2026 Advanced Tax Institute Day 4 - State and Local Tax Day

Brooke Lierman is the 34th Comptroller of the state of Maryland and the first woman to be independently elected to one of our state’s constitutional offices. After running a strong, policy-focused and grassroots-led two-year campaign, she was elected with over 60% of the vote in November 2022. She is an attorney by training, practicing as a civil rights and disability rights lawyer for many years, and prior to her election as Comptroller, she served for 8 years a member of the House of Delegates representing part of Baltimore City.

While in the House, she spent time in leadership roles on both the Appropriations Committee and the Environment and Transportation Committee.

Additionally, she was the House Chair for the Joint Committee on Pensions, sat on the Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness, and founded the Maryland Transit Caucus. Brooke successfully passed landmark legislation to invest in and improve public transit and public schools; prohibit suspension and expulsion of young public school students; fund evidence-based gun violence prevention programs; aid sex trafficking victims; close loopholes in affordable housing laws, and create the office of statewide broadband.

As Comptroller, she is leading an agency of 1,100 dedicated Maryland public servants in 12 offices around the state. Together and under her leadership, the office is working to create a Maryland that is more equitable, more resilient, and more prosperous so that all Marylanders can reach their full potential.

Murray Singerman, Esq. An Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland, Murray Singerman, serves as principal counsel to the Comptroller.  Murray concentrates in litigation and appeals of income, withholding, and estate taxes and leads the team defending the digital advertising tax.   Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Murray focused on tax controversy and consumer bankruptcy in private practice.  He also served as corporate counsel and part of the executive management team of a high-tech start-up, as well as owning a nurse staffing agency.  Murray clerked for the Honorable Theodore G. Bloom on the Court of Special Appeals.  He earned a JD and LLM in taxation from the University of Baltimore, a bachelor’s degree and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, and a master’s degree from New York University

Renee Nacrelli has worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland, representing the Office of the Comptroller of Maryland for 27 years. From 2008 to September 2022, she was Deputy Counsel to the Comptroller. Renee now serves as Division Director and Counsel to the

Comptroller. Over the years, Renee has principally litigated sales-and-use tax and admissions-and-amusement tax cases and provided legal advice to the Comptroller on a variety of subjects, including tax, employment, and procurement law.

Renee also teaches legal writing courses at the University of Baltimore School of Law. She has participated as a guest lecturer at the state and local tax course offered by the University and presented on various tax-related topics at the Multistate Tax Commission’s attorney training day. Renee previously worked as an associate attorney in commercial litigation at Miles & Stockbridge, LLC. She clerked for the Honorable John C. Eldridge on the Court of Appeals of Maryland,

and the Honorable Frederic N. Smalkin on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Renee graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law, summa cum laude, and from

Karen is now a sole practitioner having spent much of her career with “Big 4” international accounting

firms where she was a state and local tax services group partner, as well as with a smaller firm. She has

specialized in multi-state tax consulting services for over 35 years, working with clients in a wide variety

of industries and with headquarters from around the world, on matters of multistate tax planning and

analysis, and tax audit defense and appeals.

Experience:

Karen is experienced in the major aspects of state and local taxation, including income/franchise taxes,

sales/use taxes, transfer taxes, personal and real property taxes, payroll and unemployment taxes, and

unclaimed property reporting. Karen provides services in compliance matters, tax planning to minimize

state and local tax expenses, merger and acquisition transactions, business structure, and

representation of clients in tax audit and protest proceedings.

Throughout her career, Karen has been at the forefront of leading state and local tax issues. The

highlight of her professional career has been the initiating and developing in the early stages of the

taxpayer’s appeal the Constitutional issues that were successfully argued before the Maryland Court of

Appeals and United States Supreme Court on behalf of the taxpayer in the Wynne v. Comptroller case.

Following the success of the case in 2015, Karen has assisted both the state personnel and fellow tax

practitioners in creating and implementing the procedures for the processing of amended tax returns

and required refunds for the impacted Maryland citizens.

Ms. Syrylo has also played significant roles in the crafting of tax policy and legislation – for example by

serving on legislative commissions such as the Business Tax Reform Commission and by assisting the

Maryland Chamber of Commerce in testimony informing legislators of the implementation issues of

proposed tax legislation. In this latter role, Kathy Snyder, past President of the Maryland Chamber of

Commerce, has referred to Karen as “the CPA who speaks English.”

Elissa Borges is Assistant General Counsel in the Office of Tax and Revenue, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, for the D.C. Government. Prior to joining OTR in 2016, Elissa was a partner at the law firm of Ober Kaler in Baltimore, Maryland (now Baker Donelson) for more than a decade where she was a member of the firm’s Tax and Litigation practice groups. Elissa is the past chair of the Tax Section of the Maryland State Bar Association.

Jason Skrinak is the Founder of Pivot Strategic Consulting. With over 20 years of experience in public accounting and a background in State and Local Tax (SALT) consulting, he is highly regarded throughout the region for his deep knowledge and expertise in SALT.

He has specialized knowledge in various Pennsylvania taxes, including sales and use tax and corporate net income tax. He has also helped clients with numerous multi-state tax issues, dealing with various corporate taxes. In addition, Jason has significant experience representing taxpayers before Pennsylvania’s Board of Appeals and the Board of Finance in Revenue. He has also testified before the Pennsylvania Senate Finance Committee on topics including state tax reform.

Through his expertise, Jason has helped clients by identifying tax-savings opportunities, ensuring compliance and representing clients in tax controversies.

Prior to starting Pivot Strategic Consulting, Jason lead the SALT Practice at two regional firms. 

In addition, Jason specialized in SALT consulting at a “Big Four” firm.

Jason graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Villanova University.

Douglas L. Lindholm, Esq. is Special Counsel of the Council On State Taxation (COST). COST, with a membership of over 500 multistate corporations, is dedicated to preserving and promoting equitable and nondiscriminatory state taxation of multi-jurisdictional entities. Prior to taking the helm at COST, Mr. Lindholm served as Counsel, State Tax Policy for the General Electric Company in Washington, DC, and as Senior Manager in the Washington National Tax Office of Price Waterhouse LLP. He has written numerous articles on federal, state, and local tax issues in a wide variety of publications; testifies frequently before state legislatures and Congress on state tax issues; offers commentary on radio and television; and is a frequent keynote speaker at national tax conferences and seminars.

Mr. Lindholm serves on the NYU State and Local Taxation Advisory Board; the Advisory Board of the Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum; the Advisory Board of the National Multistate Tax Symposium; the Board of Trustees of the New England State & Local Tax Forum, and the Editorial Advisory Board of Tax Management, Inc. He also serves on the Board of Directors and as President of COST’s research affiliate, the State Tax Research Institute (STRI). He is a former member of the National Tax Association’s Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the Georgetown University Law Center State and Local Tax Institute. He is a member of the US Supreme Court and District of Columbia Bars.

In 2006, Mr. Lindholm was named to the Tax Business 50 list of most influential tax professionals on the globe and is the recipient of the 2009 New York University Award for Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation. He was also named to the “All-Decade State Tax Team” by State Tax Notes in January 2010 and is the recipient of the 2019 COST/Paul Frankel Excellence in State Taxation Award.  In 2020, Mr. Lindholm received the Bloomberg Tax and Accounting Franklin C. Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State & Local Tax. He is a graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, DC, and Lynchburg College (BA in Accounting) in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Eric D. Carstens focuses his practice on state and local tax matters, assisting clients with state tax controversy, compliance and multistate planning across all states for a variety of tax types and unclaimed property. Eric engages in all forms of taxpayer advocacy, including litigation, legislative monitoring and audit defense. He works closely with several of the Firm’s taxpayer coalitions focused on specific state tax policy issues such as the taxation of digital goods and services and unclaimed property. 

Eric has co-authored a number of articles in publications such as State Tax Notes and the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives on various state tax issues and is an active contributor to the Inside SALT blog. 

RECOGNITION 

Chambers USA, 2021 and 2022, Associate to Watch; Tax 

Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch, Tax Law, 2024–2026 

District of Columbia Courts, Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll, 2023 

CREDENTIALS 

Education Georgetown University Law Center, LLM, Taxation, 2017 George Washington University Law School, JD, 2014 Elon University, BA, 2011 

Admissions District of Columbia

Brian Oliner came to the Federation of Tax Administrators in September 2022 after serving 14 years in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office as principal counsel to the Comptroller of Maryland.  Prior to serving as principal counsel, Brian served as an assistant attorney general representing the Comptroller of Maryland Compliance Division and Maryland Department of Human Resources.

His prior government positions include service as a supervising attorney with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services and as an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore City.  His career also includes working in a private law firm serving the business community.

He received his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  He has frequently appeared as a guest panelist speaking on various tax issues.