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An Inside Look: Feat. Jeff Stark of Rödl & Partner

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Jeff StarkJeff Stark joined Rödl & Partner in 2012 and is now in charge of their Chicago office’s Tax Department. Rödl & Partner is a leading global professional service firm, providing integrated audit, tax compliance and business consulting services for foreign-owned businesses in the United States.  Rödl & Partner has 7 offices in the United States and operates in 46 countries worldwide.

Jeff began his professional career at Arthur Andersen and worked at two other national CPA firms before joining Rödl & Partner. Jeff has many years of experience providing tax consulting and compliance services to both businesses and individuals. Jeff has extensive experience working with foreign corporations, closely held businesses and individuals.

Jeff is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and both the Illinois and Wisconsin state CPA associations. During college, Jeff was involved with the Notre Dame Marching Band, student government and AIESEC.

Jeff received his Bachelors of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and his Master of Business Administration in taxation from the University of Notre Dame – Mendoza College of Business.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Dan Levine of Oxford Economics

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Dan LevineDan Levine joined Oxford Economics US Consulting as Practice Leader of Location Strategies and Economic Development in 2014. He has had a lengthy career in location strategies consulting, economic development and public sector finance.

Dan previously led the Location and Incentives Consulting Practice at ADP, Inc. and also owned and operated a boutique corporate relocation consulting company, MetroCompare LLC.  In these capacities, he advised companies on where to locate new facilities (e.g., call centers, industrial plants and shared-service centers) and negotiated incentive packages on behalf of these companies in excess of $150 million. Clients included Citigroup, Novartis, Burlington Coat Factory, Dyson and the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey.

Dan previously served as Assistant State Treasurer of New Jersey, where he led many of that state’s economic development efforts including the creation of a first in the nation incentive program targeting retention, privatization of the state aquarium and a waterfront master development agreement in Camden, NJ.

Earlier in his career, Dan was Director of Incentive Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dan is a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (Masters) and earned his BA in Economics from the University of Chicago.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Peter Wirth formerly of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

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*please note: at the time this recording took place, Peter was with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. He has since moved on to new opportunities, but still offers incredible insight into the field of site selection in this interview.

Peter WirthPeter Wirth joined Newmark Knight Grubb Frank’s Dallas office in 2010 to fulfill a commitment to strengthen and expand the integrated services operation of the real estate platform of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Global Corporate Services division, being one of a distinguished and select few certified GCS Brokers. Peter assists in the development and implementation of strategic initiatives to companies around the globe and has a keen understanding for fully leveraging Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s operational consulting arm with the global real estate strategy offerings. Peter’s specialty is location strategy, helping clients identify the fundamental for where they should be and why.

Peter has assisted such clients as Kohl’s Department Stores, Nokia Siemens Networks, AT&T, SuperMedia (Verizon Wireless Yellow Pages), Just Energy, Momentis Energy, Hancock Bank and Huntington Bank, among others. Peter is recognized by both his peers and his clients as a source of trust and integrity.

Prior to joining Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, Peter served at GVA Cawley as a global corporate services associate. He has been awarded Power Broker, CoStar, 2013; and Top Office Deal of the Year from DCEO Magazine, 2013.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Christian University’s M.J. Neeley School of Business, where he majored in both finance and real estate.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Woody Hydrick of Global Location Strategies

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Woody HydrickWoody Hydrick is a partner and senior principal of Global Location Strategies, where he provides site selection services and economic development consulting to companies and organizations worldwide. Woody has guided companies in the investment of billions of dollars worldwide. Woody provides strategic consulting services for capital investment projects including new developments, relocations, expansions or consolidations.

Prior to joining Global Location Strategies, Woody was a managing director for Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Business Consulting. Some of Woody’s clients include Novartis, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Orica Limited, and Shell Oil & Chemicals. Throughout his career, Woody has executed site searches for clients in North America, South America, Europe and Asia for manufacturing, distribution and headquarters operations representing billions of dollars in capital investments, as well as thousands of jobs. Woody is a recognized as a leader in the field with a particular specialty in life sciences investments.

Woody received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political Science from Athens State University. Some of Woody’s personal interests include travel, reading and family.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Gene DePrez of Global Innovation Partners

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Gene DePrezGene DePrez is a Founder and Managing Partner of Global Innovation Partners, a group of world class innovation thought leaders assisting companies, economic development organizations and universities increase their global competitiveness and form strategic collaborations by accessing partners around the globe.

In addition to Global Innovation Partners, Gene is a Strategic Advisor for Citiscope. He is also a Visiting Senior Fellow for the International Economic Development Council.

In the past, Gene has led Global Business Location and Economic Strategy practices for PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM Global Services, working with hundreds of corporate clients across all sectors and public sector officials from many countries. He worked for Fluor and Fantus where he led global consulting practices and was Chief Innovation Officer for the United Kingdom’s first comprehensive Economic Development Company with a mission to transform a major city-region’s economy.

Gene has been awarded the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Economic Development by the International Economic Development Council. He has also been named a Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in Finance and Science, and received the President’s Award for Public/Private Partnerships, Gold Award, American Film and Television Association.

Gene has been interviewed by major media outlets, has made global keynote presentations and has authored numerous articles in widely-read trade journals.

Gene received his Bachelors and Masters in communications design and urban affairs from Rochester Institute of Technology. Gene has also done post graduate work on Urban Affairs, Community Development and Adult Education at Syracuse University.

 

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An Inside Look: Feat. Barry Pisano of ADP Tax Credit Services

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barry pisanoBarry Pisano works as a Tax Manager for ADP Tax Credit Services based in the Greater New York Area. He has more than ten years of experience assisting companies with negotiation and procurement; and compliance and administration of credits and incentives. Barry has worked with Fortune 500 companies and in the industry clusters of financial services, banking, manufacturing, logistics and transportation.

He is frequently published in the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives, and is a member of the New Jersey State Bar and New York State Bar.

Barry received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and international studies from the University of Richmond and his Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School.

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An Inside Look: Feat. James Beatty of NCS International

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James BeattyJames Beatty founded NCS International in 1984, specializing in conducting location analysis and recommendations for corporate expansions and working with economic development firms and chambers of commerce internationally to develop strategies to attract corporate investment. As president, James’ primary focus is on customer service, support service, back office, information technology and business process outsourcing sectors. NCS International has conducted over 300 site selection projects representing over $3 billion in corporate investment and providing 30,000 jobs across the U.S.

Throughout his career, James has worked with hundreds of national, regional, state and local economic development organizations representing a variety of companies seeking new and expansion locations. He has been a national columnist and contributing editor/writer for multiple business and economic development publications and his work has been recognized by the world-renowned Aspen Institute, the National Governors Association and featured in the Wall Street Journal. James has written several books on economic development and conducted workshops and seminars training thousands of economic developers over the past 25 years for the International Economic Developers Council.

James has a strong history of involvement with civic organizations including the YMCA of Greater Omaha and The First Tee of Omaha/Hogan’s Junior Golf Heroes Foundation. He has been inducted into the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame, and has served as vice chairman of the Omaha Metropolitan Transit Authority and of the Nebraska Economic Development Authority.

James received his bachelor of arts in mathematics from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska where he was a track star and was the first African American to major in mathematics.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Brent Pollina of Pollina Corporate Real Estate

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Brent PollinaAs vice president of Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Brent Pollina works closely with corporations in order to ensure that they achieve and surpass all of their real estate goals. Brent actively represents corporations in all aspects of the company’s real estate transactions, including site and building evaluation, lease negotiations, purchase contracts and lease administration. As a consultant, Brent assists clients nationally with strategic planning and all other forms of real estate consulting.

As part of the Pollina Corporate negotiating team, Brent is active in analyzing and negotiating state and local incentives on behalf of corporate clients. In addition to working for many corporate clients, Brent has performed numerous economic development studies for various regional and local economic development groups, as well as Chambers of Commerce.

Brent has authored multiple articles on site selection and state and local incentives, as well as contributed to the publication of the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States. In addition, Brent is also a member of the International Tenant Representative Alliance, an association of tenant representative corporate real estate brokers with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Brent received his Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Drake University, and then went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from Marquette University. Brent has been admitted to practice before the Illinois and Wisconsin Supreme Courts and is an active member of the American, Illinois and Wisconsin Bar Association.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Alex Frei of Cushman & Wakefield

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Alex FreiAlex Frei is the Director of the Business Incentives Practice (BIP) within the Global Business Consulting (GBC) Group at Cushman & Wakefield.  BIP is a specialty practice within GBC focusing on cost mitigation strategies as part of location strategy in the form of state, local and other economic development and tax incentives. Alex has vast experience negotiating both statutory and discretionary incentive packages nationwide for a variety of industry sectors. Alex is widely recognized by the major economic development agencies as one of the top incentives negotiators in the United States.

Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Alex was the Director of Corporate Services at Pollina Corporate Real Estate and also served as the Sales Manager and Engineering Manager at Eisenmann where his responsibilities included lead generation, sales presentations, proposal development, estimating, customer management, contract negotiations and change order management.

Alex has won the LEED Accredited Professional designation and is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Illinois. Alex has been a participant in the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and is an active member of Access Living’s marathon fundraiser committee. Alex is also fluent in Spanish and German.

Alex received his Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and his Master of Business Administration from Northern Illinois University.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Jubal Smith of Jones Lang LaSalle

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Jubal SmithJubal Smith is Executive Vice President in the Business and Economic Incentives (BEI) Practice of Jones Lang LaSalle.  Jubal has sixteen years of experience in state and local economic development, incentives negotiation, site selection and identification and securing of state and local tax credits.

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Jubal was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young LLP Business Credits, Incentives & Site Location Practice and a Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP State and Local Tax Credits, Site Location, and Incentives Practice, both in Dallas, Texas.  Previous positions include: Director of Economic Development for the City of Austin, Texas and Project Manager for Entergy’s Office of Economic Development in Little Rock, AR.

Jubal is a Certified Economic Developer, a member of the International Economic Development Council and the Texas Economic Development Council.  Jubal is an instructor at the Mid-South Economic Development Course at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a focus on educating leaders in economic development. He is also a frequent speaker on topics related to economic development, credits and incentives at conferences, forums and various Governor planning and discussion panels.

Jubal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mississippi State University and a Master’s Degree in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi.

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