Event Presenters

• Mike D'Addio

  Executive Director, Grant Thornton LLP

  Mike D’Addio is an Executive Director in Grant Thornton’s State and Local Tax (SALT) practice. He is based in Chicago. Mike has gained experience in virtually all aspects of taxation during 35 years in public accounting, focusing on state tax matters for the past 15 years. He serves as the firm’s SALT leader for the transportation industry and has extensive experience with purchasing company applications, remote seller sales tax planning and restructuring projects. Other specialized industries Mike has experience in include equipment leasing and financial services.
  
  Experience:
  His recent accomplishments include:
  The development of techniques for securing business incentives funded with incremental sales tax revenues and securing state rulings and regulations of approval for internet/mail order sellers.
  
  Designing and implementing tax-efficient corporate structures for businesses in many industries
  
  Designing and implementing procurement structures for businesses to reduce the cost of property used in their businesses.
  
  Successfully representing taxpayers before the Illinois Department of Revenue and the California State Board of Equalization.
  
  Consulting with public and private companies on implementing FIN 48.
  
  Identifying and securing tax refunds in often overlooked areas.
  
  Professional qualifications and memberships:
  Mike has CPA licenses in both California and Illinois. He is a member of AICPA and the Illinois CPA Society. Mike also is a member of the American Trucking Associations and the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.
  
  Education:
  Mike has a B.S. degree in accounting from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and an M.S. in Taxation from DePaul University.
  
• 

  Robbi Fox

  Senior Advisor, Exequity, LLP

  Robbi is a Senior Advisor with Exequity and is located in our Libertyville, Illinois offices. Prior to joining Exequity, Robbi was a Principal and member of the leadership group of a large, multi-national consulting firm where she managed that firm's Executive Compensation Center of Technical Expertise for over 20 years. The Executive Compensation Center of Technical Expertise had global responsibility for all technical areas impacting executive and director compensation, corporate governance, and corporate restructurings.
  
  Robbi has almost 25 years of experience in consulting on director and executive compensation and corporate governance issues. She has worked with hundreds of companies, ranging from large multi-billion dollar public companies to smaller private organizations. These clients span many industries including consumer products, distribution, high-technology, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, service, and retail.
  Robbi specializes in program design work (e.g., short- and long-term incentive plans, executive supplemental retirement and deferral plans, and change-in-control, severance, employment contracts and retention plans), interface with boards of directors, technical issues related to executive and director compensation (e.g., tax, accounting, and securities rules and regulations), corporate governance issues, and executive compensation issues related to corporate restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, spin-offs, and divestitures.
  
  Robbi is a well-known and frequent lecturer at numerous legal and business seminars including seminars sponsored by Equilar, the Financial Executives Institute, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), The Conference Board, WorldatWork, various chapters of the American Bar Association, and numerous trade associations. She also is the author of several articles in Corporate Board Member, Directors & Boards, the Journal of Compensation and Benefits, and WorldatWork Journal. Most recently, Robbi served on the Technical Advisory Group to the Conference Board's Task Force on Executive Compensation. The Conference Board released the Conference Board Task Force on Executive Compensation Report in the Fall of 2009.
  Robbi also served as her firm's primary liaison with the Securities and Exchange Commission on rules and regulations related to executive and director compensation.
  
  Robbi is a certified public accountant and received her
  B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
  
  
• 

  Russell Lamb

  Senior Economist and Practice Director, Econ One Research, Inc.

  Russell Lamb is an expert in the economics of markets, competitive analysis and applied econometrics. Dr. Lamb has offered expert opinion and consulted on matters involving class-certification and economic damage issues in both antitrust and RICO cases. He has developed sophisticated econometric models measuring damages in horizontal price-fixing conspiracies and consumer fraud across a variety of industries, including matters in the United Kingdom and Australia. Prior to consulting, Dr. Lamb served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Board for and then taught economics at North Carolina State University. He has an extensive background in analysis of agricultural markets.
  
  Dr. Lamb is the author of more than 50 articles in a wide-range of peer-reviewed economics journals, trade press, and major newspapers. Dr. Lamb is currently an adjunct professor in economics at The George Washington University, where he teaches managerial economics in the MBA program.
  
  Education:
  Ph.D. in Economics, University of Pennsylvania
  M.A., Economics, University of Maryland
  B.A, Economics, University of Tennessee, summa cum laude
  
  Work Experience:
  Econ One, August 2006 to date
  The George Washington University, Adjunct Professor, 2004 - present
  Navigant Consulting, February 2006 – July 2006
  Nathan Associates, 2004 – January 2006
  North Carolina State University, 1999 – 2004
  Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 1997 – 1999
  Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C. 1994 – 1996
  
  Testimonial Experience:
  U.S. District Court
  State Court
  North Carolina Industrial Commission
  
• 

  Brian Murphy

  National Managing Partner-State and Local Taxes, Grant Thornton LLP

  Brian Murphy is Grant Thornton’s National Managing Partner of State and Local Tax (SALT) services. He is based in Chicago and has been with the firm since 1991. Brian has experience in most aspects of multistate taxation and is responsible for coordinating state tax services to the firm’s clients.
  
  Experience:
  His client experience includes: Helping clients evaluate their business operations and implement sustainable corporate tax structures that minimize state income and franchise tax liabilities. He has managed voluntary disclosure projects and SSTPA (“Streamlined”) registrations resulting in the elimination of potential FAS 5 contingent sales and use tax liabilities and potential uncertain tax positions under FIN 48. Negotiating state and local tax incentives for clients planning to make investments and create or retain jobs through expansion or consolidation projects. He has helped clients improve sales and use compliance processes and tax decisions to mitigate risk and gain efficiencies. He has also led multistate tax reviews that have yielded millions of dollars in sales, income and franchise tax refunds for clients.
  
  Professional qualifications and memberships:
  Brian is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is a board member of the Illinois Taxpayers Federation. Brian teaches state taxation for the firm and for various state tax organizations, such as the Illinois CPA Society, Committee on State Taxation (COST) and the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.
  
  Education:
  Brian is a graduate of Governors State University.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 

  Jade West

  Senior Vice President-Government Relations, NAW

  Jade West is Senior Vice President-Government Relations for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. She also serves as Executive Director of the Wholesaler-Distributor Political Action Committee. Jade is the senior lobbyist for NAW, advocating the interests of the wholesale distribution industry in Washington both on Capitol Hill and with executive branch departments and agencies. In addition, she is Executive Secretariat for the 1,000-member Tax Relief Coalition, the Coalition for Affordable American Energy, and the LIFO Coalition. Jade is a Steering Committee member of the Alliance for Tax Fairness and Growth, and she is on the Management Committee of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which leads the opposition to organized labor’s effort to remove secret ballot elections from union certification elections and force employers into binding “interest arbitration” in negotiating contracts.
  
  Jade is also a Director of the Business Industry Political Action Committee and a Founder and Director of the trade association Get Out the Vote Best Practices Group, both working to maximize the turnout of pro-business voters in federal elections.
  
  Before joining NAW in 2002, Jade was a senior aide on Capitol Hill for more than 20 years. She served first as Executive Director of the U.S. Senate Steering Committee, directing the activities of a small staff that provided legislative and policy assistance to approximately 25 senators and their staffs.
  
  She was then named Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, the fourth ranking Republican Leadership position in the Senate. In that capacity, she served as an adviser to the Republican Leadership on legislative and technical procedural matters and managed a staff of 20, including 10 policy experts who provided policy analysis, research papers and talking points, and detailed legislative summaries to Republican senators and their staffs.