Trust and Estate Conference Webcast

Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP (distinguished), JD, is an attorney in private practice in Fort Lee, New Jersey and New York City, New York who focuses his practice on estate and tax planning, planning for closely held businesses, estate administration. He is the author of 42 books and more than 1,000 articles, including for Trusts & Estates Magazine (Editorial Board Member), the CPA Journal, the Matrimonial Strategist, and CCH (Wolter’s Kluwer) where he is co-chair of the Professional Advisory Board. He founded chronicillnessplanning.org, which educates professional advisers on planning for clients with chronic illness and disability and has written books for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the COPD Foundation. Mr. Shenkman received a Bachelor of Science from the Warton School, with a concentration in accounting and economics; an MBA from the University of Michigan with a concentration in tax and finance; and a Law degree from Fordham University School of Law. He is admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.; a CPA practicing in New Jersey, Michigan and New York; and a Registered Investment Adviser in New York and New Jersey.

Robert S. Barnett, CPA, Esq., is a founding partner of Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld LLP, Attorneys at Law. His practice is highly concentrated in the areas of taxation, trusts, estates, corporate and partnership law and charitable planning. His experience includes Surrogate’s Court practice, tax dispute resolution, and Tax Court representation. Mr. Barnett frequently assists clients in structuring financial transactions and charitable gifts. Mr. Barnett applies creative and practical solutions to estate and business planning. He has served on many committees and is a frequent lecturer on numerous aspects of tax and business law. He is an active participant and serves on many professional and charitable boards. Mr. Barnett is a frequent lecturer and writer. His articles and lectures encompass a wide variety of topics, including business succession, estate planning, charitable planning, generation-skipping, stock options, effective strategies for removing tax liens, business taxation, utilization of the marital deduction and partnership elections. Mr. Barnett received his juris doctor in 1986 from Fordham University, where he graduated cum laude and was a member of the Fordham Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from Hofstra University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in accounting. Mr. Barnett holds a Master’s degree in taxation as the recipient of the highest dean’s award. Mr. Barnett is admitted to practice law in New York, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Member: • Board of Directors of the Long Island Community Foundation.
• Board of Directors of Nassau Academy of Law
• Professional Advisors Committee of the Long Island Community Foundation
• Professional Advisors Committee of the American Heart Association
• Past Education Committee Chairman NCCPAP
• Past President of the NCCPAP Educational Foundation
• Past President of Nassau Chapter NYSSCPA
• Member of Nassau Academy of Law Advisory Board
• CPA Journal Editorial Review Board, May 2017-2020 Awards:
• 2013 Max Block Distinguished Article Award for Technical Analysis
• November 2016 – Samuel A. Dyckman, Excellence in Education Award
• November 2016 – Leadership in Law Award – Long Island Business News
• May 2017 – Distinguished Service Award – NYSSCPAS – Nassau Chapter
• Dean’s Award in Taxation – Long Island University CW Post
• Fordham Law Review
• Fordham University American Jurisprudence Award – Trusts and Estates

Gregory Matalon’s practice concentrates in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, elder law and Not-for-Profit and Religious Corporations Law. He regularly helps individuals and families plan for the future through the preparation of Last Wills and Testaments, Trusts, Living Wills and Health Care Proxies and Durable Powers of Attorney documents. Greg provides his clients with the tools to create a tax efficient estate plan, while realizing that the Client’s goal/s are primary. Greg also represents Executors and Trustees to navigate the complex Federal and State laws impacting Estates and Trusts. While representing Executors and Trustees, Greg has identified areas of unsettled law and he has either clarified existing law or, in some cases, created new law through his submissions of Private Letter Ruling requests to both the Internal Revenue Service and New York City Department of Finance. He has been successful, on behalf of his clients, in each instance. Gregory regularly lectures on various topics of law including: estate planning and estate administration, Medicaid planning, same-sex couples tax planning and Religious Corporations Law topics He has lectured before prestigious bar associations (of which he is a member) including: the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), the Nassau County Bar Association and LeGaL and noted accountant organizations including: the National Conference of CPA Practitioners, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and the New York Society of Independent Accountants. Greg is also invited to lecture at the Interchurch Center and various community-based organizations. This year Gregory was asked to speak by Lawline, a premier provider of continuing legal education. As a member of the NYSBA, Greg was appointed liaison to the Tax Law Section. In addition, he was granted a seat on the House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the NYSBA. Greg is proud to have represented numerous families who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, and to have helped to establish Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, a major charitable organization created in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedies. In addition, to his regular lecture schedule, Gregory has authored numerous articles on estate and tax topics for many professional publications. Greg enjoys serving his community, and has been involved in the following community positions: Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Kew-Forest School, an independent pre-k through 12th grade college preparatory school located in Forest Hills, New York; Former Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Lutheran Schools Association located; Former Vice Chair of the Small Firm and Solo Practitioners Committee of LeGaL. Education: Hofstra University School of Law, J.D. Skidmore College, B.A. Honors: Lutheran Schools Association 2016 “Spirit of Hope” Award in recognition of the faithful support and the model of service he provides to the children, families and schools of the LSA Transfiguration Lutheran Church, Bronx, New York – “Amigo” award for resolution of a major tax matter Long Island GLBT Services Network, Nassau, New York – named Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld LLP a 2014 Equality Award Honoree Outside the office: In his spare time, Greg enjoys cycling the five boroughs of New York City, travelling the world and spending time with his family and friends.

Ms. Gillespie’s law practice focuses on international tax matters and income and estate tax planning for high net worth, non-resident individuals, non-U.S. individuals working in the U.S. and U.S. citizens working abroad. She has considerable experience representing clients making voluntary disclosures to the IRS. Before establishing her legal practice, she worked for Arthur Andersen, the Goldman Sachs Family Office and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. She is Chair of the Suffolk County Bar Association Animal Law Committee; she is past Chair of the New York State Society of CPA’s Digital Asset Committee as well as their International Taxation Committee. She is a member of the AICPA, the American Bar Association, and the New York State, New York City and Suffolk County Bar Associations. She is admitted to practice in New York and the Law Society of England and Wales. She is a CPA; she has received her Masters of Science degree in Taxation and her Juris Doctor and is also a certified public accountant. Ms. Gillespie has served on the NYSSCPA’s Tax Division Oversight Committee and its Virtual Currency Task Force. She is a TEP (Trust and Estate Practitioner) under the auspices of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. She served as an adjunct Professor at Touro Law School. Ms. Gillespie lectures frequently and has authored a number of articles on topics including but not limited to, international taxation, virtual currency and digital assets. She is the author of the “Foreign Bank Account Reporting Compliance Guide (with FATCA coverage)” published by CCH.

Brent Lipschultz is a Partner in the Personal Wealth Advisors Group, a leader on the International Wealth Planning team, and a member of the firm’s National Tax Practice. With more than 25 years of experience, Brent focuses on domestic and international income and estate and gift tax planning for global investors, corporate executives, athletes and entertainers and closely held business owners. Additionally, Brent advises global companies on expatriate tax and payroll matters; and provides services in the areas of compensation planning and charitable giving. Brent has represented clients before the IRS and state taxing authorities on complex tax matters, including off-shore voluntary compliance cases. Prior to returning to the firm, Brent was a Partner at a Big 4 firm where he served international family offices having sophisticated cross border tax issues. He also served as a technical resource in a Big 4 firm’s Washington National Tax practice. Brent serves as CoHead of the High Net Worth Committee and a member of the Global Mobility Committee for Allinial Global. He is also on the campaign steering committee of UJA-Federation of New York and has served on the executive board of STEP-NY. He was formerly on the Executive Committee of the AICPA Personal Financial Planning board. Brent has written numerous articles on topics of estate planning for national publications, including The Tax Advisor and Philanthropy Magazine. He has lectured at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, in addition to national financial institutions and community organizations. Brent has also been quoted in national publications and outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters, among others; and speaks about financial planning topics on Bloomberg Television, CNBC, MSNBC, CBS Market Watch, and National Public Radio.

Tricia Levin is the of Head of Family Office Solutions for the Multi-Family Office of BBH. She works with families providing strategic advice designed to optimize the full suite of services clients need as part of their unique family office solution. She has oversight for the comprehensive delivery of those solutions, including cash flow and entity management, philanthropic giving, administrative services (bill pay, consolidated reporting, and capital call administration), and tax and accounting advisory.

Prior to joining the firm, Tricia was a Managing Director of Client Service at Geller Advisors for over 10 years. She served as a Lead Advisor for some of the most complex families and their private businesses, providing tax advisory and family office services. In addition, she oversaw all the tax compliance needs for the family and their entities, including personal, business, trusts, and not-for-profit. Prior to Geller, Tricia was with Deloitte Tax LLP in their New York Private Equity Practice for 18 years, where she worked her way up from Associate to Partner. She served some of the largest private equity funds and its partners.

Tricia received a B.B.A. from Emory University and an M.S. in taxation from Fordham University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Kevin Matz, Esq., CPA, LLM (taxation), is a partner in the Private Clients, Trusts and Estates Department at the national law firm of ArentFox Schiff LLP, based in its New York City office, where he co-chairs its Family Office Group.  Kevin’s practice is principally devoted to domestic and international estate and tax planning, family office services, estate administration and related litigation. Kevin earned his BS in Accounting from Lehman College (CUNY), his JD from Fordham University School of Law (where he was a Notes & Articles Editor of the Fordham Law Review) and his LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law. Kevin is currently President of the NYCPA, and is a former chair of both its Estate Planning Committee and its Trust and Estate Administration Committee, the current chair of both the FAE Curriculum Committee and of the NYCPA Professional Liability Insurance Committee, and a past President of the FAE Board of Trustees.  In addition, Kevin is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), in which connection he is a past Chair of ACTEC’s Business Planning Committee, the current Vice-Chair of its Washington Affairs Committee and a member of ACTEC’s Board of Regents. Kevin is also currently the Treasurer of the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and the past Chair of the UJA-Federation of New York’s Trusts and Estates Group (for which he was its Honoree at its 2023 Annual Event). Kevin may be contacted at 914-380-2140 or kevin.matz@afslaw.com.

Jamie serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Geller Advisors. He has over 15 years of experience in implementing risk management, data privacy, and information security programs that focus on overseeing private client data protection, corporate governance, and risk management strategy. Jamie works with clients to help them understand and navigate privacy and technology risks specific to their families and associated entities. As a security leader, Jamie’s team leads efforts to build and sustain a strong and integrated risk culture in which staff and clients are educated on how to manage strategic, operational, and reputational risks. Prior to joining Geller Advisors, Jamie held several senior information security roles at multinational organizations, most recently as Information Security Officer at Ropes & Gray LLP. Here, he led innovative security initiatives including vulnerability management plans, security strategy development, and corporate policy designs. Additionally, he collaborated with a wide network of public and private industry information security experts to deliver forward-thinking security thought leadership. Jamie received a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Digital Forensics from Champlain College, and is a frequent speaker on information security and risk management topics.

Allen serves as the Head of Wealth Strategy at Geller Advisors. He provides strategic planning advice on matters related to income taxes, wealth transfer techniques, executive compensation, pre-transaction planning, philanthropic and non-profit organizations, family office considerations, estate disposition, trust administration, and investment management. Allen is also responsible for utilizing financial forecasting tools to demonstrate the impact of various planning concepts and strategies, including portfolio construction, retirement timing, asset concentrations, business transactions, charitable giving, choice of domicile, and estate tax minimization. Previous to Geller Advisors, Allen was an Executive Director and Wealth Strategist at JP Morgan for seven years. During his time at JP Morgan, he was responsible for the Wealth Strategy practice in the Midwestern region of U.S. markets and a select group of international offices. Allen is also an adjunct faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, where he occasionally teaches courses on taxation and financial topics. After earning his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California, Allen received his JD and LL.M (Tax) from Washington University in St. Louis.

Chris is a trusted adviser in wealth planning and preservation for wealthy individuals and families. His clients include private business owners, families with established wealth, family offices, and principals of private equity and hedge funds. Chris understands the personal nature of estate planning and strives to design plans tailored to each client’s individual needs. To accomplish his clients’ goals, Chris implements a wide variety of estate planning tools both during life and at death. These tools, including irrevocable trusts and family entities, aim to leverage a client’s estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to transfer wealth in a tax efficient manner that is also protected from creditors. Chris also fixes old estate plans, including the modification of irrevocable trust agreements through decantings and settlement agreements.

Richard counsels clients on complex domestic and international estate planning, including trusts and estates administration, fiduciary income tax planning, and tax-efficient wealth transfer strategies. He has experience structuring, implementing and administering family-controlled and tax-exempt entities, as well as private trust companies. Richard is a trusted advisor who works closely with clients in creating personalized plans to achieve their long-term planning goals.

Kayvan is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer with more than 15 years of experience in complex commercial and securities litigation, investigations, and enforcement proceedings. He has served as lead counsel in proceedings nationwide, and regularly defends clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), state attorneys general, and other government agencies. He also advises corporate boards and special committees in connection with internal investigations and corporate governance matters. His clients have included leading global companies, and their directors and officers, across a range of industries including financial services, media, technology, energy, and consumer products. He has successfully defended clients against billions of dollars in claims and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars as plaintiffs’ counsel. He is often called upon to address novel applications of federal securities laws and to address emerging technologies. Kayvan is also an active member of the blockchain community, advising clients on securities litigation, enforcement, and other legal issues. He is a member of the Legal Working Group of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, and has enjoyed teaching cryptocurrency litigation, enforcement, and regulation as part of a graduate-level Fintech course. With a strong commitment to pro bono service, Kayvan works with the National Women’s Law Center TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, successfully defended a freelance journalist in a highly publicized defamation case brought by a former top Mexican official, and worked with the New York Civil Liberties Union in class action litigation that led to a landmark settlement reforming the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons.

Richard is a transactional partner and head of the Opportunity Zone Team and Family Office Group at Stroock, and chair of the firm’s Infrastructure Group, among other roles. He advises clients on fund formation and investments and developed and structured a major multibillion-dollar global infrastructure fund for JPMorgan. Richard has helped his clients acquire or sell interests in more than $25 billion of privately held investments. Richard’s recent transactions include: formation of multiple open-end and closed-end funds, including multiple Opportunity Zone funds and investments on behalf of wealth managers and investors; sales of closely-held companies to private equity firms and conglomerates; advising wealthy clients on investments, and related financings and other transactions. Richard earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School (where he was on the Law Review). For more information, contact Richard at rmadris@stroock.com.

Craig Bernstein is the Chief Investment Officer of OPZ Capital in Washington, DC where he provides bespoke real estate solutions to ultra-high net worth and family office investors.

Jonathan is the Founder of Compo Capital Advisors, a capital formation expert. Prior to forming Compo, Jonathan was the Global Head of Real Estate Private Capital Markets at J.P. Morgan and UBS. There he raised over $20 billion for real estate funds and direct investments from institutional investors and family offices. At UBS and since forming Compo, Jonathan has worked with real estate developers on raising over $500 million of equity capital to invest in direct OZ investments.