SPEAKER BIOS

Bruce Dubinsky

Managing Director, Dispute and Legal Management Consulting

Bruce Dubinsky is a managing director in Dispute and Legal Management Consulting business unit as well as a co-practice leader of the Forensic Technology and Analytics practice.   He is also the city leader of the firm's Washington, D.C. office. He has more than 29 years of experience in public accounting, forensic accounting and dispute consulting.

Bruce's practice focuses on providing dispute consulting and expert services to clients, such as law firms, litigating commercial cases for their clients, corporations, governmental agencies, law enforcement bodies and individuals in a variety of situations. Bruce primarily works on complex litigation matters where the claims being sought involve millions, and sometimes billions of dollars.

Bruce has been qualified and testified as an expert witness in cases involving criminal and civil accounting and tax fraud, commercial damages, intellectual property and patent damages, business valuations, bankruptcy, accounting malpractice and standard of care cases as well as other financial and tax matters in federal courts and numerous state courts throughout the United States. Bruce has also presided over a case involving a dissenting shareholder suit, through direct court appointment. Additionally, he served as a member of the Commercial Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association.

Bruce began his career as a auditor and then senior tax specialist at an international public accounting firm. Following the public accounting firm, he served as an officer for a real estate syndication group and then co-founded a real estate development and construction company. Prior to joining Duff and Phelps, Bruce built the forensic accounting and litigation services practice group of another public accounting firm which eventually split off and became Dubinsky & Company, P.C.

Bruce received his M.S. in taxation, with high honors, from Georgetown University and his B.S. in accounting from the University of Maryland. He is a certified public accountant, certified fraud examiner, certified valuation analyst, certified forensic financial analyst and a commercial arbitrator. His is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, He also is a member of the Editorial Review Board for The Value Examiner, a peer reviewed professional journal which focuses on valuation and economic and damage topics.

Currently, Bruce is retained as the testifying expert witness by the law firm of Baker & Hostetler LLP ("Baker") counsel for Irving H. Picard, Trustee ("Trustee") for the Substantively Consolidated SIPA Liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC ("BLMIS") and Bernard L. Madoff ("Madoff"), to provide forensic accounting analysis and render certain expert opinions in the largest Ponzi scheme in the world's history.

 

Dr. Thomas S. Neubig

Dr. Thomas Neubig is Ernst & Young LLP's  Director of Quantitative Economics and Statistics. Based in Washington, D.C., Tom is an advisor to numerous public and private clients on federal, state and global tax policy issues, including revenue and economic impact.  He leads a group of 30 quantitative analysts who assist clients with tax policy studies, economic impact analyses, statistical sampling and surveys.

Before joining Ernst & Young LLP, Tom was Director and Chief Economist of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Analysis and served as the top Executive Branch career economist in tax policy.

Tom has testified before US Congress tax-writing committees, several state legislative committees, multi-state organizations and the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development.  He is a frequent speaker on federal tax issues, budget and tax reforms and state taxation of business.  He has been an expert witness and has written on a wide range of topics.  Tom was the President of the National Tax Association in 2004.

Tom received his BA from Kalamazoo College and his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan.

 

Bryan C. Skarlatos

Bryan C. Skarlatos is an Attorney at Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, NYC. Bryan represents clients involved in civil and criminal tax controversies, white collar criminal investigations, complex commercial litigation, whistleblower claims and voluntary disclosures. He also provides clients with advice on a broad range of tax, estate, and business planning issues

Mr. Skarlatos has been recognized by New York Super Lawyers 2011 as one of the Top 100 lawyers in New York and he is listed in Best Lawyers in America 2011. He also is ranked in Band One of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which describes him as having a, “smart reassuring presence with insight into the government.” Mr. Skarlatos is a Regent in the American College of Tax Counsel and an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where he teaches a course on Tax Penalties and Prosecutions. Mr. Skarlatos speaks throughout the country on tax-related topics and he frequently is quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, the Financial Times, Tax Analysts-Tax Notes, and the BNA Daily Tax Report.

Mr. Skarlatos is co-chair of the New York University Annual Tax Controversy Forum and he is co-chair of the Compliance Practice and Procedure Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section. He is a former chair of the Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee of the American Bar Association and the Personal Income Tax Committee of the New York City Bar Association and the Tax Committee of the New York County Lawyer’s Association. Mr. Skarlatos is on the board of directors of the New York University Graduate Tax Institute, where he chairs a program on Ethics in Tax Practice, and he has been nominated to serve on several bar association task forces, including the New York State Bar Association task force on Attorney Client Privilege and the American Bar Association task forces on Tax Shelters, Circular 230, and Ethics 2000.

Mr. Skarlatos is on the board of editors of the Practical Tax Lawyer and he frequently speaks on topics related to civil and criminal tax controversies, including lectures for the IRS, New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York Country Lawyer’s Association, the Connecticut State Bar Association, the Tax Executives Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the Bureau of National Affairs, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Skarlatos has written several articles for various law reviews and journals and he was co-author of a regular column in the New York Law Journal entitled, “Tax Litigation Issues.”

Keith Jones, Ph.D., CPA

Keith L. Jones is an associate professor at George mason University, School of Management.  Keith graduated with a MA and BA in accounting from Brigham Young University and earned his doctorate from the University of Arizona.

Keith’s research interests include fraudulent financial reporting, earnings management, fraud theory, and ethics. His papers have been presented at numerous conferences including conferences at the American Accounting Association (both national and sectional) and The Internal Symposium of Audit Research. Before joining the faculty of George Mason University, Keith was an auditor with Deloitte & Touche. Keith has particular research interest in the following areas:

• Fraud risk assessments
• The theory of white-collar crime and its impact on auditors
• Ethics

 

A. Michael Gellman, CPA 

Michael Gellman is CPA and shareholder with Rubino & McGeehin CPA’s and Consultants. Michael concentrates his practice on non-profit organizations, including trade, professional and membership associations, public charities, and grant-based organizations (501 (c)(3), (c)(4) and (c)(6) organizations). His work is largely focused on management advisory services, including comprehensive budget systems, management reports and program analysis, trend analysis, forecast system documentation, as they relate to finance, boards of directors, and committee structures.

Michael has been designing, installing, interpreting and teaching budget and projection based systems for over 30 years. He has conducted numerous seminars and has written articles on budgeting, reserve and investment policies, financial management, fees for services, leading economic indicators for non-profits, and Federal form 990 and the impact on governance and transparency and accountability. Michael received a BS in Accounting from the University of Maryland. Michael is a member of:

• American Institutes of CPAs
• Greater Washington Society of CPAs
• American Society of Association Executives
• Past President of the Greater Washington Society of CPA's
• Faculty, Institute for Organizational Management (IOM)
• Faculty, Georgetown University Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership.

 

John J. Renner, II, CPA

Mr. Renner is founder of Renner & Company, CPAs. John has more than 35 years of experience in public accounting. His areas of expertise include services to professional practices, government contractors, manufacturers, and other closely held businesses. Mr. Renner is certified in Financial Forensics under standards issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is licensed to practice in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Illinois. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, and the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Renner has a Bachelors of Science in Business from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Mr. Renner has served on the Board of Directors of the following professional organizations:

• Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, Board of Directors 1993 to 1996, and the
• Northern Chapter of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, President, 1989 to 1990, active member and committee chair 1976 through 2001.

Mr. Renner has received a number of professional awards including:

• Super CPA, Virginia Business Magazine and the Virginia Society of CPAs – one of the best CPAs in Virginia for 2008 recognition,
• Outstanding Member Award, Northern Chapter of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, 1996-97, and the
• President’s Award, Northern Chapter of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, 1979-1980.

Mr. Renner serves on a number of nonprofit boards of business and charitable organizations that help our community.