SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Book Your Place on Global Tax Policy Webinars 2022 Here
Tuesday 17 May 2022
Keynote Address
PASCHAL DONOHOE was re-appointed Minister for Finance on June 27, 2020. Paschal was appointed Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure & Reform on 14 June 2017. He previously served as Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform from May 6, 2016 to June 27, 2020. He previously served as Minister of Transport, Tourism and Sport from July 2014 to May 2016. He was the Minister of State for European Affairs at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade from July 2013 to July 2014. He was elected to the Dáil in February 2011, and was previously elected to Seanad Éireann in 2007, where he was the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Transport.
Theme 1 - Tax Challenges of the Digitalised Global Economy
PASCAL SAINT-AMANS took on his duties as Director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD on 1 February 2012. Mr. Saint-Amans, a French national, joined the OECD in September 2007 as Head of the International Co-operation and Tax Competition Division in the CTPA. He played a key role in the advancement of the OECD tax transparency agenda in the context of the G20. In October 2009 he was appointed Head of the Global Forum Division, created to service the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, a programme with the participation of over 100 countries. Mr. Saint-Amans graduated from the National School of Administration (ENA) in 1996 and was an official in the French Ministry for Finance for nearly a decade. He held various positions within the Treasury, including heading the supervision of the EU work on direct taxes and overseeing legislation and policy on wealth tax and mergers and spinoffs. He was also the head of tax treaty negotiations and mutual agreement procedures. In this capacity, he participated in the OECD Working Party No. 1 of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs as the delegate for France before being elected Chair of WP1 in 2005. He was also a member of the UN Group of Experts on International Co-operation in Tax Matters, becoming a “rapporteur” in 2006. Before leaving government service, he was Deputy Director in charge of litigation at the Direction Générale des Impôts. Mr. Saint-Amans also served as Financial Director of the Energy Regulation Committee between 1999 and 2002 and was responsible for the introduction of new electricity tariffs. Having earned a degree in history, Mr. Saint-Amans also received a degree from the Institut d’études politiques of Paris.
GERASSIMOS THOMAS is Director-General in the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union at the European Commission. Prior to his current assignment, G. Thomas had professional assignments as: Deputy Minister for Environment and Energy in Greece (2019-2020); Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Energy and Chairman of the Steering Board of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) (2014-2019); Director Finance at DG ECFIN (2009-2014); member of the EIB and EIF Board of Directors (2009-2017); Head of cabinet of Joaquin Almunia, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs (2005-2009); Deputy Spokesman for Commission President Romano Prodi; Spokesman for economic and monetary affairs for Commissioner Pedro Solbes (2000-2004). Prior to 2000 held various positions in the European Commission, the European Investment Fund and in investment banking in London.
LISELOTT KANA is a law graduate from Stockholm University and a Master of Laws graduate from London School of Economics. She worked in London for Arthur Andersen & Co and since 1990 she has been involved as a public official with international issues in Chile. In 1997, she was appointed Head of international taxation in charge of negotiating taxation treaties at the Revenue agency. She was a member of the permanent scientific committee of IFA until 2008 and a founder and president of the IFA branch of Chile in 2004. She has also been a president of IFA Latin America and she is actually Co-Chair of the United Nations Committee of tax experts. She teaches international tax at the Catholic University in Santiago and at the Vienna Akademie der Wirtschaftstreuhänder in Austria.
FEARGAL O'ROURKE - CHAIR is the Managing Partner (CEO) of PwC Ireland since 1 July 2015. He is also a member of the PwC EMEA Leadership Team. Prior to this he was the Head of PwC Ireland’s Tax and Legal Services practice from 1 January 2011. Over the last decade he has played a major role in the Irish and Global Tax policy debate during that time and shared platforms with Irish and foreign politicians as well as key OECD tax officials. He works primarily in the Foreign Direct Investment sector of PwC and has 25 years Partner experience of advising US companies, primarily from the West Coast, on their operations in Ireland and Europe.
Theme 2 - Tax Administration for a Digitalised World
NINA E. OLSON is the Executive Director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, a non-profit that works to advance taxpayer rights in the United States and internationally. Among other initiatives, the Center organises and convenes the International Conference on Taxpayer Rights, and operates the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Support Center. From March 2001 to July 2019, Nina served as the National Taxpayer Advocate of the United States, an independent organisation within the Internal Revenue Service with 1,600 to 2,100 employees and 79 offices across the US, dedicated to assisting taxpayers resolve their problems with the IRS and making administrative and legislative recommendations to mitigate those problems systemically. She has submitted 39 annual reports to Congress, and testified before congressional committees over 60 times. Before serving as the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina founded and directed The Community Tax Law Project, the first independent Low Income Taxpayer Clinic in the US. She also maintained a private legal practice, representing taxpayers in disputes with the IRS. Nina has received many awards and recognitions, including the American Bar Association Section of Taxation’s Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Service, Pro Bono Award, and Jules Ritholz Memorial Merit Award for Outstanding Dedication, Achievement, and Integrity in the Field of Civil and Criminal Tax Controversies; the Tax Foundation’s Public Sector Distinguished Service Award; and Pro Bono Awards from the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association, and the City of Richmond Bar Association. In 2016 she was recognised by Tax Analysts as one of the Top 10 Outstanding Women in Tax (internationally). The University of Pittsburgh Tax Review dedicated its 2020 issue to her work in the field of taxation. Nina is a member of the Virginia and North Carolina state bars. She is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC), a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), and a member of the supervisory board of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) Observatory of Taxpayer Rights. Nina received her LLM in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center, her JD from North Carolina Central University School of Law, and her AB (in fine arts) from Bryn Mawr College.
CHAIRMAN NIALL CODY is Chairman of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners - the Irish Tax and Customs Administration. He leads an organisation which is responsible for the collection of virtually all taxes and duties and the implementation of customs controls in Ireland. Mr. Cody is one of three Commissioners who form the Board of Revenue. He was appointed Commissioner in February 2012 and appointed Chairman in February 2015. He has specific responsibility as Commissioner for direct and indirect tax policy and legislation, international tax, and corporate services.
TOM WOODS - CHAIR is a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and the Head of Tax & Legal at KPMG in Ireland. He is based in KPMG’s Financial Services business unit and principally advises aircraft leasing companies as well as investors on their investment in the aviation sector. Tom has spoken at many conferences on worldwide tax developments. He has also written many articles on tax related issues.
Wednesday 18 May 2022
Theme 3 - Tax and Climate Change
RODOLFO LACY is Director for Climate Action and Environment for Latin America and as Special Envoy on Climate Matters to the United Nations in New York. Before this role, he was Director of the OECD Environment Directorate. Dr. Lacy has extensive experience as an environmental policy maker and before joining the OECD, he served for 6 years as Deputy Minister of Environmental Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico. He has also been a chief negotiator at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences and Co-Chair of the Global Methane Initiative. As Director of the renowned Mario Molina Centre in his native Mexico, he has led policy research on renewable energy, emission inventory, climate change, and the sustainable use of natural resources. Dr Lacy holds a PhD in Science and Environmental Engineering from the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico and a Master’s in Environmental Planning from MIT.
PROF. ROBERT N. STAVINS is the A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School; Director, Harvard Environmental Economics Program; and Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. He is a University Fellow, Resources for the Future; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; elected Fellow, Association of Environmental and Resource Economics; Member, Board of Directors, Resources for the Future; and Editor, Journal of Wine Economics. He was Chairman, Environmental Economics Advisory Board, US Environmental Protection Agency. He was a Lead Author, Second and Third Assessment Reports, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Coordinating Lead Author, Fifth Assessment Report. His research has examined diverse areas of environmental economics and policy, and appeared in more than a hundred articles in academic journals and popular periodicals, plus a dozen books. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Northwestern University, an M.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell, and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.
KEVIN MCLOUGHLIN - CHAIR is Head of Tax for EY Ireland with 18 years’ experience in the provision of tax advisory services to Irish and multinational companies, covering the full spectrum of tax services from R&D Tax Credits, to VAT. Having worked across a broad range of clients and projects, including cross-border planning, acquisitions and disposals, inward investment and VC-backed management buyouts, Kevin has deep technical knowledge in the fields of international tax, M&A and transfer pricing. Kevin served as Partner Lead for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme in Ireland for five years. He also spent several years on the Irish Tax Desk at EY in San Jose, California, where he was involved in advising US businesses on a wide range of Irish tax issues. Kevin is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). He is also an Irish correspondent for Tax Analysts and the international tax journal.
Theme 4 - Tax Across the Continents - a 5-year Forecast
DEIRDRE DONAGHY is the Head of Business Tax in the Department of Finance, with responsibility for corporation tax policy (including rates, reliefs and incentives) and for the implementation of international tax agreements such as the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives and the Pillar Two Minimum Tax agreement. Prior to joining the Department of Finance in 2012, Deirdre worked for over 10 years in tax practice. Deirdre is an AITI Chartered Tax Adviser, QFA, TEP and holds an MSc in Economic Policy.
BRIAN J. ARNOLD is a senior adviser at the Canadian Tax Foundation. Prior to his current role, he served as a tax consultant with Goodmans LLP, Toronto. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D., 1969) and taught tax law at a Canadian law school for 28 years. He has been a consultant to various Canadian government departments, the OECD, the United Nations and several governments. He has taught international tax courses at Harvard Law School, the University of Sydney, and the University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, and in 2005 and 2012 was Visiting Professor at New York University School of Law. He has written extensively on tax matters, and from 2000 to 2007 was a member of the Permanent Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).
SUAHASIL NAZARA, Vice Minister of Finance in the Republic of Indonesia earned his bachelor degree majoring in Economics from Universitas Indonesia in 1994, and his Masters of Science from Cornell University USA in 1997. In 2003, he gained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. Suahasil Nazara started his public service as a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, since 1999. In 2009, he got his full professorship in Economics. Within the Universitas Indonesia, he served different positions such as the Director of Graduate Program in Economics (2004-2005), the Director of Demographic Institute (2005-2008), and Chair of Economics Department (2009-2013). Outside the Universitas Indonesia, Suahasil once served a member of Fiscal Decentralization Expert Team for Minister of Finance (2009-2011). Besides, he was also the Vice Chairman of Regional Autonomy Supervisory Committee since 2009. Other functions he served include the Policy Group Coordinator of Secretariat of Poverty Reduction Acceleration National Team, Vice President Office (2010-2015); and the member of Presidential National Economic Committee (2013-2014). Commencing on February 6, 2015, he serves as the Acting Head of Fiscal Policy Agency; and on October 31, 2016 was inaugurated as the Chairman of the Fiscal Policy Agency, at the Ministry of Finance. On October 25, 2019, he was appointed as the Vice Minister of Finance by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo.
ASSOC. PROF. ANN KAYIS-KUMAR is author of Taxing Multinationals (Oxford University Press, 2019) and co-author of the Australian CGT Handbook (since the 8th edition, Thomson Reuters, 2017). Ann's research conceptualises tax as a mechanism to achieve social justice across the taxpaying spectrum; ranging from improving the integrity of taxing multinationals to improving the wellbeing of financially vulnerable individuals and small businesses. She is the Founding Director of UNSW Tax Clinic, an international award-winning platform for experiential work-integrated learning, innovative grassroots research and catalysing social impact across Australia. Ann is also a Teaching Fellow in the UNSW’s Faculty of Law, Deputy President of the UNSW Academic Board, the Deputy Chair of the Academic Board Programs Committee and the Deputy Chair, University Academic Quality Committee.
PROF. THABO LEGWAILA is a Professor in the Mercantile Law Department of the University of Johannesburg and teaches Tax Law. Prof Legwaila started his career as a Lecturer and advanced to Senior Lecturer in the Mercantile Law Department at the University of Stellenbosch. He was later invited to Harvard University where he spent time as a Research Fellow in the Harvard University International Tax Program. He subsequently moved into tax consultancy. In 2006 Prof. Legwaila joined the South African National Treasury as a Director for Business Tax where his role was to develop the South African business tax policy as well as manage general tax legislative amendments and specific business law amendments. In 2011 he joined Citibank as Head of Tax for the Africa division. Prof. Legwaila was appointed as a member of the Davis Tax Committee (DTC) in 2015 which was set up by the Minister of Finance to assess South Africa’s tax policy framework and its role in supporting the objectives of inclusive growth, employment, development and fiscal sustainability. Prof Legwaila was appointed as Chief Executive officer of the South African Office of the Tax Ombud in 2020. Prof. Legwaila publishes widely in Tax Law both in accredited and peer reviewed journals as well as in magazines and newsletters. He also co-authored the tax textbook Tax Law: An Introduction in 2013 which is specifically intended at explaining “a vast terrain of tax law to students” and edited the second edition of the same book that was published in 2020.
LORRAINE GRIFFIN - CHAIR leads the Deloitte Ireland tax practice and serves on the Executive Committee of the firm. She advises a broad range of Irish headquartered groups, private equity houses and multinational companies covering a wide variety of tax issues (both Irish and international). She also has significant M&A transaction and advisory experience. Lorraine is former Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Tax Policy Group, and a former Council member of the Irish Tax Institute.
KAREN FRAWLEY is President of the Irish Tax Institute. She was first elected to the Institute Council in 2013 and has chaired the Institute’s Policy and Technical Committee and International Tax Working Group. Karen is a tax partner in Deloitte and a member of Deloitte’s international tax group. She has over 17 years’ experience advising multinational groups investing in Ireland and Irish-based groups on outward investments.
PROF. JAY K. ROSENGARD, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, has forty-five years of international experience designing, implementing, and evaluating development policies in public finance and fiscal strategy, tax and budget reform, municipal finance and management, intergovernmental fiscal relations, banking and financial institutions development, financial inclusion, micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) finance, mobile banking, and public administration. He has worked for a wide variety of multilateral and bilateral donors, as well as directly for host governments and private sector clients. Rosengard is Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government's Financial Sector Program, which focuses on the development of bank and nonbank financial institutions and alternative financing instruments. This includes microfinance (financial services for low-income households and family businesses), mainstream commercial banking (general and special-purpose banks), and wholesale financial intermediation (municipal development funds, venture capital funds, pooled financing, secondary mortgage facilities, and securitization). In addition, Rosengard is a Faculty Affiliate of both the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the Center for International Development. At the Ash Center, he is Senior Advisor to the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia and Faculty Chair of the HKS Indonesia Program. He has also served as Faculty Chair of four executive education programs: FIPED (Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development), which focuses on sustainable and effective MSME finance; ComTax (Comparative Tax Policy and Administration), which addresses key strategic and tactical issues in tax design and implementation; VELP (Vietnam Executive Leadership Program), which is an innovative policy dialogue with senior Vietnamese leadership; and Transformasi (Leadership Transformation in Indonesia), which is designed to assist Indonesia in its decentralization initiatives. Rosengard is currently Director of the Harvard University Thai Studies Program and serves as Senior Technical Expert for the Better Than Cash Alliance.