Michael R. Press President and Executive Director at M.R. Press Consulting, LLC .
Professional Experience:
With
more than 25 years of experience in economic development and tax
incentives, Mr. Press has served in both government and non-government
consulting roles including:
• Built and led the world's leading Business Incentives advisory practice while serving as Tax Partner at Ernst & Young.
• Built similar highly successful practices at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Duff & Phelps.
•
Supervised incentives advisory engagements for Fortune 100 Companies in
the aerospace, automotive, consumer products, financial services,
telecommunications, energy, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage
production and packaging industries.
• Supervised incentives
projects in key states including: NY, NJ, CT, PA, TX, CA, OK, NC, SC,
FL, GA, OH, MA, TN, MI, IL, and LA.
• Assistant Director of Tax Studies, Senate Finance Committee, New York State Senate (Majority);
• Chief Economist and Deputy Commissioner for Policy in the New York City Office of Business Development.
• Chairman of the Enterprise Zone Administrative Boards of four Enterprise (EDZ's) in New York City.
Engagement highlights include:
•
Led the negotiating team that brought the Boeing Company's world
headquarters from Seattle to Chicago (while considering Dallas and
Denver).
• Led the site selection and negotiating team in support
of the largest industrial project of 2009 in Pennsylvania on behalf of
Church & Dwight.
• Secured the benefits package sufficient to induce a 3,000-contingent Citigroup campus to relocate to New Jersey.
• Secured first-of-its-kind incentive in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida and New York.
•
Created new and redesigned existing key economic development programs
for New York City and New York State including; REAP (Relocation and
Employee Assistance Program), ECSP (Energy Cost Savings Program), ICIP
(Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program) and Tax Increment
Financing.
• Organized and hosted the first comprehensive private sector Business Incentives Symposium in the United States in 2009.
• Authored "Incentives in a Down Economy", Journal of Multi-State Taxation, 2008.
Keith Richey
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
International
Tax Counsel of ITT Corporation (2002-Present). Responsibilities
include: international tax planning, transfer pricing planning and
implementation, tax incentives, foreign tax credit planning,
international acquisitions, dispositions, and reorganizations, dividend
planning, licenses and royalties, joint ventures and international
financing.
Director of International Tax Planning for Xerox
Corporation (1991-2002) with similar responsibilities. Senior
International Tax Counsel and General Counsel for the Private Bank for
Citibank (1989-1991) handling sovereign debt restructuring, shipping
companies, cross-border financial instruments, international private
bank matters, etc. Tax Counsel for Mobil Oil (1987-1989) covering
refining and marketing operations in Asia, South America and Africa.
Exxon (1979-1986) held several positions. Last position was in Belgium
doing tax planning for Exxon's chemical operations in Europe and the
Middle East.
ACADEMIC HISTORY
BS, Business Administration, University of Southern California, cum laude.
JD, University of Texas at Austin, American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law
LLM, Taxation, New York University
ARTICLES
Co-author of "Managing the debt/equity structures of a multinational", published in THE TREASURER, Summer, 1996.
"Privatization
and Debt-for-Equity Swaps", published in three legal journals: THE
INTERNATIONAL TAX JOURNAL, Summer 1991, THE JOURNAL OF BANK TAXATION,
Summer 1991, and THE BANKING LAW JOURNAL, Fall 1991 issue.
"Allocating Interest and Other Expenses under Code section 864(e)", THE TAX EXECUTIVE, Spring 1989.
ASSOCIATIONS
Vice-President, International Fiscal Association, Westchester County & Connecticut Region 2003 – present