Member Profile
Makenzie Zuern
When Makenzie Zuern was in high school, she took her first tax and accounting class. “I’ve always loved math, and I fell in love with taking numbers and turning them into a big puzzle,” she explains. “In accounting, there is always an answer, you just have to apply the numbers… Read more »
Kurtis Bond
Kurtis Bond first gravitated toward tax when he was in law school. “I think it was the problem-solving that initially interested me—the challenge of figuring out how to navigate and interpret a complex statute that applies to a wide range of relationships,” he explains. In addition, Bond says, he really… Read more »
Scott Clark
After Scott Clark was transferred early on in his career to start Provident Bank’s tax department, a recruiter contacted him about an opportunity to start the tax function at Cintas, which, at that time, was a company he knew virtually nothing about. “It was a similar opportunity as I had… Read more »
Timothy Chuk
Timothy Chuk’s first major interest wasn’t tax—it was architecture. He first developed an interest in tax while working for an organization that developed a different type of architecture—IBM. “Achieving business objectives in today’s ever-evolving global landscape requires tax planning and foresight to strategically move the business forward,” Chuk explains. The… Read more »
Laura Deerwester
Have you ever had that kind of day where deadlines are looming, the boss needs you in his office to go over numbers, and the auditors have just one more question? You start daydreaming, hearing the Southwest Airlines slogan (“Wanna get away…”), and what comes to mind but a secluded… Read more »
Shirley Chin
After practicing as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, Shirley Chin returned to San Francisco and spent several years advising nonprofits. In addition to general board advisory and corporate governance work, the technical law that governs exempt organizations is tax law, she notes, with a… Read more »
Anthony O’Donnell
Anthony (Tony) O’Donnell was a history major in college and, during his formal legal training, never set out to pursue tax. “I fell into it late in law school when I took the basic tax course and found that the key concepts of tax made sense to me and the… Read more »
Ralph Corasaniti
Some budding corporate tax specialists have a five-year plan to become part of this fascinating profession, whereas others just sort of fall into it. That was the case for Ralph Corasaniti, who thought he would be more interested in finance positions because he didn’t see himself as a general auditor.… Read more »
Richard Pettigrew
Are in-laws the bane of your existence? Well, that’s not the case with Richard Pettigrew, who first became interested in tax when his father-in-law introduced him to this complex yet interesting field in 1972. Pettigrew had just begun his education at the University of North Texas, and his father-in-law asked… Read more »
Ellen Berenholz
When Ellen Berenholz was in college and working for a CPA firm, she could recite financial statement opinions backward and forward. You think that might have come in handy when she began her post-college career at Arthur Andersen’s audit group? Actually, Berenholz proofread financial statements at the CPA firm, checking… Read more »
Tax Department of the Future: Reimagining Tax Technology On the first full day of TEI’s 75th Anniversary Celebration,…
State Tax Policy Takes Center Stage In an informative session on the first day of the…
The New Era of Transparency: Global Trends and Management Strategies In a particularly engaging session at TEI’s Annual Conference and…
TEI’s 75th Anniversary Celebration: A Closer Look & An Optimistic Future This past October, we took the opportunity to recognize a…
TEI Bestows President’s Award on Makaris and Wireman, Honorary Membership on Silbiger Two of the highest honors a TEI member can receive…
Global Tax Policy and Controversy Trends In an engaging and educational Annual Conference session moderated by…