Speakers – MTF
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Andrew Wells – Attorney, Preti Flaherty
Andrew Wells is a trusted advisor to businesses of all sizes, offering tailored tax solutions with a strong foundation in the law and a focus on long-term success. Based in Preti Flaherty’s Portland office, he focuses his practice on tax research, planning, and guidance across a wide spectrum of business matters, including corporate reorganizations, equity investments, mergers & acquisitions, tax exempt organizations, and federal and state tax issues related to Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, partnerships, cooperatives, tax exempt organizations, tax credits, and sales and use tax.
Brian Butler – Groma
Brian joined Groma in 2022 and is a member of the acquisitions & capital markets team. Brian is actively involved in the sourcing, underwriting, financing, and closing of real estate transactions. Prior to joining Groma, Brian was most recently Vice President at Cambridge Realty Partners. Brian also spent 3 years at UBS Realty Investors, where he focused on the investment management of a $1.5 billion real estate portfolio. Brian is a graduate of Boston College where he was a member of the Division I Golf Team.
Cory Vargo – Partner, Wipfli
Cory is a partner who focuses his tax practice on private equity and corporate acquisition and divestiture due diligence, international tax structuring, and tax compliance. He authored an article, “Carried Interest Taxation and Private (and Horizontal) Equity,” in the 2012 edition of Tax Notes that has been cited multiple times by the Congressional Research Service Committee on Private Equity Taxation’s annual report. Cory also participates in national tax policy dialogue and has spoken at various tax events. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Daniel Doiron, CPA, CVA – Principal, Albin, Randall & Bennett
Dan is a Principal with Albin, Randall & Bennett in Portland, Maine. His career focus has been to provide financial accounting, income tax planning and compliance, and business advisory services to businesses, family offices, individuals, trusts, estates, and private foundations. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a focus in Accounting (summa cum laude) from the University of Southern Maine. He was the State of Maine Gold Medalist for earning the highest scores on all four parts of the May 1987 CPA Examination. Dan has written a number of published articles and has been a speaker on various tax related topics for a number of organizations.
Eugene Syrovatkin, CPA – Tax Director, CBIZ
Eugene Syrovatkin is a Tax Director in the Firm’s Portland office and a member of the Corporate Tax Services group. With more than 15 years of experience, he advises C corporations and S corporations on a wide range of tax compliance, planning, and consulting matters, helping clients navigate complex issues with confidence. Eugene serves companies in the financial services, consumer industrial products, and professional services sectors, bringing deep technical knowledge in U.S. GAAP matters, including ASC 606 and ASC 842, as well as federal and state depreciation, income and franchise tax nexus, and state apportionment.
Georgia Thomas – Area Manager, Stakeholder Liaison
Georgia is Area Manager of Stakeholder Liaison in Houston, TX. Her area of coverage spans several states in the northeast part of the United States. Stakeholder Liaison is a part of Communication and Liaison which is a Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In this capacity, Georgia oversees non-case related stakeholder engagements including disaster assistance. The scope of her purview includes outreach and education of IRS policies, practices and procedures to ensure compliance with the tax laws, both by voluntary means and through enforcement programs.
She holds a BBA degree in Marketing from Texas McCombs at Austin and is a certified Mediator. She is the mother of three daughters and five grandchildren – 3 boys and 2 girls. She enjoys reading, travel, video games and volunteering at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
Jamie Szal – Partner, Brann & Isaacson
Jamie Szal, Brann & Isaacson, assists businesses understand and strategically approach state and local tax compliance. Outside of work, Jamie is an active volunteer in her communities: serving on the Trinity College Board of Trustees and as a founding member of the college’s Women’s Leadership Council. She also is a member of the Board of MothersEsquire, involved with the Maine State Bar Association Women’s Law Section, and President of the board of Community Dental of Maine. She co-authored best-sellers “#Networked” and “Women in Law” about the power of women supporting women. Jamie enjoys chocolate, singing, and exploring Maine with her family.
Jeff Hiatt – Director of Business Development, MS Consultants
Jeff, Director of Business Development, started with MS Consultants in 1999. He has helped clients reduce their income tax burden ever since. He began offering Cost Segregation Studies just in New England. Now the firm has a national footprint. Since then, MS Consultants has become New England’s leading independent provider of Cost Segregation Studies. Jeff has developed and fostered relationships with individual clients, accounting firms and CPA Societies. Also, he has organized and run a practice helping commercial and residential property owners accelerate depreciation on all types of properties. To date the firm has completed over 23,500 studies in forty-three states.
Jeffrey Latessa – Stakeholder Liaison, Internal Revenue Service
Jeffrey Latessa works for the Internal Revenue Service in the Communications and Liaison Division as a Stakeholder Liaison in Andover, MA.
Jeffrey joined the IRS in 2008. Prior to joining the Communications and Liaison Division he worked as a Lead Case Advocate with the Taxpayer Advocate Service and in Identity Theft Victim Assistance. He has a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Jim Hopkinson – Partner, Hopkinson & Abbondanza
Jim Hopkinson has been serving clients in Maine since 1983. His primary areas of practice include residential and commercial real estate, estate planning, Medicaid planning and business planning. Jim works with individuals and businesses in the purchase, sale, financing and closing of real estate transactions and works with lenders in documenting and closing loan transactions. He works with owners of investment properties in structuring and documenting 1031 tax free exchanges. Jim also works with his clients in developing a personalized estate plan to achieve his clients goals and works collaboratively with the client’s advisors to ensure the estate plan design works.
Jim received his BA from Bates College, Magna Cum Laude and his JD from the University of Maine School of Law. Jim is a frequent lecturer to real estate and financial professionals and regularly provides educational opportunities to the general public.
Jim serves on the Bath, Maine planning board where he is vice-chair. Jim is a member of the Maine Bar Association, Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, NTSB Bar Association, Wealth Counsel, National Business Aviation Association, National Association of Elderlaw Attorneys and is a Panel Attorney for the Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association. Jim is admitted to practice in all Maine Courts, US District Court for the District of Maine and the US Tax Court.
Jim and his wife, Susan, enjoy weekends at their camp on the west branch of the Kennebec River in Taunton and Raynham Township, travelling, boating, fishing and hiking. Jim is a pilot with over 3200 hours and holds a commercial pilot license with multi engine and instrument ratings. He owns a Cessna Turbo Centurion (T-210) which he and Susan use on weekend trips, visits to family in Colorado or vacationing and island hopping in the Bahamas and Caribbean.
John P. Gimigliano – Co-Lead, Federal Legislative and Regulatory Services, KPMG LLP
John Gimigliano is a principal and Co-Lead of the Federal Legislative and Regulatory Services (FLRS) group in KPMG’s Washington National Tax Office. The FLRS practice engages with federal policy-makers to track the trends and developments that shape tax legislation and tax regulatory guidance.
In more than 25 years of private practice, Mr. Gimigliano has represented clients in tax matters before Congress, the IRS, the Department of Treasury and other Federal agencies.
Mr. Gimigliano joined KPMG in 2008. Prior to joining KPMG, Mr. Gimigliano was Senior Tax Counsel for the Committee on Ways and Means and Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Gimigliano’s principal responsibilities with the Committee focused on issues involving corporate taxation including cost recovery, accounting methods, tax credits, corporate reorganizations, energy, the corporate alternative minimum tax, net operating losses and several other areas.
During his tenure on the Committee, John was involved in the drafting, negotiation and enactment of several pieces of tax legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act (TIPRA), the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and several others.
Mr. Gimigliano is a frequent speaker at tax and industry conferences and has been a guest on Bloomberg Television, the Diane Rehm Show, NPR’s Marketplace and cited in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post on the topics of taxation and tax policy. John is the host of the Catching Up on Capitol Hill podcast series. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center from 2008 to 2021, teaching the course Taxation of Energy.
Mr. Gimigliano has published numerous articles and also provided commentary in CCH’s Law, Explanation and Analysis on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He also has authored chapters in the treatises Income Taxation of Natural Resources and Los Tributos del Sector Electrico (Taxes of the Electricity Sector).
Justin Coffin – Founding Partner, Apollon New England
Justin Coffin is a founding partner of Apollon New England, a wealth management firm based in Portland and Rockland Maine. As part of a team that provides comprehensive asset management and planning advice, Justin draws on his background as a practicing attorney and tax manager at a regional accounting firm to focus on assisting clients with business transition, estate, and retirement planning. Finding the planning opportunities that span disciplines provides and endless supply of intellectual intrigue and the opportunity to collaborate with professionals in the legal, tax and insurance fields provides a wonderful way to stay connected with the professional community and learn about new tools and techniques every day. It is a pretty great gig!
Outside the office, Justin is on the board of the Maine Coast Waldorf school, the Cumberland Bar Association and has had the great privilege to present at the Maine Tax Forum for many years. He also loves spending time with his family in the great outdoors hiking, skiing, kayaking and generally mucking about.
Justin LeBlanc – LeBlanc and Diggins
Justin attended Portland schools through high school, graduating from Cheverus in 1989. He then graduated from the University of Vermont in 1993 and the University of Georgia School of Law, magna cum laude, in 1999.
Justin served as Clerk for the Honorable Leigh I. Saufley of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court as his first job after law school. After working briefly at a general practice firm in Portland, he moved in 2001 to a smaller firm which limited its practice to estate planning and related matters. Since then Justin’s professional practice has focused exclusively on estate planning, the administration of estates and trusts, and mediation.
Justin is a Fellow of the American College of Trusts & Estates Counsel (ACTEC), serves as Vice Chair of the Maine Probate and Trust Law Advisory Commission, and is a former President of the Trusts and Estates Section of the Maine State Bar Association. In 2019, Best Lawyers named Justin as Portland, Maine’s Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year.”
Justin and his wife reside in Scarborough, happily serving as a “home base” for his sons, Andrew, a PhD student in Organic Chemistry at Emory University in Atlanta, and Theo, an international circus performer and 2024 graduate of the Ecole de Cirque de Quebec.
Kristy Hapworth – Partner, Rudman Winchell
Kristy M. Hapworth, Esq., partner at Rudman Winchell, is a dedicated attorney and an integral part of our legal team. Kristy brings an extensive background in Estate Planning and a commitment to providing tailored legal solutions to high net worth individuals and business owners.
For more than 7 years, Kristy has focused her practice primarily on Estate Planning, Wealth Transfer Planning, Asset Protection Planning, and Estate and Trust Administration. She specializes in complex tax planning and navigating intricate legal matters for high net worth clients and business owners. Kristy has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Once to Watch in Trusts & Estates and Trust & Estates Litigation for the past three years.
Dedicated to understanding her clients’ unique needs and goals, Kristy works diligently to deeply understand each client’s individual needs. Her warm, inquisitive approach creates a comfortable environment where clients freely discuss personal, financial, and family-related aspects crucial for comprehensive estate planning. Kristy’s commitment to tailored plans and a client-centric approach sets her apart, providing individualized solutions to safeguard her clients’ legacies.
Kristy began her legal journey by graduating magna cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law in 2016, building a strong foundation for her successful legal career. Kristy is admitted to practice law in Maine and in the U.S. District Court, District of Maine.
Mark Carrell – Maine Taxpayer Advocate, IRS
Mark is Maine’s Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA), managing the state’s case advocacy efforts for the Taxpayer Advocate Service, mandated by Congress as an advocacy organization operating independently from the IRS. Mark has held this position since June 2018. He has worked at the IRS since 2009, where he also worked in field collections prior to his LTA appointment. Before entering the Federal service, Mark taught multiple subjects for 14 years at the elementary and middle school level.
Michael J. Santo, CPA – Partner, Wipfli Advisory LLC
Mike Santo is a values-driven leader who brings integrity, empathy and collaboration to his role as partner in Wipfli’s tax services practice. Mike focuses on serving clients in the manufacturing and distribution sectors, helping them navigate complex tax landscapes with clarity and confidence.
With a strong foundation in tax strategy and compliance, Mike is known for building trust-based relationships and empowering his teams. He actively promotes associate development by involving senior accountants in client management and integrating global team members into client engagements — enhancing both client service and team cohesion.
Whether advising clients or mentoring colleagues, Mike leads with purpose, always striving to elevate the client experience and foster a culture of growth and innovation.
Nat Putnam – Partner, Verrill Dana
Nat is a partner at Verrill Dana. Nat’s practice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, and planning for individuals and families with complex assets and/or unique planning objectives. Nat regularly assists clients develop and implement estate plans that address each family’s specific circumstances and objectives while providing for efficient administration and reducing or eliminating taxes. Nat also advises individuals and nonprofit organizations on all aspects of charitable planning. In addition to his trust and estate practice, Nat has represented numerous tax-exempt organizations, including public charities and private foundations, on a broad array of issues. He has formed numerous tax-exempt entities, including both nonprofit corporations and charitable trusts. Nat is a frequent speaker on various topics including estate and tax planning, and issues affecting nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. In 2012, Nat was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and served as Maine State Chair from 2016–2022. Nat has a BA from the University of New Hampshire and a JD from University of Maine Law School.
Seth Priebatsch – Founder and President, Groma
After winning the Princeton Business Plan Competition, Seth eventually dropped out to pursue his opportunity, moving his startup, LevelUp, to Boston. LevelUp grew successfully over many years helping restaurants digitize and eventually reached an annual run-rate of over a billion dollars in restaurant sales. In 2018, LevelUp was acquired by Grubhub for $400M. Seth served on the Grubhub executive team, eventually leading an approximately 1500-person team as Chief Revenue Officer. In 2021, Grubhub was acquired by the Dutch multi-national company, Just Eat Takeaway, for close to $47B.
Presently, Seth is Founder and President of Groma, an innovative 40-person startup in Boston, blending real estate operational expertise, property technology and blockchain technology. Seth is a major investor in both the operating company as well as each fund Groma operates. Groma specializes in small-unit property investing, which they hope capture part of the several trillion-dollar opportunity nationally. To date, Groma has sponsored an Open-End apartment fund as well as investments in Opportunity Zones. Groma’s H.Q. is at 31 New Chardon Street, Boston in a building once owned by Tip O’Neil.
Seth spoke on the future of digital cities at the “Innovation Dome” in Davos, Switzerland during the 2023 World Economic Forum and his TED Talk has been viewed over a million times. Seth is an active philanthropist in the city, serving as a Museum Council Patron at the Museum of Fine Arts and an active member of Combined Jewish Philanthropies. He recently donated $1,000,000 to construct the Norman Priebatsch Pavilion on the Charles River and endow the associated fund at Community Boating to support the junior program there. Community Boating offers all-day summer sailing camps for local youth at just $1 per week.
Shyamalee (“Shy”) Joseph – Managing Director, KPMG LLP
Shy is a managing director at KPMG LLP with over 25 years of experience providing tax and consulting services to tax-exempt organizations including: governmental entities, pension trusts, institutes of higher education, integrated healthcare networks, and employee benefit plans. She has experience with providing compliance and consulting services to a wide range of tax-exempt organizations.
Taylor Pottle – Vice President of Employee Benefits, BCI Insurance Solutions
Taylor is an employee benefits consultant with Alliant Insurance Services, where she specializes in helping organizations design and manage competitive cost-effective benefit programs. With a strong focus on strategic planning and client advocacy, she works closely with small businesses in Maine to deliver solutions that support both business goals and employee wellbeing. Passionate about simplifying the complexities of benefits, she aims to create value through insight and innovation.
Tim Woodhouse – Director, Aries Wealth Management LLC
Tim Woodhouse, Director at Aries Wealth Management LLC, has over 25 years of experience in the areas of investment management, income taxation, estate and gift planning, probate administration, charitable giving, and trust administration. Tim has served clients in Maine and beyond, helping them with all aspects of wealth management and financial advice. Tim has served in a variety of capacities in his professional career, including as Director of Fiduciary Services at a Maine based trust company, a Senior Portfolio Manager at a local trust and investment firm, a Tax Manager at a regional Certified Public Accounting firm, as well as an associate attorney focusing on estate planning and employee benefits.
Tim is a board member of the Maine Estate Planning Council and is member of the Community Ambassador Council at Maine Medical Center. He is a member of the Finance Committee of Shalom House, Inc., a non-profit providing housing and services to adults with mental illness. Tim also serves on a committee at SCORE, Maine helping the organization plan the annual Maine Tax Forum in Augusta.
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