IRS Names New Members
to TE/GE Advisory Group

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today announced the selection of eight new members for the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). The ACT is a formal body of external stakeholders in the specialized areas of tax-exempt organizations, employee retirement plans, tax-exempt bonds and federal, state, local and Indian tribal governments. The appointees, who will assume their duties in June, will join 10 returning committee members. They are listed below by area of expertise.

Exempt Organizations

• Julie Floch, CPA, of New York, N.Y., is a partner and director of Not-for-Profit Services at Eisner LLP. She is responsible for oversight of engagements in the firm’s not-for-profit practice.
• Suzanne Ross McDowell of Washington, D.C., is a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP whose practice focuses on meeting the legal needs of tax-exempt organizations.

Employee Plans

• Charles Lax of Southfield, Mich., is a shareholder and chairman of the Employee Benefits Group at Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth & Heller, P.C., where he represents approximately 300 qualified retirement plans of all types and sizes.
• Charles F. Plenge of Dallas, Texas, is a partner in Haynes and Boone LLP, and chair of its Employee Benefits/Executive Compensation Practice Group, with a practice that primarily involves a broad range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters on behalf of employers.

Federal, State and Local Governments

• David Singleton of Wilmington, Del., is secretary of finance for the State of Delaware, responsible for directing payroll, supervising the statewide financial system, managing bond issuance and serving on the state pension board. He also manages the state’s revenue collection program.

Indian Tribal Governments

• Robert Gips of Portland, Maine, is a practicing attorney at Drummond, Woodsum, and MacMahon, specializing exclusively in the representation of Indian tribal governments and focusing on general governmental representation and economic development.
• Lenor Scheffler of Minneapolis, Minn., is an enrolled member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Minnesota and an attorney with Best & Flanagan, LLP in Minneapolis. She heads the firm's Native American Law Practice Group, which represents a number of Indian tribes on tax, finance, business and government matters. She is currently the chief judge of the Upper Sioux Community Tribal Court.

Tax Exempt Bonds

• Robert Donovan of Providence, R.I., is the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation. As such, he maintains responsibility for the operations of the state-designated issuer of tax-exempt bond debt on behalf of private non-profit health care and educational institutions.

Current members who are returning to the committee are:

Exempt Organizations

• Ann Western Bittman, Washington, D.C.
• Victoria B. Bjorklund, New York, N.Y.
• Deirdre Dessingue, Washington, D.C.
• George A. Vera, Los Altos, Calif.

Employee Plans

• Mary Beth Braitman, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Michael P. Coyne, Westlake, Ohio
• Douglas Kant, Boston, Mass.
• John W. Schroeder, Santa Clara, Calif

Federal, State and Local Governments

• David Barrow, Sacramento, Calif.

Tax Exempt Bonds

• Terence P. Burke, Dallas, Texas

The ACT was established in May 2001 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to provide an organized public forum for discussion of relevant issues affecting the tax-exempt and government entities communities. It allows the IRS to receive regular input with respect to the development and implementation of policy concerning employee plans, exempt organizations, tax-exempt bonds and federal, state, local and Indian tribal government issues.

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