Biographies of the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) members

 

2024-2025

Vernon Barnett (Chair) – Vernon Barnett began his service as Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue in May 2017. He has worked in state government for over 26 years serving as a Deputy Solicitor General, Deputy Legal Advisor to the Governor, Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, and Executive Counsel of the Department of Environmental Management. Barnett is the current first vice president of the Federation of Tax Administrators Board of Trustees, the Vice Chair of the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee, a member of the Senior Executive Board of the Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and the past chair of the Multistate Tax Commission.

David Casey Casey was appointed Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in April 2024. He previously served as deputy secretary of the department from 2019 to 2022. Casey has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Grinnell College. Additionally, he holds a Master of Public Administration in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jane Chou Chou is a tax consultant, tax professional, Chinese Mandarin interpreter and founder of CKYFS Inc. Chou belongs to the National Association of Tax Professionals. She is a U.S. Navy veteran who served as a Military Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. Chou holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Regent College.

Manuel Dominguez – Dominguez is Program Manager, Agency and Industry Relations with The Tax Institute at H&R Block. He participates in the IRS Security Summit and the Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud Information Sharing and Analysis Center. He is a co-lead for the Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement's Digital Services working group. Dominguez holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Phoenix.

Jerry Gaddis – Gaddis is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tropical Tax Solutions, a boutique firm headquartered in Florida providing tax consultation, preparation and representation solutions for individuals and small businesses. He began his 20-year tax career at the VITA/Tax Counseling for the Elderly clinic in the Key Largo public library. He is a former H&R Block Franchisee, a former Dave Ramsey ELP and a graduate of the National Tax Practice Institute. Gaddis served on the board of directors for the National Association of Enrolled Agents for seven years including three years as an officer and one year as President/CEO. He is an Enrolled Agent.

Ronald Gilson – Ronald Gilson is co-owner, Krkcr Inc. in Springville, Utah. He has worked in the accounting software and services industry since 1997 in various capacities including software platform implementation, project development of new software platforms, and tax and payroll compliance, including file schema updates. He is experienced in payroll management and project administration, implementation of software systems, electronic file creation and customer account management. He serves as vice president on the board of directors of the American Payroll Association and is current co-chair of the association’s Electronic Payments Subcommittee.

Douglas Harding – Douglas Harding is a Tax Corrections Principal Examiner at the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, where he has been employed since 2013. Mr. Harding serves as the department's electronic filing coordinator, overseeing all aspects of the Modernized e-File (MeF) and Fed/State Employment (FSET) Programs, including schema development, internal testing, software vendor testing, and troubleshooting production issues. He has served on the Town of Ellington, CT’s Board of Finance since 2014, and is currently the Board’s Chairman.

Andrew Jennison – Andrew Jennison is director, government relations, at CGI Technologies and Solutions. He has experience in the tax services industry, as a systems integrator, on a state tax administration task force, and has graduate accounting education. For seven years, Mr. Jennison led and directed H&R Block’s legislative and regulatory team at both the federal and state levels. During this time, he developed relationships and partnered with community organizations, non-profits and industry to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child & Dependent Care Credit and reduce the impact of fraud and abuse on underserved communities.

Richard Lavina Lavina is co-founder and CEO of Taxfyle. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Florida Institute of CPAs. He previously worked at PwC. Lavina holds a Master of Accountancy from Florida International University and Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Miami.

Carol Lew – Carol Lew is a partner of Stradling, Yocca, Carlson & Rauth, LLP in Newport Beach, Calif. She is a tax lawyer and has substantial experience with tax exempt bond audits and tax-exempt bond voluntary closing agreement program cases. She served as president of the National Association of Bond Lawyers from 2006-2007, and as chair of the American Bar Association’s Tax-Exempt Financing Committee from 2001-2003. Ms. Lew has experience as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, special tax counsel and borrower’s counsel for various kinds of bond issues for state and local government and non-profits for the provision of public infrastructure, housing, charter schools, performing arts facilities, hospitals, museums and other types of facilities. She also has substantial experience with respect to green energy tax credits. She served as editor-in-chief of the Federal Taxation of Municipal Bonds from 2000-2001. Ms. Lew served on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council from 2019 to 2022 and was chair in 2022.

Amy Miller (Vice-Chair) – Amy Wang Miller has over 14 years of experience in the tax and financial services policy setting. She is a director, public policy, at Carta Inc where she leads initiatives to promote effective policies that reduce compliance burdens for the innovation ecosystem and drives engagement with policymakers related to taxation, valuation, and corporate governance. Prior to Carta, Mrs. Miller was employed by the American Institute of CPAs where she led initiatives involving virtual currency, education incentives, disaster relief, digital service tax, and other individual, business, and international tax issues. Amy is a CPA and holds a JD from the American University Washington College of Law.

Jack Mao – Mao is founder and CEO of ZipperTax, Inc. Mao is an IRS enrolled agent and manages his own tax firm in Palo Alto, California, as well as a mid-size Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site in partnership with the IRS and Stanford University. Mao studied computer science at Stanford.

Jose Martinez – Martinez is in private accounting practice and is the founder of J.A. Martinez Jr. Inc. He has over 25 years of experience as a tax accountant and has worked with a variety of accounting firms. Martinez holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers.

Ryan Minnick – Minnick is chief operating officer with the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) and a regular host of FTA’s podcast, FTA Tax Breaks. Minnick is also a speaker and writer on the topic of technology and its application in tax and revenue. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary.

Amy Nowak – Nowak is a senior attorney in tax law at Frost Law in Annapolis, Maryland. She received her Juris Doctor from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and her Master of Laws in taxation from Boston University School of Law. During her time in law school, Nowak was a legal intern with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel.

Argi O'Leary – O'Leary is a Principal in the Advocacy Practice at Ryan, LLC in New York, where she provides tax strategy and audit assistance, including tax issue negotiations and resolution, policy advice and advocacy for all tax types. Before joining Ryan, O'Leary was a Deputy Commissioner with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, leading the Department's Civil Enforcement Division and Office of Professional Responsibility, and also served as an Assistant Deputy Commissioner, leading the Department's litigation strategy in tax controversy matters.

Graham O’Neill – O'Neill has broad experience in IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program management and tax credit program administration. O’Neill is the former Director of Partnerships & Virtual Tax Operations at the Campaign for Working Families, and former Administrator of Taxpayer Assistance & Credit Programs for the Philadelphia Department of Revenue. O’Neill holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Dickinson College.

RaeAnn Pilarski – Pilarski is Senior Manager at Code for America, where she scales and supports VITA partners that participate in the GetYourRefund program. Before joining Code for America, she oversaw the VITA program at the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. During her tenure there, she worked closely with Code for America as one of the original partners in the GetYourRefund pilot and led the development of Valet VITA, a model that allowed clients' documents to be scanned and securely uploaded to a system through which volunteers would access the information needed to prepare the return.

Stephanie Plaza – Stephanie Plaza is senior lead product manager at Wolters Kluwer. She has worked in the tax software development and financial products industry for more than 12 years. During her tenure in the tax industry, Ms. Plaza has worked closely with The Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement (CERCA) and more recently the American Coalition for Taxpayers Rights (ACTR). Through CERCA, she has worked closely with the IRS on taxpayer experience and digital services.

Keith Richardson – Richardson has over 15 years of tax administration experience. He is Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Tax Commissioner for the District of Columbia. As the Deputy CFO, he contributed to the development of its new modernized tax system, including working with IDTTRF-ISAC and establishing strategic plans for its customer service for taxpayers. Richardson previously worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Bureau of Compliance Director and was responsible for tax compliance initiatives, clearances and creating the Gaming Control Clearance Division to oversee all tax clearances for owners, vendors, employees and winners. He has also served as Revenue Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia.

Mark Steber – Mark Steber is chief tax officer with Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, where he serves as liaison to the IRS, states, and other government authorities. Mr. Steber has been an active participant in the IRS Security Summit since its founding in early 2015. He has been involved with the Summit’s Information Sharing, Authentication, Strategic Threat Assessment and Response, and Tax Pro working groups. Mr. Steber is active with various industry groups, including ACTR and CERCA. Prior to joining Jackson Hewitt, he was a tax partner with Ernst and Young LLP. Mr. Steber previously served on the ETAAC from 2017 to 2020.

Kristine Willson – Willson is Director of Global Payroll at Talkdesk, Inc. She has over three decades of payroll, benefits and accounting experience and is a Certified Payroll Professional. Willson has worked in payroll with a variety of industries including biotechnology, insurance, retail and healthcare. She is a member of PayrollOrg, where she is co-chair of the Electronic Payments Committee.