2025 Forensic Valuation Regional Conference

James R. Hitchner is Managing Director of Financial Valuation Advisors www.finvaluation.com and is President of The Financial Consulting Group www.gofcg.org. He is also CEO of Valuation Products and Services www.valuationproducts.com which created and distributes the Business Valuation Standards Compliance Toolkit and presents monthly webinars. He is also Editor in Chief of Financial Valuation and Litigation Expert, a bimonthly journal that presents views and tools from some of the leading experts in valuation, forensics/fraud and litigation services.

Mr. Hitchner is editor/coauthor of the books Financial Valuation: Applications and Models (FVAM), second edition; Financial Valuation Workbook (FVW), second edition, and Valuation for Financial Reporting, Fair Value Measurements and Reporting: Intangible Assets, Goodwill, and Impairment (VFR), second edition, all published by Wiley. He is also coauthor of PPC’s Guide To Business Valuations, 19th edition, published by Thomson Reuters. FVAM and FVW have been adopted by the AICPA for its five-day National Business Valuation School courses and by NACVA for its three-day Advanced Business Valuation courses.

Mr. Hitchner has been recognized as a qualified expert witness and has provided testimony on valuations in numerous state and federal courts. He has also been involved in hundreds of intangible asset valuations and was an ad hoc advisor to the FASB on their deliberations concerning SFAS 141/142 and presented two sessions to the Board on valuing and lifing intangible assets.

He has spent 30 years in valuation services including as a shareholder with Phillips Hitchner Group, partner-in-charge of valuation services for the Southern Region of Coopers & Lybrand (currently PricewaterhouseCoopers), and senior appraiser with American Appraisal Associates. In the valuation area he has coauthored over 20 courses, taught over 60 courses, published over 80 articles, and has made over 180 conference presentations. He is also an inductee in the AICPA Business Valuation Hall of Fame and a two time recipient of the AICPA’s Business Valuation Volunteer of the Year award. He was also one of only four members of the AICPA Business Valuation Standards Writing Task Force and served for the entire six years up to the June 2007 official release of the standards.

With more than 25 years of experience, David is skilled at the negotiation, settlement, and litigation of complex domestic matters.  He has experience navigating difficult and high-profile matters that present significant legal, business, and reputational risks. His deep and vast experience includes complex asset and property distribution, complex separation agreements, alimony, and child custody and access issues.

David represents clients in Baltimore City and Baltimore, Howard, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery counties in Maryland as well as the District of Columbia.

In addition to his family law practice, David also serves as legal counsel and trusted advisor to clients who are owners of business and corporate entities.  David's experience includes handling multifaceted business disputes and litigation matters, including high profile defamation claims, employment disputes, and contract claims.

David's excellent reputation in the Maryland legal community has resulted in the recent appointment to Maryland's Attorney Grievance Commission, a commission that ensures Maryland lawyers adhere to their professional responsibilities.

He served on the board of directors for the Maryland Pro Bono Resource Center from 2010 to 2016 and is also a former board member to HopeWorks, Howard County’s sexual assault and domestic violence center that provides critical services to families affected by domestic violence.

From 2009 to 2017, David served as treasurer to the Prince George’s County Political Committee to Re-Elect Sitting Judges and served as political committee treasurer to other Judges in campaigns to retain judicial seats in Howard County.

Eric J. Rollinger Principal

Tax law attorney and Certified Public Accountant Eric Rollinger is a multifaceted member of Stein Sperling’s nationally recognized tax litigation and controversy team. He takes great pride in having successfully settled hundreds of disputes with the IRS and state taxing authorities. Eric brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his clients’ cases. Detail-oriented and practical, Eric provides each client with an informed course of action structured around the unique aspects of the case. He recognizes that financial concerns often keep clients up at night and, maintaining open lines of communication at all times, he works hard to resolve their cases efficiently and optimally.

 As a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), Master Analyst in Financial Forensics (MAFF) and Master of Professional Accountancy (MPA), tax controversy and litigation support cases especially appeal to Eric, and he frequently provides relevant support in the areas of income analysis, tracing, tax consequences of marital awards, corporate structures, business valuation and financial forensics. Eric is actively involved in many professional organizations both on national and state levels, staying current with evolving tax laws and regulations. He has co-authored articles on maximizing deductible expenses and implications of tax incentive challenges in the Journal of State Taxation and MACPA Statement magazines.

MICHAEL J. FINIFTER, Chief Judge, Baltimore County Circuit Court, July, 2023 -- (Associate Judge, May 28, 2002 - July, 2023). Chief Judge, 3rd Judicial Circuit, July, 2023 --.

Designated Judge for Business and Technology Case-Management Program, 2002-- (County Lead Judge, 2017--). Circuit Representative, 3rd Judicial Circuit, Conference of Circuit Judges, 2013-14. Member, Legislative Committee, Judicial Council, 2016-17. Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, 2025-- (ADR in the Maryland Rules Subcommittee, 2025--), Maryland Judicial Council.

Certified Public Accountant since 1980 (inactive). Past member, Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Member, Maryland House of Delegates, District 11, 1995-2002. University of Maryland, B.S. (accounting), B.A. (economics), 1979. University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1982. University of Baltimore, LL.M. (taxation), Outstanding Achievement Award, 1992. Admitted to Maryland Bar, 1982. Member, Baltimore County Bar Association, 1986--. Maryland Circuit Judges Association, 2002-- (past member, executive committee). Fellow, Maryland Bar Foundation. Adjunct faculty (business law), University of Baltimore School of Law, 1994-97.

Michael Y. Goldberg

Michael Goldberg as an LLM, CPA, CVA is the founding principal of Goldberg Tax Law, LLC a national tax litigation and controversy firm, focusing on federal and state controversy matters for individuals and businesses. Mike is trained in valuation and serves as a financial expert witness/consultant in Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia. He assists with business valuations, financial forensics, tracing, income analysis, structuring, and tax consequences of marital support awards. He was awarded NACVA's Forty under 40 award in 2020. Super Lawyers magazine has named Mike as a Rising Star in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and New York and he has been recognized by Best Lawyers magazine as a One to Watch.

As the co-founder and managing member of Vallit Advisors, Mark W. Norris provides diverse litigation support services to the legal community including business valuations, expert testimony, economic loss calculations, and consulting on fraud detection and prevention. He has developed significant valuation experience in the healthcare industry and provides valuation-related consulting to management teams of regional medical centers. Mr. Norris is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV), Master Analyst in Financial Forensics (MAFF) and an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) by the American Society of Appraisers.

In September of 2021, Mark was recognized by the Maryland-DC State Chapter Board of NACVA for his outstanding contribution to NACVA and the business valuation profession.

As a Supervisor at Vallit Advisors, Malone E. Mislak provides analysis for purposes of business valuation, economic damages and forensic accounting. He assists in developing valuations for purposes of lost profit/damage cases, marital dissolution, shareholder suits, estate and gift tax matters and sales of businesses. Professional Affiliations American Society of Appraisers (ASA).

Mr. Mislak has more than three years of experience providing analysis for developing valuations for purposes of: Lost profit/damage cases Marital dissolution Shareholder suits Estate and gift tax matters Sales of businesses Professional Experience Va lit Advisors, LLC – March 2019 – Present Weyrich, Cronin & Sorra – October 2017 – March 2019 Presentations Introduction to Forensic Accounting - University of Baltimore, Beta Alpha Psi Honors Accounting Society - April 2023 Business Valuation Case Study - American University Business Valuation Graduate/Undergraduate Class - November 2021

Alan Zipp is a Certified Public Accountant, Attorney at Law, Certified Valuation Analyst, Certified Business Appraiser, AICPA Accredited in Business Valuation, Certified Fraud Examiner, author, lecturer, and discussion leader for the American Institute of CPAs. Since 1970 he has provided specialized tax and financial planning advice to individuals and small businesses. He has a Master of Science degree in Taxation and has completed graduate work in Management Information Systems at the Wharton School.

In addition to tax matters, he has developed a specialty in the area of divorce tax and financial planning and related litigation support services. In 1980 he wrote his first book, Divorce: Tax Facts and in 1985 his second, Handbook of Tax and Financial Planning for Divorce and Separation, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. He was awarded first place in the American Bar Association's Family Law Section essay contest for his article, "Divorce Valuation of Business Interests: A Capitalization of Earnings Approach," Family Law Quarterly, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 1989. He wrote chapter 18 of the John Wiley & Sons' Handbook of Financial Planning for Divorce and Separation on the topic of business valuations for divorce purposes. He wrote the AICPA self-study course Business Valuation Methods, for CPA training in this fascinating field. He authored Divorce: Tax and Financial Planning: A Short Course for the College for Financial Planning. He wrote Divorce: Valuation, Tax, and Financial Strategies, published by Research Institute of America as part of its tax advisor's planning series. He wrote the Small Business Valuation Case Study course for the AICPA's Advanced Business Valuation education program. He wrote Analyzing the Value of Your Client's Business: A Short Course for the College for Financial Planning.

Alan Zipp has written numerous articles and papers on topics ranging from tax matters, litigation support issues, business valuation, and legal issues. For more than 20 years he was an AICPA instructor for various courses including the annual AICPA Corporate and Individual Income Tax Workshops. He regularly presents lectures and seminars before professional organizations including local CPA and Bar associations, national organization conferences, State CPA Societies, and AICPA conferences and seminars. He served on the AICPA steering committee on Divorce where he was involved in the planning of the annual conferences on the CPAs Role in Divorce Tax and Financial Planning.

In the course of his practice, Alan Zipp has been called on to provide expert witness testimony at divorce trials on a wide range of tax and financially related issues including pension and business valuations. He was Chairman of the Montgomery County, Maryland Bar Association's Taxation Section and was elected Treasurer of that Bar Association.

Frank McGuire is a Managing Director in the Disputes, Claims, & Investigations group. He has more than 25 years of experience in the quantification of economic damages and offering of related expert witness testimony in all manner of disputes, forensic accounting and fraud investigations, financial statement auditing, and tax consulting. Mr. McGuire has substantial experience in commercial damages matters, conducting complex financial analyses and preparing expert reports for a variety of disputes, including lost profits, lost earnings of persons, business valuation disputes, breach of non-compete/non-solicitation agreements, misappropriation of trade secrets, securities litigation, patent infringement, abusive tax shelters, government contractor disputes, alter ego analyses, and business interruption insurance claims. He has been qualified and testified as an economic expert witness in federal and state court as well as in arbitration proceedings. Mr. McGuire has also conducted numerous forensic accounting and fraud investigations in a variety of matters, including financial statement fraud, asset misappropriation, corruption, white-collar civil/criminal defense, campaign finance compliance, FINRA disciplinary proceedings, and SEC enforcement actions. Prior to joining Stout, Mr. McGuire was a Managing Director at The Claro Group. Prior to that, Mr. McGuire was a Director in the Disputes & Investigations practice at Duff & Phelps, LLC, and he spent 13 years as a member of the Dispute Analysis & Investigations, Audit & Assurance, and Tax practices at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. In addition, Mr. McGuire is a frequent speaker, both locally and nationally, on subjects including commercial damages, lost earnings of persons, fraud and forensic accounting, and business valuation. 

Professional Memberships 

• National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts 

• National Association of Forensic Economics 

• American Economic Association 

• Licensing Executives Society 

• American Bar Association, Litigation Section