FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) announced on January 28 that[private] James G. Garanich will join the company as vice president, Tax, effective March 1, 2010. He will lead FirstEnergy’s Tax Department, developing tax strategy and overseeing reporting, regulatory compliance and tax payments to more than 600 communities and government entities. He succeeds Gene Sitarz, who retired from FirstEnergy in November 2009 after 36 years with the company. Garanich is a tax partner with Ernst & Young LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Garanich joined Arthur Young and Company, a predecessor to Ernst & Young, in 1984. He received a bachelor of science degree from Bowling Green State University in 1981, and a Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1984. Garanich has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1987.
“Jim’s wealth of experience will be key to ensuring we maintain a solid tax strategy as the company completes the transition to fully competitive generation markets,” said Mark T. Clark, FirstEnergy executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer. “We appreciate Gene’s many years of counsel and dedicated service, and look forward to having Jim join our excellent Controller’s group, led by Harvey Wagner[/private]
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companies comprise the nation’s fifth largest investor-owned electric system, based on 4.5 million customers served, within a 36,100-square-mile area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control more than 14,000 megawatts of capacity.
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Magisters, a leading CIS-based law firm, today announces the appointment of Vyacheslav Golik as Partner and Head of Tax Litigation practice at the firm’s Moscow office.
Mr. Golik has over 10 years of experience and joins Magisters from leading international consultancy KPMG, where he was Director of Tax in Russia/CIS. He previously spent three years at Russian law firm Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners as Head of Tax and Consulting.
Vyacheslav Golik specializes in tax, including fiscal capacity assessment and tax risk, tax audit assistance, corporate tax planning as well as general tax advisory. He has wide experience in tax disputes and litigation successfully representing clients in courts. Mr. Golik’s clients include Gazprom, NLMK, Surgutneftegaz, Vimpelcom, Shell, Rosneft, TNK BP, Mosenergo, Orenburgenergo etc.
Vyacheslav is a graduate of St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance where he also obtained a postgraduate qualification at the Finance Credit and International Economics faculty.
“We are delighted to welcome such a high-profile tax expert to our team. Over the past three months we have significantly bolstered the Moscow office with outstanding specialists. This appointment along with the official establishment of Tax Litigation practice in Moscow is another great addition to the firm’s service offerings that now cover all the key practice areas. With such reinforcements we are perfectly equipped to move forward in order to provide our clients with an advanced range of premium quality legal advice”, comments Dmitry Dyakin, Managing Partner at Magisters’ Moscow office.
Vyacheslav Golik adds: “I am happy to become a part of this ambitious and highly reputable team. I do feel excited about this new challenging period of my career and I am going to contribute to the firm’s success and its further dynamic development as much as possible”.
Mr. Golik is among three new partners to join Magisters in Moscow over the past three months. Clemens Schlotter joined the firm to lead the newly-established German Desk in November and Russia’s Top PPP lawyer Kirill Ratnikov moved to Magisters as Head of Infrastructure/PPP and M&A and Corporate practices in December 2009. [/private]
Russell Bedford International has selected [private]Deramchi & Azzouz as its Algerian correspondent firm, helping to complete the accounting network’s coverage in North Africa.
The firm was originally established as a tax consulting practice in 1996 by Abdallah Deramchi following his 32 years as a tax director in the Algerian Public Administration.
The practice expanded into a public accounting and audit firm soon after Abdallah Deramchi was joined by his son Riad Mohamed Deramchi, a chartered accountant and registered auditor, in 1999. In 2009, the Algiers-based practice was further strengthened by the integration of the office of Salim Azzouz, giving it a presence in Oran, Algeria’s second largest city. Salim Azzouz is also a chartered accountant and registered auditor.
Deramchi & Azzouz, which has a total of more than 40 personnel, is now one of the top-10 accounting practices in the country. The firm has a broad range of expertise and experience covering the fields of finance, accountancy, taxation, labour law and expatriate legislation. Services are provided to a client base comprising private and public corporations, a large proportion of which are multinationals, including many well know brand names.
Members of the professional team are generally trilingual in Arabic, French and English.
The firm is certified by the Directorate General for Taxes for the provision of tax advisory services, by the National Institute of Public Accountants and Auditors (ONECC) for accountancy and statutory auditing services, and also by the Directorate General for Customs for advisory services concerning international trade.[/private]
Bennett Thrasher PC, the 4th largest Atlanta-based accounting and audit firm, is pleased to announce [private]Charles Edge has joined the firm as Director of Transfer Pricing. The new position is a further measure of DFK International, a major international association of independent accounting firms and business advisers, and two shareholders serve on its board of directors.
“Because a large part of our practice is international, we are very fortunate to have Charles join us as the Director of Transfer Pricing,” said Managing Shareholder Michael Dukes. “Transfer pricing is set to be one of this year’s key issues in international tax and we believe this position will help us be proactive for our clients.”
About Charles Edge
Charles Edge leads Bennett Thrasher’s Transfer Pricing consulting practice. Edge has extensive experience providing international tax advice to foreign-owned companies and their shareholders/owners. His work includes structuring U.S. and foreign operations; developing, documenting and defending transfer pricing strategies and intercompany cost sharing arrangements; and developing expatriate tax policies and compliance programs. He has successfully defended numerous companies during IRS examinations of transfer pricing arrangements and has assisted many companies minimize tax costs through proactive transfer pricing analysis.
Edge began his career with Price Waterhouse LLP. After seven years in the international tax department, he left to join Sema Group Plc, a British software and logistics company as Tax Director. He subsequently joined British Telecom as the Tax Director for their joint venture companies Syncordia Inc. and Concert Communications Inc. Edge later returned to private practice in Atlanta specializing in transfer pricing and international tax for ten years before joining Fisher Connectors Inc., a multinational manufacturing and distribution company as Director of Finance and Tax. He graduated from the University of Alabama – Birmingham with a Bachelor of Accountancy and is a member of the Georgia Society of CPA’s, AICPA and the British American Business Group.[/private]
About Bennett Thrasher PC
Bennett Thrasher PC is the fourth largest Atlanta-based, full-service accounting, audit and consulting firm. We create significant value and a unique positive experience through collaboration – with and between clients, shareholders, associates and the community. Founded in 1980 by Rick Bennett and Ken Thrasher, today Bennett Thrasher has a dedicated, experienced team of shareholders and professionals. Bennett Thrasher has recently expanded its corporate structure to include BT Wealth Management, LLC investment advisors. Please visit the firm online at www.btcpa.net.
As one of the largest and most renowned corporate law firms in Austria with offices in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, CHSH continues to expand. [private]
Johannes Prinz will be CHSH’s new tax partner
As a partner, MMag. Johannes Prinz, 38, will significantly strengthen CHSH’s tax law practice. Johannes Prinz is an attorney and tax consultant with many years’ experience advising national and international clients. Prinz previously played a key role in helping to establish and introduce integrated legal and tax services at CHSH.
Among other things, Prinz advises his clients with regard to tax-efficient transaction structures, especially in the fields of mergers & acquisitions, international tax law, restructurings and structured finance. Prinz has been with CHSH since 2002. He is the author of several publications and is also a lecturer on taxation issues.[/private]
[private]Edward Troup has been appointed Managing Director of the Budget, Tax and Welfare directorate, in succession to Mark Neale.
Mr Troup has been Director of Business and Indirect Tax since 2004, having joined the Treasury after a career as a tax lawyer at Simmons & Simmons. A leading expert on tax, Mr Troup has played a key role in the development of the directorate.
Notes for editors
1. As Director of Business and Indirect Tax at HM Treasury, Mr Troup was responsible for policy on corporate taxes, VAT, consumption and excise taxes, environment, transport and energy taxes and small business taxation. From 1997 to 2004 he was a corporate tax partner with Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm based in London, and a special adviser on tax at HM Treasury from 1995-1997. [/private]
Winston & Strawn LLP announced today the addition of [private]James P. Baker as a partner in its San Francisco office. Baker focuses on Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation and counseling employers on the entire spectrum of employee benefit and executive compensation matters.
“We are pleased to welcome Jim to Winston & Strawn. He is recognized as one of the nation’s top ERISA litigators and has considerable experience in defending major class actions. Jim will help us expand further an already key area of our practice,” said Rex Sessions, chairman of Winston & Strawn’s labor and employment relations department.
“Jim is an accomplished ERISA lawyer with a truly national profile and reputation. While he may sit in San Francisco, his tremendous experience and proven success will be valuable assets to our clients nationally. Further, Jim continues the expansion of our thriving West Coast labor and employment practice,” said Charles Birenbaum, managing partner of Winston & Strawn’s San Francisco office.
Previously co-chair of Jones Day’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice, Baker has been recognized as one of the nation’s 40 best ERISA attorneys by The National Law Journal, and Chambers USA named him one of America’s Leading Lawyers for ERISA Litigation. In addition, he has been listed in several other legal directories as a prominent attorney in his field, including Legal 500 US, The Best Lawyers in America and Northern California Super Lawyers.
Baker regularly represents clients in federal district and appellate courts across the country. Among his most notable successes, Baker acted as lead attorney in five ERISA stock drop class action cases resulting in consecutive client victories using five different legal theories, including In re First American Corp. ERISA Litigation, 258 F.R.D. 610 (C.D. Cal. 2009); In re Dell ERISA Litigation, 563 F. Supp. 2d 681 (W.D. Tex. 2008); Spivey v. The Southern Company, 427 F. Supp. 2d 1144 (N.D. Ga. 2006); In re Administrative Committee ERISA Litigation, 2005 WL 3454126 (N.D. Cal. 2005); and Ogden v. Americredit Corp., 225 F.R.D. 529 (N.D. Tex. 2005).
Baker is a contributing editor for the Benefits Law Journal. He regularly authors articles and presents seminars on legal issues impacting employment benefits. Baker currently serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s ERISA and Pension Litigation Subcommittee of the Committee on Business and Corporate Litigation. He is a mediator on ERISA cases for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Eastern districts of California. In addition, he is a volunteer attorney for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel.
Baker received his master of laws degree from Georgetown University, his juris doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University.[/private]
[private]
Justin Bryant has joined Kingston Smith LLP as tax partner in the City office. A qualified solicitor and chartered accountant, Justin joins Kingston Smith’s tax and legal consultancy department with a wealth of experience.
In his previous role he has been involved in innovative SDLT planning, as well as off-shore tax mitigation structures for UK property investment and development. He has also worked on a high volume of general tax matters including advising banks, charities, AIM listed clients, entrepreneurs/owner-managed businesses, UK resident non-domiciled individuals and non-UK resident individuals.[/private]
