The Global Tax Symposium

Alan Murray is CEO of Fortune Media. He oversees the business and editorial operations of the independent media company and is known for expanding its digital and conference franchises. Murray also writes a closely-read daily newsletter for Fortune, CEO Daily. Prior to joining Fortune in 2015, Murray led the rapid expansion of the Pew Research Center’s digital footprint as president of that organization. Before that, Murray was at the Wall Street Journal for many years, serving as deputy managing editor, executive editor online, Washington bureau chief, and author of the Political Capital and Business columns. He served for several years as Washington bureau chief for CNBC, and cohost of the nightly show Capital Report. He is the author of multiple books, including Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists, and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform.

Former diplomat, author, and advisor on foreign policy, Anja Manuel is Co-Founder and Partner along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, a strategic consulting firm that helps US companies navigate international markets. 

Anja is the author of the critically acclaimed This Brave New World: India, China and the United States, published by Simon and Schuster in 2016, and numerous articles and papers.

She is the Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum — a premier bi- partisan forum on foreign policy in the U.S.

From 2005-2007, she served as an official at the U.S. Department of State, as Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, responsible for Asia policy.

Earlier in her career, Anja was an attorney at WilmerHale working on Supreme Court and international cases, and represented clients before the US Congress, Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and the SEC. She began her career as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers in London.

A cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, Manuel also lectured and was a research affiliate at Stanford University from 2009-2019, teaching courses on US Foreign Policy in Asia and Technology Policy.

Anja is a frequent speaker on foreign policy and technology policy, is a commentator for tv and radio (NBC/MSNBC, Bloomberg News, Fox Business, BBC, NPR, etc.), and writes for publications ranging from the Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Fortune, and Newsweek, among others.

Anja currently serves on two corporate boards: Ripple Labs Inc., a leading blockchain payments company, and Overseas Shipping Group, Inc., a NYSE-listed transportation company. Manuel has also served on advisory boards of Care.com, Center for a New American Security, Flexport Inc., Synapse Inc., and the boards of the National Committee on US-China Relations, American Ditchley Foundation, and formerly Governor Brown’s California Export Council, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Anja also serves as a Member of the Defense Policy Board for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Daniel has worked at Google since 2014, where he is Director, International Tax Planning & Policy. Daniel received his BA from Brigham Young University and his law degree from Harvard Law School. After graduating, Daniel worked at law firms Wilson Sonsini and Baker & McKenzie, focusing on international tax, financings and M&A, as well as for Synopsys, Inc., an EDA software company, where he focused on transfer pricing, tax planning, M&A, audit, and other tax functions, after which he joined Google’s Tax Department. Daniel is currently a Vice Chair in USCIB’s tax leadership, as well as a Vice Chair in the BIAC Tax Bureau, and is actively involved in many other tax related organizations.  

Before founding AAF in 2009, Dr. Holtz-Eakin served in a variety of influential policy positions. During 2001-2002, he was the Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), where he had also served during 1989-1990 as a Senior Staff Economist. At CEA he helped to formulate policies addressing the 2000-2001 recession and the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. From 2003-2005 he was the 6th Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the U.S. Congress. During his tenure, CBO assisted Congress as they addressed numerous policies — notably the 2003 tax cuts (the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act), the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill (the Medicare Modernization Act), and the 2005 push for Social Security reform.

During 2007 and 2008, he was Director of Domestic and Economic Policy for the John McCain presidential campaign. After that, he was a Commissioner on the congressionally chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Dr. Holtz-Eakin built an international reputation as a scholar doing research in areas of applied economic policy, econometric methods, and entrepreneurship. He began his career at Columbia University in 1985 and moved to Syracuse University from 1990 to 2001. At Syracuse, he became Trustee Professor of Economics at the Maxwell School, Chairman of the Department of Economics and Associate Director of the Center for Policy Research.

Dr. Holtz-Eakin writes a daily column in AAF’s morning newsletter, the Daily Dish, and regularly comments on current policy and political debates for a variety of news outlets.

Mr. di Stefano is currently Honeywell’s Vice President Taxes and General Tax Counsel.  Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 company headquartered in Charlotte, NC employing more than 113,000 employees throughout its 930 sites in 70 countries.  Honeywell has $37 billion in sales with innovative technologies supporting customers across a number of sectors including aviation, energy, education and healthcare – Aerospace, Building Technologies, Connected Enterprise, Performance Materials & Technologies and Safety & Products Solutions.  Our offerings are centered around sustainability, energy efficiency and optimization, safety, security and productivity.

Previously, Mr. di Stefano served as Vice President Tax for Sears Holdings Corporation.  Prior to that position, he was a Partner at a Big Four Accounting firm.  Mr. di Stefano holds a Master of Law from Georgetown University, Juris Doctor in Law from Baltimore University, and Bachelor of Science degrees in Accounting and Finance from Clemson University.

Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard University. Previously he served as a top economic adviser to President Obama including serving as the 28th chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. In this role, he served as President Obama’s chief economist and a member of the Cabinet. Furman has conducted research in a wide range of areas, such as fiscal policy, tax policy, health economics, Social Security, and domestic and international macroeconomics. He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and a frequent commentator on Bloomberg and CNBC. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Jennifer Buchanan is the Vice President – Tax at Occidental Petroleum Corporation.  She is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 25 years of experience in various areas of taxation.  Jennifer has been with Occidental for 22 years and has held roles of increasing responsibility in both tax compliance and tax reporting and she has been a key participant in a variety of significant tax planning and audit resolution projects.  She most recently served as Tax Director for Occidental before accepting the role of Vice President – Tax in July of this year.

She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Accounting.  She began her career in the Tulsa, Oklahoma office of Deloitte & Touche before joining Occidental in 2000. 

Maureen Downes works in Apple’s tax department where she focuses on global tax policy. She previously served as U.S. Senator Mark Warner’s Senior Tax and Budget Advisor and as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

Maureen began her career as a tax manager and CPA at public accounting firms in Oregon and Virginia. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree in accounting from Boston College. 

Kanthi’s professional background is rooted in IBM and specifically the tax department of IBM.  She joined IBM in February 2004 in Bangalore, India and had a long and scenic route to the headquarters location in Armonk, NY.  As the VP - Tax, she leads a team of high performing tax professionals to manage all tax matters for IBM globally. She is passionate about running a best-in-class tax function that embraces technology and supports the growth and success of IBM.  Her team is dedicated to providing exceptional tax support on a daily basis to each of IBM’s business units and all customers both internal and external.  She and her team are very focused on tax legislative and policy matters around the world.  Prior to joining IBM, Kanthi spent 3 years in the tax services division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bangalore, India. 

Kanthi has her undergraduate degree in business and accounting from Bangalore University, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has a Master of Science in Taxation from Fordham University, NY. 

On the personal front, she lives in Pound Ridge, NY with her husband and their five-year-old daughter who keeps them on their toes.

Ambassador Kristen Silverberg is President & COO at Business Roundtable.  Prior to BRT she was a Managing Director at the Institute of International Finance.  She served in the George W. Bush Administration as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union from 2008 to 2009 and as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 2005 to 2008.  She also held a number of senior positions at the White House including Deputy Assistant to the President. 

Ambassador Silverberg served in 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq for which she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.  She formerly practiced law at Williams and Connolly, LLP in Washington, DC and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge David Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals.  She attended Harvard College and the University of Texas School of Law, where she graduated with High Honors. 

Ambassador Silverberg also serves on the Boards of Vorbeck Materials, the International Republican Institute, the Forum for American Leadership, and the Vandenberg Coalition, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Reagan Institute Strategy Group. 

Maria Minetti was named CBRE’s Chief Tax Officer and Treasurer in September 2022. Maria is responsible for managing and directing all aspects of CBRE’s Global Tax and Treasury functions, including corporate tax strategy, financial reporting and compliance for income taxes, treasury operations and corporate capital planning. In this role, she proactively partners with CBRE’s leaders to offer innovative commercial solutions in an ever-changing regulatory environment and deploys global tax and cash management strategies that yield sustainable financial and operational efficiencies.

Maria joined CBRE in 2017 as a tax director and was responsible for all tax aspects of M&A and strategic investments. She played an integral role in the development of CBRE’s global corporate income tax strategy. She was instrumental in guiding CBRE’s response to major US tax legislation, including the historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that fundamentally changed the system of U.S. corporate taxation, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Prior to her promotion to her current role, Maria served as Deputy Head of Tax, where she led key, value-add tax transformation and strategy initiatives, including global entity rationalizations, business value chain realignment and global risk mitigation.

Prior to joining CBRE, Maria was part of the Tax Planning team at Exelon Corporation (EXE), a Fortune 100 energy company, where she oversaw the tax matters related to the company’s M&A activity for both the energy generation, retail and utility businesses. During her tenure, Maria played a key role in advancing the company’s renewable energy initiatives, including strategy and equity financing. She led the development of Exelon’s Finance Mentoring program which launched in 2016.

Prior to Exelon, Maria worked for the U.S. Army supporting procurement and acquisition planning. 

She holds MBA, Juris Doctor and Master of Laws in Taxation degrees.

• Master of Laws in Taxation from Villanova University
• Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law
• Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University
• Bachelor degree from Rowan University

Mindy is a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she teaches courses in international tax and tax policy to LLM students. She has also developed a course (the first of its kind) in AI and Tax Law. She is the author of International Taxation in a Nutshell (13th ed, forthcoming), and the recently published Structuring Cross-Border Transactions: U.S. Tax Considerations.

Mindy began her career as a law clerk for Judge I. Leo Glasser (E.D.N.Y.) and has worked at Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York, as tax counsel at Ford Motor Company, and in the international tax group of a Big 4 accounting firm. She has been a contributing editor to Tax Notes International since 2014, where she has written over 250 articles on international tax policy developments and cross-border transactions and has also written extensively on U.S. tax reform efforts. She also serves as counsel to Potomac Law Group, a virtual law firm. She holds an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center, with distinction, a J.D. from Yale Law school, and a B.A. in history from Barnard College.

Paul Ryan was the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In office from October 2015 to January 2019, he was the youngest speaker in nearly 150 years. During his tenure, Ryan spearheaded efforts to reform our nation’s tax code for the first time in a generation, rebuild our national defense, expand domestic energy production, combat the opioid epidemic, reform our criminal justice system, and promote economic opportunity.

Prior to becoming Speaker, he was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. As chairman Ryan worked to protect health care choices, advance free trade, and strengthen the economy. Before that, he served as chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he outlined revolutionary blueprints to balance the federal budget and pay off the national debt. In 2012, Ryan was selected to serve as Governor Mitt Romney’s Vice-Presidential nominee. First elected to Congress in 1998 at age 28, Ryan represented the people of Wisconsin’s First Congressional District for two decades.

In 2019, Ryan launched the American Idea Foundation, a non-partisan, not for profit organization that expands economic opportunity by partnering with local organizations and academics to advance evidence-based public policies. In 2020, Ryan was named as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Executive Network Partnering Corporation and in 2021, he was named as a partner at Solamere Capital.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fox Corporation, of SHINE Medical Technologies, LLC, and of UniversalCIS. Ryan also serves on the Advisory Board of Robert Bosch GmbH and is a senior advisor with Teneo. He is also the author of the book The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea.

Ryan is a Professor of the Practice at the University of Notre Dame and a visiting fellow in the practice of public policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Ryan serves on the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and on the Board of Directors for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Ryan and his wife Janna have three children: Liza, Charlie, and Sam. He holds a degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Ohio and was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University.

Shannon is the Global Head of Tax for The Carlyle Group. Her responsibilities include oversight of the firm, the funds and other global internal tax matters. Prior to joining Carlyle, Shannon was a senior partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. She had served in a multitude of roles, including the leader of the Washington DC tax practice, which more than doubled under her leadership. Throughout her career, Shannon had been selected for the most difficult and challenging assignments. As a result of her work ethic and ability to solve complex problems, she was viewed by her clients and teams as a person to get things done. She has presented and participated in several board and audit committee meetings on a number of complex topics, including deferred tax restatements and compensation matters. Since joining Carlyle, she is developing a risk mitigation and centralized control policy around global tax matters. She was also instrumental in working with management, the founders, and the board on the corporate conversion of The Carlyle Group. Shannon also has significant experience with working with multinational companies in complex locations such as Asia, South America, and Africa. Shannon is also a frequent speaker at various tax events on several topics including M&A, ESG and tax and international tax matters.

Shannon is a Certified Public Accountant. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. In addition, she served as an Executive Committee member of the Board of Trustees for the National Capital Area of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has also served on the Board of the National Symphony Orchestra and is the Treasurer of the Fairfax County Public Schools Education Foundation.

Shannon graduated with honors from Auburn University in 1987 and has many executive education courses from Kellogg School of Business.

Stephanie Jones is the VP of Tax and Trade at QUALCOMM, a $34B semiconductor company employing approximately 45,000 people in over 30 countries. QUALCOMM is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch and expansion of 5G.  Before joining QUALCOMM, Stephanie was the Global Tax Director at GE Healthcare, a $19B global division of General Electric employing approximately 52,000 people in over 140 countries. Prior to moving in-house, she was a Tax Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their Industry Services Group based in New York, and one of the firm’s national experts in tax methods of accounting as a Director in PwC’s Washington National Tax Services (WNTS) office.  From 2011 to 2014, Stephanie was as a Legislation Tax Accountant for the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan committee of the United States Congress. Stephanie received her B.A. in Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is a Certified Public Accountant in California.

The Honorable Dave Camp is Senior Policy Advisor within PwC’s Washington National Tax Services (WNTS) practice. In this role, Chairman Camp provides his perspective to PwC clients on the global business environment and important federal policy issues, including tax reform, the economy and the impact of proposed policy changes on businesses.

A member of Congress for over 24 years, Chairman Camp served as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means and is recognized for his leadership in advancing federal tax reform. In March 2014, he introduced the Tax Reform Act of 2014, the most comprehensive tax reform proposal since the mid-1980s. Prior to his Chairmanship, he was a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for six years, serving as Chairman in 2011 and 2013 and Vice Chairman in 2012 and 2014.

Chairman Camp’s extensive tax policy experience helps companies navigate the dynamic legislative and regulatory process to develop successful strategies and advance policies meant to improve economic growth and competition in global markets.

Ken Kuykendall is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he is the US tax leader and a member of the US Leadership Team for the firm. Ken’s passion is collaborating to solve business problems for clients, and he teams with a national network of over 50,000 tax, consulting and audit professionals every day to deliver quality and differentiated, tech-enabled outcomes for US and multinational clients. Ken works closely with the rest of the PwC US leadership team to develop and drive firm strategy and coordinate with the PwC global network of firms to deliver an unparalleled client experience to the US and global marketplace.

Ken brings to his roles a deep knowledge of the US tax system, decades of experience advising clients across a number of industries, and extensive relationships in industry and government. He has over 29 years of experience working with multinational corporations on a broad spectrum of tax and business issues. He has advised a variety of governmental and administrative agencies including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Internal Revenue Service, the US Congress and the US Treasury on tax and financial reporting matters.

Previously, Ken served the US firm as Tax Managing Partner, the Tax Services and National Tax Services Leader, as well as the Leader of the Risk & Regulatory Platform. Ken has also served as Director of Taxation for a Fortune 500 company and has first-hand experience with strategically managing the day-to-today aspects of a US tax function.

Ken has a B.A. in accounting from Eastern Illinois University, a M.S. in taxation from DePaul University, and a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Bar Association.

Kevin is a Tax Policy Services Partner in our Washington National Tax Services practice as well as the Lead Tax Partner on multiple Fortune 100 companies.  He excels at serving clients by delivering top quality service and proactively identifying issues and opportunities to help them think through the tax implications of their business challenges.

Starting in 2009, for over two years Kevin served as a Legislation Tax Accountant on the nonpartisan staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).  While with the JCT, Kevin worked with key tax legislative staff within Congress to develop and draft major international tax provisions and international tax reform options.  His experience at the JCT combined with the time he spends as a partner in PwC’s Tax Policy Services practice in Washington, D.C. gives Kevin a unique skillset and perspective.  He consistently leverages his experience to help clients to evaluate the potential impact of various tax legislative proposals and their viability of being enacted by Congress. Additionally, he has experience advising clients as they develop their strategy for sharing their point of view on tax legislative proposals and other tax policy matters to Members of Congress.

Prior to joining the JCT, Kevin was a Director in PwC’s Atlanta tax practice where he spent seven years as an international tax specialist followed by four years as a multinational generalist assisting U.S. and foreign multinational taxpayers with domestic and non-U.S. tax planning, tax compliance and income tax accounting related issues.

Kevin received his Bachelors of Business Administration and Masters in Professional Accounting with a tax concentration from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed to practice in Georgia and the District of Columbia.

Pam Olson is a Senior Tax Policy Advisor. Pam previously served as the US Deputy Tax Leader and Washington National Tax Services (WNTS) Practice Leader of PwC. In this role, she led a team of former senior government officials, policy advisers and prominent law-firm partners. 

Prior to joining PwC, Ms. Olson was Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the US Department of the Treasury and head of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s Washington Tax Practice. She has significant experience representing clients in a broad range of matters—including IRS controversies; private-letter ruling requests, proposed regulations, and other administrative guidance; and in Congressional investigations. She regularly advises clients on tax and Social Security reform, legislative matters and the structuring of transactions. Ms. Olson received her B.A., M.B.A., and J.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Patrick Brown is Co-Leader, Washington National Tax Services at PwC. Prior to joining PwC in February 2019, he was Vice President, Tax at GE, serving as both the tax director for GE’s Power business and the director of tax policy for GE.

Prior to these roles, Pat was a senior international tax counsel for GE corporate and GE Capital, where he primarily focused on GE’s international operations in the Nordic region, EMEA and Canada.  In this role, Pat worked extensively with GE Capital’s Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Finance and Consumer Finance businesses as a technical advisor and planner, focusing particularly on cross-border tax matters. He also had overall responsibility for GE’s foreign tax credit position and was the principal technical advisor to the tax director of GE on tax policy matters.

Pat joined GE in 2002 from the US Treasury Department, where he served as attorney-advisor and associate international tax counsel from 1998-2002.  During his time at Treasury, Pat focused primarily on international tax analysis, negotiation of tax treaties, and representing the US government at meetings of the OECD on various tax issues.

Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Pat was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. 

Pat received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, with highest distinction, from the University of 

Virginia and a J.D. from Georgetown University, magna cum laude.

Mr. Kumar is a principal and Co-Leader of PwC’s Washington National Tax Office. In his role, Mr. Kumar advises clients on all aspects of domestic policy including tax policy. His insights and knowledge enable companies to assess critical policy issues more effectively and develop legislative strategies to address those issues from both a technical and political perspective.

Prior to joining PwC, Mr. Kumar served as the Domestic Policy Director and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

He served 11 consecutive years in the Office of the Republican Leader for three different senators, having previously been Director of Policy and Senior Counsel to Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist and Senior Policy Advisor and General Counsel for Senate GOP Leader, Trent Lott. In all of these roles, Mr. Kumar worked in close collaboration with Senate leaders in developing and implementing all aspects of domestic policy including tax, trade, budget, and health care. Mr. Kumar also held positions in the Office of Senator Phil Gramm as Legislative Director and Chief Counsel, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs as Deputy Chief Republican Counsel and clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Kumar has been named in Roll Call as one of the fifty most influential staffers for mastery of policy and procedure and access to decision makers at key times. He was described in the Washington Post publication Who Runs Gov as, “an expert in both politics and policy” and also listed in the Almanac of the Unelected as an expert in tax, trade, banking/financial services and immigration.

Mr. Kumar received his J.D. from the University of Virginia. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Duke University.

Sindhu Hirani Blume is host and executive producer PwC’s Policy on Demand, a client-facing show focused on policy issues. Sindhu previously worked for PwC overseeing client content and development for the Washington National Tax Services (WNTS) practice from 2000 to 2010.

Prior to returning to the firm to host Policy on Demand in January 2017, Sindhu worked with individual and business clients on editorial and communications strategy.

She previously was a reporter for the Gazette Newspapers in Maryland, and for five years wrote about the Treasury Department's international tax policy for Daily Tax Report. As a freelance writer, she published work in the Washington Post, The Austin-American Statesman, and National Public Radio.

• Background: I was born in India and came to the United States with my family when I was six years old. I've been back to India many times. It's an incredible place and there's never enough time to see and do everything I want to do.
• Family: My husband Eric and I have been married for almost 20 years and have two teenage boys, who are smart, funny, and keep us on our toes! And we have a dog, Archie, who is a West Highland Terrier.
• Hiking: I've hiked for years but really got into it at the start of the pandemic and now, it's a full on obsession. Since May 2020, I've completed 100 hikes, traveling more than 600 miles.
• Painting: Art has been a part of my life since I was a kid. I paint and draw, and was inspired while hiking in 2020 to paint rocks. I do it to relax and love giving painted rocks to family and close friends.