “a giant, messy, complex game that involves economics, finance, policy, and law, and its field of battle is often the court of public… Read more »