Washington State Tax Conference 2025 IN PERSON

Aaron Johnson, Shareholder, Tax Attorney & Professor, Ballard Spahr

Aaron is a partner at Ballard Spahr Lane Powell in Seattle, WA, where he co-leads the firm’s SALT team and represents multinational, U.S., and regional businesses in SALT matters including tax litigation, audit defense, appeals, planning and structuring tax efficient transactions. Previously, he was an experienced tax manager at PwC where he managed a multistate practice and tax controversies, a judicial law clerk, stockbroker and financial advisor, and an enlisted U.S. Army Soldier. He is the WA Bar SALT Committee Chair, a member of the Legislative and founder of the Tax DEI committee; on the ABA SALT Executive Committee; and teaches tax at UW School of Law. He previously taught corp. tax at UW Foster and fed. tax at SPU (20-21 prof. of the year). Aaron is an appointed member of the WA DOR’s Business Advisory Council and an advisory member to the Assoc. of WA Bus. (AWB).

Angela Deamico

Angela is an excise tax manager in Ryan’s Bellevue office, specializing in Washington State and City excise taxes, with more than 15 years of experience with state and local tax issues. She was formerly an auditor with the Washington State Department of Revenue. She is a Certified Member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.

Brett Durbin, Ballard Spahr

Brett S. Durbin counsels clients on SALT issues spanning both transactional and litigation matters, including general business planning and representing clients before state tax agencies, the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals, and all levels of courts across the state. Brett’s experience includes serving as the Assistant Attorney General for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, where he represented the Washington State DOR. He is the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Tax Section’s Legislative Chair and past Section Chair, and he is on the ABA Tax Section SALT Executive Committee, where he is the Co-Chair of both the Model Tax Tribunal Taskforce and the Website Committee. For tax litigation and controversy, he was voted as the 2023 “Seattle Lawyer of the Year,” is listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America®, and has been awarded the Excellence Award from the Institute for Professionals in Taxation. He received his B.A. from Western Washington University and his J.D. from the University of Washington.

Darcy Kooiker, Managing Director, EY (Seattle)

Darcy is a CPA licensed in Washington state and has focused in the area of state and local taxation since 1991. She started her career in the government sector working for the City of Bellevue’s tax department as an intern then became a Revenue Auditor for the State of Washington Department of Revenue. Darcy has since been a tax consultant working at several accounting/consulting firms in the Seattle area. In this capacity Darcy helps clients with nexus issues, tax minimization reporting and restructuring opportunities, transaction planning, audit management and administrative appeal representation. Darcy’s specialty is Washington tax and she enjoys helping businesses understand how the complex state and local sales/use taxes and Business and Occupation tax complex apply to their activities. Business organizations seek her technical expertise for speaking engagements and articles including Bloomberg, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, Journal of State Taxation, the Washington and Oregon Society of CPAs, and many others. She has served as an advisor to the Washington Department of Revenue and the Association of General Contractors of Washington. Darcy is an active member of the Association of Washington Business and Washington Society of CPAs. She has testified before the Washington State legislature on tax matters and has influenced tax legislation. She received her accounting degree from the University of Washington’s Seattle campus, and a Masters Certificate in State and Local Taxation from the University of Wisconsin. She has also been an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University teaching a State Tax Concepts class in the Masters Accounting program. She is the co-chair of the Institute for Professionals Seattle Luncheon Group and is also an Avalara Certified Implementation Partner.

John Katsandres, KOM Consulting PLLC

John has been advising clients on state and local tax issues for over 23 years. He began his career at Arthur Andersen, later moving to KPMG and Alvarez & Marsal. He then launched and ran his own tax consultancy for three years before officially joining KOM in 2011 where he serves as Sr. Director.

John’s practice areas include Washington state and local taxes and multistate sales and use, income, and gross receipts taxes. He assists with audit defense, appeals, settlement negotiations, refund claims, ruling requests, corporate transactions and planning. He also oversees KOM’s compliance practice, which prepares and files close to 2,000 sales, use, and excise tax returns annually. His clients range from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries including technology, retail, finance, manufacturing, and professional services. At KOM, John has honed his approach to delivering practical, value-driven service. He also works closely with numerous independent CPA firms to offer state and local tax support on an as-needed basis, providing high-level expertise that would otherwise not be easily accessible for such clients.

Katie Koontz, Department of Revenue

Katie Koontz is a Program Coordinator for the Department of Revenue’s Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) Division. Katie manages the unit responsible for processing WFTC applications. She has been with the Department of Revenue for over 10 years, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, and a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of St. Thomas.

Kimberly Lohr, Principal, Delap LLP

Kim specializes in providing state and local taxation advisory and compliance services to her clients. With more than 26 years of experience in state and local tax, she serves a diverse client base in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, financial institutions, transportation, and services to name a few. Kim focuses on multi-state income and franchise tax matters such as nexus, state tax base modifications, apportionment of income, business/non-business income, unitary taxation, gross receipt taxes, allocation of partnership items, state filing options, audit defense and voluntary disclosures. In addition to recommending strategies to minimize clients’ state and local tax liabilities, Kim consults on all aspects of state income tax, including participating in mergers and acquisition transactions, due diligence reviews, representation on state tax controversy matters, and assisting companies with state tax compliance and state tax accrual reviews. Prior to joining Delap, Kim was a managing director at BDO USA LLP’s state and local tax practice in Seattle. She has also worked for several multi-national companies, including several Fortune 500 companies, a small and mid-sized accounting firm, and a state tax authority. Outside the office, Kim enjoys spending time with her family and traveling, especially to the Disney parks.

Mark Hawkins

Mark Hawkins is a senior manager in Moss Adams’ State and Local Tax Practice. He has consulted in state and local tax matters since 2001. Mark provides tax advisory services to clients in a wide array of industries including retailing, manufacturing, automotive, transportation, and financial services. Mark assists clients in analyzing the state tax implications of business reorganizations and other transactions. Mark also assists clients in their state and local tax compliance functions as well as during audits and examinations and represents them in administrative proceedings with state departments of revenue and taxation. Mark holds a BA from the University of Washington and a JD from Ohio State University.

Megan Chyan, Senior Consultant

Megan started her career in the government sector as an internal auditor for Pierce County Budget and Finance and also worked for the City of Tacoma Finance Department. In 2017, she became a Revenue Auditor for the State of Washington’s Department of Revenue and has specialized in Washington state and local taxes ever since. During her time with the Department, Megan contributed to the development of audit practices in emerging industries and helped establish tax registration procedures with Washington’s tax statutes through the State’s Voluntary Disclosure program. Megan is now a senior consultant at Ernst & Young in Seattle, helping clients with state tax compliance problems such as determining if nexus applies, tax registration and reporting, audit management and administrative appeal petitions. Her focus is in helping businesses understand how Washington’s Business and Occupation tax system and the complex state and local sales/use taxes apply to their operating activities.

Nicole Bryant, Principal, Grant Thornton LLP (Bellevue)

Nicole has over 18 years of experience as a state and local tax professional advising companies with the challenges they face in heir respective industries. Nicole focuses on multistate indirect tax issues, including the Washington state and city B&O tax, multistate sales and use tax, gross receipts taxes, property tax, and real estate excise tax. Nicole has assisted clients in identifying risks and opportunities associated with various multi-state issues including nexus, intercompany transactions, complex taxability analyses, supply chain feasibility, ASC 450, M&A due diligence, exemption documentation, apportionment, and recovery of unclaimed incentives, credits, and tax overpayments. Nicole regularly defends clients in audits and appeals with state and city taxing authorities. She has worked with clients across the country in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, technology, financial services, biotechnology, entertainment, telecommunications, e-commerce, construction, and retail. She enjoys working with emerging technologies and assisting clients navigate the application of existing and proposed sales tax laws to new and innovative products and services with diverse customer interactions.

Thomas Neill, Thomas Neill CPA

4.75 stars out of 5