Washington Council Ernst and Young professionals - Ernst & Young - United States

» Gary Gasper is one of the leaders of Ernst & Young's Washington Council Ernst & Young practice. He assists clients on a variety of matters before Congress, the White House, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. Gary provides services related to federal tax legislative and regulatory matters involving corporate taxation, financial products, tax-exempt entities, employee benefits, insurance taxation and other areas.

» From 1989 to 1993, during Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, Gary served as Senior Tax Advisor in the Office of Tax Policy at the Department of the Treasury and as Assistant to the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner. Gary was selected by President George W. Bush to serve on the 2000 “Transition Team” for the Department of the Treasury.

He previously worked at a leading national law firm and served as an Attorney-Advisor to the Honorable Judge Perry Shields of the US Tax Court. Gary also served as Tax Advisor to the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform (Kemp Commission).

» Gary received a B.S. in accountancy from the University of Illinois, a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Illinois and in the District of Columbia. Gary is the former Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation's Government Relations and Formation of Tax Policy committees.

» Nicholas Giordano is one of the leaders of Ernst & Young's Washington Council Ernst & Young practice and provides services related to tax and budget issues.

» Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Nick served as the Chief Tax Counsel of the US Senate Committee on Finance, where he advised the Committee and other members of the Senate on substantive tax policy issues, as well as budget and parliamentary issues. Prior to his position with the Finance Committee, Nick served as the National Director for Tax Legislative Services at Ernst & Young. He has also served as Legislative Director and Tax Counsel for Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), where his responsibilities included coordination of all Senate floor items.

» Nick recently completed a two-year term as the Chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Tax Legislation and Policy Committee. He also is a former chair of the American Bar Association's Formation of Tax Policy Committee.

» Nick is a graduate of Syracuse University and received a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

» Bob Schellhas is a member of Ernst & Young’s Washington Council Ernst & Young practice where he represents clients on a wide range of issues before the Congress and the Executive Branch.

» Bob most recently served as the Managing Director and Head of Federal Government Affairs in the Washington, D.C., Global Government Affairs office for Citigroup, Inc. Prior to Citigroup, Bob was the Vice President of Federal Relations for the American Council of Life Insurers, representing the Washington interests of more than 400 domestic and global life insurance companies.

» Bob has had a distinguished career in Washington including having served as Deputy Chief of Staff to current Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Communications Director and Senior Legislative Assistant to current House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), and Chief of Staff and Trade Advisor to then-Congressman (now Senator) Rob Portman (R-OH). Bob got his start in politics 25 years ago with then-Congressman Bill Schuette, who is now Michigan's Attorney General.

» Bob, a native of Clare, Michigan, holds a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from Central Michigan University.

» Timothy Urban is a member of Ernst & Young's Washington Council
Ernst & Young practice and leads Washington Council's Renewable Energy & Climate Change practice.

» He has represented a variety of clients on energy issues, including tax credits for electricity from renewable resources, investment incentives for purchases of solar energy property, production tax credits for biodiesel and proposed incentives for investment and production associated with Cellulosic Biomass Ethanol. Since 1999, Tim has worked with Congress and Administration officials in the development of renewable energy tax policy.

»In addition, he works closely with trade associations and companies representing a wide variety of renewable energy technologies and works with the environmental community on developing energy and climate change policy options that can garner a broad base of support. Tim frequently speaks on energy policy issues.

» Prior to joining Washington Council Ernst & Young, Tim served as the Committee on Ways and Means Staff Associate for Representative Wally Herger (R-CA). In that role, he was responsible for advising Representative Herger on tax, trade, pension and health policy issues; creating and implementing the annual tax legislative agendas; drafting legislation and testimony; and coordinating with Committee and Joint Committee staff.

» Tim previously served as Legislative Assistant at a national law firm. There, he was responsible for covering the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance.

» Tim received a B.A. from The George Washington University. He also graduated from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center. Tim received military awards from the Governments of France and Italy.

» Weston Coulam is a member of Ernst & Young's Washington Council Ernst & Young practice where he represents clients before Congress and provides services related to a broad range of policy areas, including financial services, corporate taxation, employee benefits and energy tax issues.

» Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Wes was Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, and represented Morgan Stanley before Congress and the Executive Branch on various financial services, corporate tax, real estate and energy policy issues.

» Wes has extensive experience working in Congress, including as Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, chaired by Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME), where he led the Committee's work providing oversight of federal programs serving the small business sector and in authorizing the Small Business Administration and its business development and lending programs. In addition to his duties as Staff Director, Wes continued as principal adviser to Senator Snowe (whose staff he joined in March 2003 as Senior Tax Policy Advisor) on a range of important policy issues, including the federal budget, taxation, and general economic issues. Wes also served as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), where he had responsibility for tax, banking, and employee benefit issues. Wes has been involved in most of the major tax and budget legislation that Congress has considered since 1993.

» Wes has also worked at Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen, where he advised corporate clients on corporate tax, energy and benefits policy issues.

» Wes received a B.S. from the University of Maryland University College and an MBA from The George Washington University.

» Sarah Kuehl Egge is a member of Ernst & Young’s Washington Council Ernst & Young practice. She has nearly 14 years of legislative and policy experience in the Senate working on health care, entitlement reform, budget, tax and transportation issues.

» Sarah most recently served as the lead health and entitlements analyst for the Democratic Staff of the Senate Budget Committee, where her portfolio included private health insurance coverage, Medicare and Social Security. She was a key advisor to Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) in his capacity as a member of both President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and the Gang of Six.

» In addition, Sarah served as the Deputy Staff Director of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction created by the Budget Control Act, where she helped Committee members navigate the complex issues and tradeoffs associated with significant deficit reduction. In this role, she helped manage the non-partisan staff of the Joint Select Committee; led Member briefings on various policy topics; provided strategic advice to the Committee Co-Chairs; and coordinated legislative drafting and budget scoring of deficit reduction measures.

» Sarah began her career on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to former Finance Committee member Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE), advising him on tax, Social Security, budget and appropriations matters.

» Daniel Esquibel is a member of Ernst & Young's Washington Council Ernst & Young practice where he provides services on the implementation of the health care law and related regulatory activity.

»Prior to joining Washington Council Ernst & Young, Daniel spent more than 10 years working on health care issues, with particular emphasis on California health policy, other state Medicaid initiatives, coverage expansion efforts and health information technology. For seven of those years, Daniel edited the iHealthBeat and California Healthline news digests. Daniel wrote a weekly column on the national health care reform debate in 2009 and 2010. In addition, he spearheaded news analysis and legislative tracking efforts focused on the 2007 health care reform effort in California.

»Daniel received a B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania.