Faculty – Tax

Degrees

LLM, Wayne State University
JD, Wayne State University
BS, University of Detroit

Licenses and Certifications

CPA – Certified Public Accountant
ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Richard Davidson is an attorney/C.P.A. who possesses a consistent track record of using accounting and tax expertise, analytical skills, and sound business judgment while working with accounting, finance, legal, and tax professionals to devise and implement tax minimization and audit resolution strategies.

Since becoming a full-time professor at Walsh in 2013, Davidson has demonstrated the ability to successfully communicate tax technical concepts in a classroom environment while establishing effective teaching relationships with students and collaborative working relationships with faculty and administration colleagues.

Degrees

BBA, University of Michigan – Dearborn
MST, Walsh College

Licenses and Certifications

CMA – Certified Management Accountant
CPA – Certified Public Accountant
CIA – Certified Internal Auditor

Biography

John Alfonsi is Managing Director of Cendrowski Corporate Advisors (CCA) and shareholder of Cendrowski Selecky Professional Corporation. He has provided business valuation, litigation support, forensic accounting, and tax consulting services to clients for more than 25 years.

Mr. Alfonsi specializes in;

• tax planning and consulting for private equity funds
• venture capital funds
• hedge funds
• partnerships
• corporations
• estates
• REITs
• high net worth individuals.

He has helped clients develop innovative tax structures to minimize their federal, state, and local tax burdens. Together with other CCA team members, John has established an excellent reputation with the IRS and has served as an advocate for clients in the event of tax controversy.

With respect to litigation support activities, John is a recognized business valuation and economic damages expert, and has presented expert witness testimony in these areas on numerous occasions. Among other engagements, he has provided business valuation services for M&A transactions, corporate divestitures, marital dissolutions, joint ventures, estate and gift tax matters, and has analyzed economic damages for both plaintiffs and defendants. On each engagement, John uses his training as a forensic accountant to formulate comprehensive and understandable analyses.

With respect to his forensic accounting expertise, John has assisted attorneys throughout all phases of investigations from pre-case assessment through expert witness testimony. Among other engagements, John has provided forensic accounting services related to procurement reviews, tenant/landlord lease verification, and income/cash flow assessments.

He has authored articles appearing in The Value Examiner, Practical Law, and Michigan CPA, and has presented at numerous business conferences.

Degrees

JD, The Ohio State University
MBA, Case Western Reserve University
BA, University of Rochester

Biography

Joseph Han has been employed as a REIT tax executive since 2014. His responsibilities include, among other things:

• Maintaining REIT status by monitoring tax laws, reviewing annual audit memos prepared by legal counsel, and preparing interim tests as financial transactions are considered by management
• Completing final review of all income tax returns, domestic and foreign
• Coordinating tax legal counsel review, resolves tax issues and coordinates changes;
• Actively monitoring the activities of Sun Homes and other Taxable REIT subsidiary (“TRS”) entities to preserve their TRS status within the REIT tax laws;
• Ensuring a current log of all tax filings and related due dates for approximately 500 related entities (partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations) is maintained and closely monitored;
• Overseeing all SEC tax-related reporting requirements such as tax provisions.

From 2001 to 2014, Mr. Han worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Merger and Acquisition tax director. His responsibilities included, among other things:

• Writing private letter rulings, technical memorandums, and opinion letters for two Big Three automotive companies and other Fortune Five Hundred companies
• Working with various foreign investors and/or private equity firms on tax implications regarding REIT and real estate partnership structures and FIRPTA
• Providing detailed tax structuring advice for external acquisitions, including whether to buy assets or shares; 4) reviewing quarterly and year-end tax provisions, valuation allowance, and contingency calculation (FIN48/ASC 740-10)
• Previewing deferred tax footnotes for financial statement reporting purposes;
• Providing detailed tax structuring advice for internal reorganizations focused on maximizing the client’s tax efficiency with its organizational structure, thereby minimizing tax liability, but maximizing shareholders’ value.

Since 2015, Mr. Han has taught as an adjunct assistant professor at Walsh and Madonna University in Michigan with responsibilities including various tax courses in underrate and masters programs.

Degrees

JD, Michigan State University College of Law
BS, University of Michigan

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Eric R. Skinner is the associate area counsel for the Large Business and International Division of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Detroit, Michigan. The Office of Chief Counsel’s Large Business and International (LB&I) Division serves corporations, subchapter S corporations, and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million. These entities typically have large numbers of employees, deal with complicated issues involving tax law and accounting principles, and conduct their operations in an expanding global environment.

Skinner has been with the Office of Chief Counsel since 1995. He has extensive experience in tax litigation, criminal tax, corporate tax and international transactions. Skinner also serves as an IRS liaison to the Taxation Section of the Michigan State Bar. Prior to joining the IRS, Skinner was a tax attorney with the Detroit office of Deloitte and Touche. A graduate of Michigan State University College of Law, he also serves as an adjunct professor in the Tax LL.M. Program at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

Degrees

MST, Walsh College
JD, Wayne State University
BS in Business Administration, Wayne State University

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney
CPA – Certified Public Accountant

Biography

Mr. Skiba comes to Walsh with over 29 years of experience in taxation, including over 23 years of experience in public accounting. Prior to his current position as Managing Director in BDO’s State and Local Tax Practice, he worked in the utilities, manufacturing and technology industries. Mr. Skiba has extensive experience in indirect tax including sales & use tax and motor fuel excise tax.

He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. Mr. Skiba is a Certified Public Accountant and licensed attorney.

Degrees

JD, Michigan State University College of Law
BA, University of Michigan

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Peter Arvant devotes his practice to complex commercial litigation with particular emphasis on contract disputes, shareholder disagreements, insurance coverage questions, and probate litigation. In addition to extensive experience in state and federal trial courts, Professor Arvant has argued cases in the Michigan Supreme Court, Michigan Court of Appeals, and the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

He has also represented clients in litigation throughout the country, including Nevada, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Arizona.

Degrees

DBA, Walden University
MA, Walsh College
MS, Walsh College

Degrees

MS, Michigan State University
BA, Michigan State University

Licenses and Certifications

CPA – Certified Public Accountant

Degrees

JD, Michigan State University College of Law
MST, Walsh College
MBA, Oakland University
BS, Oakland University

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney
CPA – Certified Public Accountant

Biography

Lee Sartori is a partner and practicing attorney with the law firm of Howard & Howard in its metro Detroit, Michigan office. The majority of Mr. Sartori’s practice is devoted to the areas of general corporate, commercial transactions, real estate and tax law.

He represents and counsels a number of individuals, and closely-held and publicly-traded businesses, engaged in a diverse array of industries on a wide variety of legal and business matters including mergers and acquisitions, transaction structuring, contract negotiations and drafting, licensing, financing, entity structuring, succession planning, estate and tax planning, shareholder and member disputes, and general corporate matters.

Mr. Sartori has made appearances on his clients’ behalf in various federal and state courts and has acted as an arbitrator in complex business dispute matters.

Mr. Sartori received a J.D., summa cum laude, from the Michigan State University College of Law, where he was the recipient of Jurisprudence Awards in Arbitration, Commercial Transactions, Constitutional Law, and Estate Planning & Drafting and other honors.

Mr. Sartori is a member of the American Bar Association and its sections on Business Law, International Law, and Taxation, and the State Bar of Michigan and its sections on Business Law, International Law, Real Property, and Taxation. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and its Division of Taxation, and the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants.

Mr. Sartori is an adjunct professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law and an adjunct professor, Business Law and Taxation Department, for Walsh’s graduate school of business. He has taught in excess of 50 semesters of graduate school education in corporate law and taxation. Mr. Sartori periodically teaches a course he designed in “business divorce” at Michigan State University College of Law entitled, “Closely-Held Business: Shareholder and Member Disputes.”

Mr. Sartori’s publications include: Communications Made to Tax Advisors for Tax Planning or Defending Tax Controversy Purposes: “When What You Say May Be Used Against You,” CCH State Tax Review, Vol. 60, Issue No. 31 (1999). Mr. Sartori is also acknowledged by the authors of Federal Tax Research 7th and 8th Editions (Raabe, Whittenburg, and Sanders, Thomson South-Western Publishing, 2005, 2008) for his contributions to their text.

Mr. Sartori is admitted to practice in the state courts of Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the U.S. Tax Court.

Degrees

JD, Wayne State University Law School
BGS, University of Michigan

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Professor Benham has been in private practice since 1986 and is currently has a solo practice with an office in Bingham Farms, Michigan. In addition to her law degree she completed a Risk Management Course and Civil Mediation Training. Professor Benham serves as a hearing panelist for the Michigan Attorney Grievance Board.

Degrees

LLM, University of Miami
JD, Detroit College of Law
BMA, University of Michigan

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Daniel Hoops has been a practicing attorney since 1995 and joined PNC Private Bank in December 2019 as a Senior Vice President. Prior to joining PNC, Dan was a Partner and founder of the Paesano, Akkashian, Apkarian lawfirm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Daniel’s areas of expertise include estate, tax and business succession planning; film, television, and music development; complex probate and commercial litigation; and charitable giving. During his career, he has worked with a variety of clients in the finance and banking, automotive, construction, medical, and entertainment industries. In addition to servicing clients as a member of the Florida Bar, Dan’s clients have taken him to Australia and various countries throughout Asia and Europe. Daniel has been engaged as an expert witness and mediator in various probate and beneficiary disputes, including testifying in contested estate matter in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mr. Hoops is a frequent lecturer on estate planning topics nationally and is a co-author of several legal publications, including Planning for Estates and Administration in Michigan (Thomson Reuters) 1991-present; Family Estate Planning Guide (Thomson Reuters) 1992-present; Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010: Law, Explanation and Analysis Practical Analysis (CCH): 2010; Sunset of the 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief Acts: Law, Explanation and Analysis Practical Analysis (CCH): 2010; Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce: Technologies and Applications for Building Customer Relationships, Author, Legal Perspectives (IGI Global): 2010; Connecting the Dots: Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project (Wayne State University Press, 2008); Bringing and Defending a Will Contest in Michigan (MSU-DCL Law Review, 1997); and How To Build A Successful Estate Practice (WestGroup) 1994-1997.

In addition to his professional work, Mr. Hoops has been a board member and general counsel of the internationally recognized Heidelberg Project from 2001 to 2011, 2014-present and was the faculty advisor and assistant coach for the Northwood University Men’s Lacrosse team.

Degrees

JD, Detroit College of Law
BA, Hope College

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Steven A. Harms practiced in the area of retail and commercial collection law and is a retired partner in the ongoing law firm, Muller, Muller, Richmond, Harms & Myers, Birmingham and Grand Rapids, MI., established in 1961.

He is a frequent lecturer on collection, bankruptcy and related topics and has authored hundreds of outlines and materials for the seminars he has given in Michigan and around the United States for various organizations, including the International Association of Commercial Collectors, having received its volunteer of the year award in 2014.

He has served as a mediator in Oakland County and is an adjunct professor of business law at Walsh in Troy.

Mr. Harms was a frequent contributor to ICLE’s (Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education for attorneys) educational programs.

He has authored two books and a number of book chapters, and he spoke at several ICLE seminars each year through 2014. He co-authored “International Commercial Secured Transactions” (Thomson Reuters 2010), a look at secured transactions around the world, with each country’s requirements included. One of his books was authored for the For Dummies series (the famous yellow and black series now amounting to some 1600 plus volumes).

Mr. Harms was been listed in “Who’s Who in American Law” from 1985 through 2013, was rated AV Preeminent through Martindale-Hubbell, and was named a Michigan Super Lawyer for 2007 to 2013 by the publishers of “Law and Politics.” He was also the recipient of the online instructor of the year award (2007) at Walsh, given by the Alliance for Excellence in Online Education.

Degrees

LLM, University of Florida
JD, Wayne State University Law School
BBA, University of Michigan

Licenses and Certifications

ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Eric Gould actively practices law, focusing on business and tax planning matters. He assists clients in forming, maintaining, growing, acquiring and disposing of businesses. He has successfully resolved matters with the Internal Revenue Service and Michigan Department of Treasury at the administrative level and before federal and state courts. He was awarded an AV Preeminent Peer Review rating by Martindale Hubbell. This is the highest rating available of an attorney’s legal ability and professional ethics.

Professor Gould is a frequent lecturer, regularly speaking to accounting and financial advisory professionals, including the Detroit chapters of the National Association of Black Accountants and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. He currently serves as a vice chair of the Tax and Accounting Interest Group of the Health Law Section of the American Bar Association. Professor Gould is a trustee and the current vice chairperson of the City of Farmington Hills Employees Retirement System.

Degrees

LLM, New York University
JD, Duke University
BBA, Adelphi University

Licenses and Certifications

CPA – Certified Public Accountant
ATT – Licensed Attorney

Biography

Alan M. Gallatin, JD, LLM, CPA, is an adjunct assistant professor in the Accounting and Tax Department of Walsh College. He joined the College’s faculty in 2015 with a focus on accounting for income taxes and corporate taxation.

Currently a Principal in the National Tax Office of Plante Moran, Gallatin has more than 25 years of professional experience. He provides his clients with wide-ranging tax services focused on compliance and planning. His broad expertise includes individual and business tax planning, accounting methods and periods, federal tax credits, accounting for income taxes and internal controls related to income taxes. He has been a member of multiple firms’ national ASC 740 core teams.

Gallatin’s public speaking includes local and national presentations on ASC 740, accounting methods, corporate taxation and individual tax planning. He has been quoted and published in the Detroit Free Press, Crain’s Business Detroit, New Jersey CPA, New Jersey Business Magazine, AICPA’s The Tax Adviser, and on WWJ radio and WDIV TV.