TRAINING FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
| Holly Coon Richard Cram Michael T.Fatale Cathy Felix Bruce J. Fort Robert L. Glidden | Helen Hecht Jantha L. Jamison Robert Schauer Lawrence B. Shinder Jeff Silver | .jpg) |
Holly Coon, Director
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Holly Coon joined the Multistate Tax Commission as the Director of the Joint Audit Program in April of 2019. Prior to coming to the Multistate Tax Commission, Ms. Coon worked for the Alabama Department of Revenue for almost 17 years focusing on business tax issues and served as Business Tax Manager before leaving the department in 2019. Ms. Coon headed the corporate income tax sections, including the audit function, and wrote many of the corporate income tax rules and regulations. She was active on Multistate Tax Commission programs and committees including the State Intercompany Transactions Advisory Service, the Joint Audit Committee and the Uniformity Committee. Ms. Coon served as chair of the Uniformity Committee March 2017 to April 2019. She is a frequent presenter at state and local tax conferences, including NYU Institute on Federal Taxation conference and Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators conference. Ms. Coon received her undergraduate degree, cum laude, and masters in tax degree from the University of Alabama.
Richard Cram, Director
Multistate Tax Commission National Nexus Program
Richard Cram is the Director of the Multistate Tax Commission’s National Nexus Program in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Richard served for 15 years as the Director of Policy & Research for the Kansas Department of Revenue, and for 2 years as an attorney in the Legal Services Bureau of the Department, in Topeka, Kansas. He worked as a research attorney for the Kansas Supreme Court, and has practiced law as an associate in law firms in Chicago, Illinois and Goodland, Kansas. Richard graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law.
Michael T. Fatale, Deputy General Counsel
Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Michael T. Fatale was recently appointed the Deputy General Counsel at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) where he has been employed since 1992. Previously he was for nearly ten years the Chief of DOR’s Rulings and Regulations Bureau, and prior to that he was a tax counsel. Mr. Fatale is the primary author of numerous state tax regulations and other DOR administrative pronouncements, and has litigated or co-litigated several high-profile DOR cases, including the sham transaction cases, Syms and Sherwin-Williams. He is the author of five law review articles on constitutional and federal preemption law that have been cited in various state tax cases, including cases decided by the Iowa and West Virginia Supreme Courts and the New Mexico and California Courts of Appeal. For 2015, he received “honorable mention” as the state tax government person of the year from the Tax Analysts’ publication State Tax Notes. In 2012, he was awarded the Paull Mines Award for Outstanding Contribution to State Tax Jurisprudence by the Multistate Tax Commission. In 2005, The Boston Globe reported on his leadership role in obtaining a large settlement in a bankruptcy case on behalf of eighteen states (“Hooray for the Taxman”). Mr. Fatale is an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School, has been a guest lecturer at Georgetown University Law School, and speaks frequently at state tax conferences. Mr. Fatale worked in private practice before joining DOR and holds an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a law degree, cum laude, from Boston College Law School.
Cathy Felix
Field Audit Supervisor
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Ms. Felix has been a supervising auditor since 1995 and she has been employed by the MTC since 1993. Prior to joining the Commission she spent 3 ½ years at a public accounting firm and 3 years at the IRS. She received her B.S. and M.S.T. degrees from DePaul University. Cathy is a C.P.A. and is a member of the AICPA and the Illinois C.P.A. Society.
Bruce J. Fort, Senior Counsel
Multistate Tax Commission
Bruce J. Fort joined the Multistate Tax Commission as counsel in January of 2007. Prior to that time, Mr. Fort was a staff attorney with the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department for sixteen years. During that time, Mr. Fort was lead counsel in many of the state’s gross receipts tax, corporate income tax and nexus cases, including Kmart Corp. v. Taxation and Revenue Department, 131 P.3d 22 (2005) and Conoco Inc. and Intel Corp. v. Taxation and Revenue Department, 931 P.2d 730 (1996). Mr. Fort has co-authored several briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court on state tax matters, and has drafted numerous tax statutes and regulations for the State of New Mexico. Prior to joining New Mexico’s tax department, Mr. Fort was engaged in general trial practice with a firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Fort received a B.A. degree from the University of Oregon in 1979 and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1983. Mr. Fort is a frequent presenter at state and local tax conferences, including the Hartman SALT forum, the Georgetown University SALT conference, the American Bar Association Tax Section and the Tax Executives Institute training courses.
Robert L. Glidden, Audit Group Manager (retired)
State of Colorado
Mr. Glidden spent 29 years with the Audit Section of the Colorado Department of Revenue. His experience includes 15 years as a Senior Revenue Agent in the Field Audit Section specializing in Corporate Income and Sales & Use taxes. In 1990 Mr. Glidden became the supervisor over Colorado’s Out of State Office Audit Program and later was instrumental in initiating the Field Audit Section’s computer audit group. He also reorganized Colorado’s audit selection and tracking group. Mr. Glidden has a B.S. degree in Accounting and Business from Western State College of Colorado.
Helen Hecht, General Counsel
Multistate Tax Commission
Helen Hecht is general counsel to the Multistate Tax Commission—the administrative body created by the Multistate Tax Compact in 1967 to promote uniformity and compatibility in state tax systems. Ms. Hecht has been with the MTC since July 2014. Prior to coming to the MTC, Ms. Hecht worked for almost five years as tax counsel for the Federation of Tax Administrators—the Washington, D.C. based membership organization for the state revenue agencies. Before joining the FTA, Ms. Hecht was of counsel to the law firm of Sutin, Thayer & Browne, PC, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she worked for six years, heading up that firm’s tax practice. Prior to that, Ms. Hecht was with KPMG, LLP, where she worked for eight years and was practice leader for the Albuquerque state and local tax group. Ms. Hecht began her career at the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department where she worked for over ten years—starting out as a tax collector and holding various positions including auditor, audit supervisor, audit manager and bureau chief. While with the Taxation and Revenue Department, Ms. Hecht headed up the agency’s audit training program, oversaw the rewriting of the state’s audit manual and instituted procedures for developing audit, technical and administrative policies and programs. Ms. Hecht received her JD from the University of New Mexico Law School, graduating magna cum laude. She received bachelors and masters of accounting degrees from New Mexico State University. She is a certified public accountant, a member of the New Mexico bar and admitted before the United States Supreme Court.
Jantha L. Jamison, Sales & Use Tax Auditor
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Jantha joined the Multistate Tax Commission in 2014 shortly after attending the MTC’s Statistical Sampling course. Prior to joining the Commission she worked for the State of Nebraska for twenty years conducting audits of many programs including sales, consumer’s use, corporate, withholding, and motor fuels taxes; waste reduction, fertilizer, and tire fees; and various tax incentive programs. On behalf of the State she also worked as a presenter with Lorman Education Services, discussing Nebraska’s sales and use tax regulations and audit policies. After consistent use of statistical sampling in her own audits, Jantha has become a strong advocate for the process, noting the significant time savings coupled with the assessment accuracy which has greatly increased her audit efficiency. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Chadron State College and holds an active CPA license with the State of Nebraska
Robert Schauer, Computer Audit Specialist
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Before coming to the MTC in 2006, Mr. Schauer was employed for twenty-four years with the Washington State Department of Revenue (WADOR). During his time with WADOR, he served as an auditor and then later as a computer audit specialist. He has a keen interest in statistical sampling and was a key individual in the development of the WADOR sampling program–assisting in the development of training, software, and policy as it concerned audit sampling. Mr. Schauer has a degree in accounting from the University of Portland, and recently coauthored (with Alan H. Kvanli, Ph.D.) several articles on statistical sampling that have been published in the Journal of Government Financial Management.
Lawrence B. Shinder, Senior Auditor
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Mr. Shinder has been a senior auditor since 2002 and he has been employed by the MTC since 1997. Prior to joining the Commission he spent four and one-half years at the Associated Press as a tax accountant. He received his M.B.A. in taxation from Baruch College (NYC). Mr. Shinder is a New York State CPA. Mr. Shinder has been a guest speaker at the Eastern States Working Group (ESWG) discussing state banking and brokerage regulations. Mr. Shinder has also provided testimony in regard to MTC audit cases.
Jeff Silver, Field Audit Supervisor
Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program
Mr. Silver has been audit supervisor with the MTC and the head of the New York office since 1995. He has been employed by the MTC since 1986 and is one of its most senior employees. Prior to joining the Commission he spent seven years as a corporate income tax auditor for the California Franchise Tax Board in New York City. Mr. Silver has addressed the New York Chapter of TEI and the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) about the MTC Joint Audit program and also gave a presentation at the Paul J. Hartman SALT Forum regarding state audit departments difficulties amid tax deficits. Mr. Silver remains active with several New York area state tax groups. Mr. Silver was part of the faculty of the MTC Corporation Income Tax Training (with combined reporting emphasis) for the States of Oregon, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Alabama, and South Carolina.