As Chief Marketing Officer, Kelsey Brewer drives brand, revenue, and partnership enhancing marketing strategies. Her primary responsibilities include branding, public relations, advertising, digital, and sales-driven marketing initiatives. Brewer adds strategic marketing expertise to McGuire Sponsel’s leadership team and facilitates the alignment of marketing with the goals and operations of the firm by steering a differentiated position in the CPA industry.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Brewer was an Account Director in the marketing and communications field. She earned her Bachelors in Integrated Strategic Communications from the University of Kentucky and is a ’22 MBA candidate with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

As a Principal in the Credits and Incentives Practice, Steve Brunson helps growing businesses across the country throughout the site selection process. Steve brings insight and value through site identification, comparative analysis, demographic and labor force analyses, tax and non-tax cost comparisons and economic incentives negotiation and procurement.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel’s economic incentive team, Steve worked in the tax consulting department at a top regional CPA and advisory firm and served as a partner in a national tax consulting practice. He is experienced with tax incentives at all levels including local, state and federal tax incentives. In his role at McGuire Sponsel, Steve specializes in incentive identification, negotiation, and compliance. He works closely with other advisors including attorneys, CPAs, and bankers to coordinate strategies that bring the greatest benefit to each client he serves.

Steve earned his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Notre Dame. He resides in Greenwood, Indiana.

Chelsea Carr is a manager for the R&D Tax Credit Practice. She joined McGuire Sponsel in December 2012 as a tax consultant, conducting fieldwork and preparing R&D Tax Credit calculations and technical narratives.

She serves as a strong conduit partnering with clients to maximize state and federal tax credits. She oversees the entire engagement process, scheduling projects, nurturing client relationships and producing studies that withstand IRS scrutiny.

Carr has had an exceptional history of working one-on-one with clients to deliver quality and timely studies. Her experience learning about each client’s business in order to optimize their R&D Tax Credits has provided tremendous value. This client knowledge allows her to implement the steps necessary to capitalize on other tax saving opportunities.

She also plays a large role in employee training and recruiting, ensuring staff is well aligned with the firm’s goals. Carr has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Butler University.

Shaun joined E&M in 1999. Shaun’s cost segregation experience includes performing studies for office buildings, supermarkets, retail centers, manufacturing plants, apartments, food processing plants, gun ranges, cancer centers, hospitals, assisted living and nursing homes, golf courses, and automobile dealerships. A big part of his daily job includes strategic planning and managing a team of production professionals.  Shaun has frequent lunch and learns for his firms so they are up to date with all the new regulations.  Prior to E&M, Shaun spent over twenty years in the construction-facilities department with Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York.

Craig Fouts is a manager for the Cost Segregation Practice. His primary responsibilities include the oversight of day-to-day operations, client consultation, and leads the project review process. He also plays a large role in the training of staff members.

As a Certified Public Accountant, Craig serves as a technical lead for the Cost Segregation Practice. Fouts has significant experience managing projects from start to finish in a wide variety of industries including commercial development, medical, retail, multi-family, and process manufacturing facilities. Craig’s knowledge & experience allow him to produce accurate results that increase cash flows and optimize depreciation deductions in a timely manner.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Craig worked for a recycling machinery company as a project manager. He received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Purdue University.

Justin Gephart possesses a wealth of industry knowledge and specializes in cost segregation and fixed asset review, two of our firm’s primary areas of expertise. He also oversees McGuire Sponsel’s business development activity, propelling the firm’s expansion and increasing national reputation. He has over 10 years of tax and public accounting experience working with both individual and corporate tax clients of various sizes. McGuire Sponsel’s clients seek his expertise in conducting conservative cost segregation studies that maximize asset reclassifications. Transparency is at the forefront of every study as Gephart partners with clients to understand their business and guide them through the tax planning process from start to finish.

Gephart has considerable experience leading studies in a variety of industries, including industrial, retail, commercial, and multi-family facilities. He and his team optimize depreciation schedules and recommend alternative tax strategies that may have previously not been considered. Prior to joining the firm in 2012, he worked in the public accounting sector. Gephart received his Business Management degree with a specialization in accounting from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Jerry Hammel is a consulting and specialty tax professional with more than 30 years of experience providing strategic tax planning and financial advice to businesses across the country. Jerry works with McGuire Sponsel’s alliance network across the firm’s four practice lines, specializing in international tax and strategic tax planning.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Jerry served as a former tax director for a Top 60 CPA firm. His experience spans across various industries including construction, manufacturing, and wholesale distribution. Jerry specializes in mergers and acquisitions as well as state and local taxation, including income, sales and use, and property taxes. He also assisted past clients with succession planning, estate planning, and general tax/business consulting.

Jerry graduated from Indiana University with a BS in Accounting and then began his career at RSM McGladrey, where he worked for 14 years. He moved to Blue & Co. in 1999 and worked for the firm for more than 20 years, serving most recently as one of Blue & Co.’s shareholders and tax directors.

Sean King is a renowned legal, tax and business advisor who brings to his clients not only technical expertise, but also a cultural and commercial awareness that can only be gained by living and working in numerous countries and on multiple continents. He joined the McGuire Sponsel team in January 2020. For more than twenty years, Sean has been counseling organizations ranging from emerging growth companies to one of the world’s largest private equity firms with more than US$40 billion under management.

In addition to leadership responsibilities, Sean’s leadership of the firm’s globally recognized practice focuses on international corporate structuring for both the outbound operations of U.S. multinationals and the inbound operations of foreign multinationals. This includes advice on structuring cross-border ventures, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain management, cross-border financing, and transfer pricing matters, including the international licensing of intellectual property. Sean has completed transactions in more than 75 countries and has been included in The International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers.

Sean is a member of the Forbes Finance Council and author of multiple publications on international taxation. He is a widely known speaker on the cross-border structuring of investments. In this capacity, Sean has been asked to speak worldwide for numerous Fortune 100 audiences.

Sean is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court. He is also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association where he has served as Vice-Chair of the International Law Section.

He received his master of laws degree in taxation, magna cum laude, from the Chicago-Kent School of Law. He received his juris doctor degree, cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

David McGuire is a leading expert on cost segregation, fixed assets and depreciation law and a co-founder of McGuire Sponsel. He has reviewed real estate portfolios ranging in size from six-figure acquisition costs to billions of dollars in value and has provided cost segregation services for companies in a wide variety of industries.

While serving in consulting and management roles with Big Four accounting firms, he acquired a thorough understanding of the Internal Revenue Code’s depreciation provisions. He has also shared his expertise in depreciation techniques and practices through speaking engagements and workshops for industry groups and accounting firms, including the American Bar Association and multiple CPA Real Estate groups.

McGuire continues to grow McGuire Sponsel’s national presence in cost segregation and depreciation. He is the primary resource for alliance firms in regards to how tax law affects depreciation. His knowledge in determining asset costs and classifications has held up against IRS scrutiny and has built the firm into a trusted industry resource. McGuire’s expertise in depreciation extends beyond the engineering portion of a study. He is often called on to consult in other areas including bonus depreciation and the effects of depreciation on complex transactions, such as Step Up in Basis, Section 108, and Passive Loss Limitations.

McGuire is a recognized expert in areas such as 179D and Alternative Energy Tax Credit Consulting.

McGuire earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame with a concentration in structural design.

Mark O’Dell has a wealth of skill and knowledge in the areas of international corporate taxation and mergers and acquisitions. He brings more than thirty years of experience to the table as a corporate tax director and/or corporate tax manager for several publicly-traded multi-national companies, both U.S. and foreign-owned. As a Principal for McGuire Sponsel, one of O’Dell’s primary focuses is overseeing the growing IC-DISC practice.

O’Dell graduated from Ohio State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with an accounting major. He joined McGuire Sponsel in January 2009, and has CPA licenses in both Indiana and Ohio.

O’Dell has been involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions transactions, both as the company being taken over and the absorbing entity. Having spent years working throughout Europe, he is now eager to translate his multi-national corporate experience to assist smaller U.S. firms that could benefit from his knowledge.

Kyle Riddle leads McGuire Sponsel’s highly successful Research and Development Tax Credit Practice. He has played an integral role in taking the practice from a regional service provider to a national industry leader.

He combines his engineering background and knowledge of product and process development life cycles with his extensive experience with the tax code, regulations, and case law to achieve maximum R&D Tax Credits for clients. Kyle leads a team of R&D Tax Credit experts who work with McGuire Sponsel’s clients on a one-on-one basis to successfully qualify, quantify, and substantiate federal and state R&D Tax Credits.

Kyle has a successful, proven track record in securing R&D Tax Credits and successfully navigating clients through IRS examinations and audits from state taxing authorities.

He earned a degree in engineering management and manufacturing from Miami of Ohio and worked at a Washington, D.C.-based general contracting and construction management company prior to joining McGuire Sponsel.

As Firm Administrator, Cindy Ritchie oversees the day to day non-sales and non-production functions within the firm. Her primary responsibilities include performing many of the A/R and A/P financial functions in the office. She adds efficiencies to the firm’s internal accounting and oversees all functions related to IT and HR. Ritchie also leads the logistics involved with office builds and expansions.

Joining the firm in 2014 as Accounting Supervisor, her role has evolved to Office Manager and now Firm Administrator. Ritchie has made and continues to make numerous improvements to the firm’s operations.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Ritchie was an Accounting Manager in the office supply industry. She has a degree in Business Administration from University of Indianapolis.

Joining the firm in 2008 as a tax consultant, Schwarz is a Principal for the International Practice. Dedicated to bringing value to clients, he uses his knowledge in different disciplines to reduce clients’ overall tax burdens.

As a Certified Public Accountant, Schwarz uses his knowledge and experience to manage all aspects of the IC-DISC compliance process. Working with a variety of industries, he is able to recognize opportunities and find ways to reduce exporter’s taxable income.

Schwarz partners with clients to form new IC-DISC entities, run commission calculations, and increase the overall export tax savings opportunity. He specializes in utilizing McGuire Sponsel’s proprietary transaction by transaction (TxT) methodology to maximize clients’ commissions and tax savings.

As McGuire Sponsel’s first recruit, Schwarz has played an integral role in several areas of the firm. Schwarz earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.

David Seibel is an engineering manager for the R&D Tax Credit Practice. He combines his knowledge of tax law with his engineering expertise to maximize companies’ research credits and reduce their overall tax burdens.

Seibel ensures clients are receiving studies that meet the highest level of quality. He conducts fieldwork, produces detailed technical calculations, and builds narratives that accurately reflect each company’s research and experimentation activity. Seibel is an Enrolled Agent (EA), which enables him to represent clients in audit defense cases with the Internal Revenue Service.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Seibel worked with an industrial furnace company and an electro-mechanical company designing prototype power converters for coal haulers in the mining industry. He earned a degree in the mechanical engineering program at the University of Notre Dame.

Alan joined E&M in 1998. He is a frequent speaker on cost segregation topics at both national conferences and webinars. Alan’s cost segregation experience includes performing studies for office buildings, assisted living & nursing home facilities, supermarkets, retail centers, hotels, automobile dealerships, casinos, and apartment buildings. He has established and maintained partnerships and alliances with major accounting and brokerage firms nationwide. Responsible for strategic planning, budgeting and managing a team of production professionals, Alan is accountable for over $1.5M in annual production.

Prior to joining E&M, he worked for Brown Shoe Company – St. Louis and has a BA degree in Accounting from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

TJ Sponsel II co-founded McGuire Sponsel to deliver specialty tax consulting services to leading local and regional CPA firms across the country. His experience maximizing clients’ credits has grown McGuire Sponsel into a leading national consulting firm.

Sponsel has been instrumental in adding new services that complement the firm’s current business model while bringing additional value to current clients. He has diversified McGuire Sponsel’s service offerings to include International Tax and Credits & Incentives. The combination of these services with the R&D and Cost Segregation Practices have resulted in substantial growth for the firm’s alliance network.

As a highly sought-after speaker, Sponsel is able to share his practical experience and technical knowledge to CPA firms and industry trade associations throughout the country. His involvement in guiding clients through the R&D Tax Credit process has made him a trusted industry leader. Partnering with clients ranging in size, he maximizes available tax credits that withstand IRS scrutiny.

During the tax planning process, Sponsel is transparent with clients and identifies potential opportunities for each specific situation. With vast experience in public accounting and tax consulting, he understands the importance of a CPA firm’s relationship with each of its clients. Sponsel’s approach to client service has included producing consistent results with personal service so firms can confidently integrate McGuire Sponsel into their strategic tax planning.

Sponsel earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Manchester College.

Ben Waltz is a manager for the R&D Tax Credit Practice. His primary responsibilities include engagement oversight, project scheduling, employee training, and client consultation and communication.

Joining the firm in 2014, Ben has played an integral role in managing projects from start to finish. Leading many teams during fieldwork, he gathers the necessary information to maximize R&D Tax Credits. He has an exceptional history substantiating qualified research expenses and maximizing credits while reducing clients’ overall tax burdens.

Prior to joining McGuire Sponsel, Ben worked in real estate accounting. He had a wide range of responsibilities, including monthly financial statement preparations, balance sheet account reconciliations, preparing operating expense budgets and reconciliations, and providing financial analysis to property managers for over 20 properties. Ben earned a degree in Accounting and Finance from IUPUI.

As a manager for the Cost Segregation Practice, Justin Wood leads the site work process for the cost segregation team. He analyzes clients’ properties to reclassify assets, maximize personal property and optimize depreciation deductions.

He is able to complete a comprehensive study that details the major components of a building and accelerate the depreciation schedule. Wood is dedicated to increasing cash flow for clients and producing conservative deliverables that withstand IRS scrutiny.

Wood’s prior experience in the construction field has equipped him with the technical knowledge to identify depreciable assets. He received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Indiana State University.

McGuire Sponsel recognizes Randy Arnold on a successful career with both Ernst & Morris and McGuire Sponsel. Congratulations on retirement!

Please contact Justin Gephart at jgephart@mcguiresponsel.com to get in touch with Randy’s transitioned relationship managers.

###

Randy has managed hundreds of studies and has expertise in the application of cost segregation in multiple property types. He has established and maintained relationships with CPA firms and building owners across the country providing the highest level of guidance and support. Randy is a frequent participant at association and network conferences sharing the opportunities of tax savings via cost segregation.

Randy was a manager, and later a shareholder during his 17-year tenure with Ernst & Morris Consulting Group (E&M). He implemented workflow and technical improvements along with the automation of processes.  E&M has been recognized throughout the cost segregation industry as a standard bearer for more than 25 years.

As a Director for McGuire Sponsel, Randy brings his leadership, deep industry knowledge, and technical skills to the team.

Randy received his degree from Emporia State University in Emporia, KS.

McGuire Sponsel recognizes Dave Okun on a successful career with both Ernst & Morris and McGuire Sponsel. Congratulations on retirement!

Please contact Justin Gephart at jgephart@mcguiresponsel.com to get in touch with Dave’s transitioned relationship managers.

###

Dave joined E&M in 2000. Dave’s cost segregation experience includes performing studies for office buildings, medical offices, supermarkets, major shopping centers, manufacturing plants, apartments, hotels, athletic clubs, golf courses, nursing homes, daycare centers, automobile dealerships, and banks. Dave has successfully defended his studies with the IRS. Responsible for strategic planning, budgeting, production and training, he has developed and manages a team of associate cost segregation professionals. Dave has structured and negotiated hundreds of cost segregation proposals, building partnerships and strategic alliances with major CPA firms nationwide.