Contributing Sponsors

Headquartered in the Philadelphia region, Lincoln Financial Group is a Fortune 500 company offering a diverse range of financial services and solutions. With a strong focus on four core business areas — life insurance, annuities, retirement plan services, and group protection — our business is built around supporting, preserving, and enhancing our customer’s lifestyles and providing better retirement outcomes. Led by over 8,000 employees, Lincoln Financial provides the tools and advice to help individuals take charge of their futures.

Baker Hostetler is one of the nation’s top 100 law firms with more than 600 attorneys serving clients around the country and throughout the world. Established in 1916 by Newton D. Baker, U.S. Secretary of War during World War I, and former Mayor of Cleveland, the firm now has offices in ten U.S. cities across four time zones. Baker Hostetler is a multidisciplinary firm with 11 practice groups and 55 areas of practice strength.  In 2006, Baker Hostetler celebrated its 90th anniversary. This milestone represents more than longevity. It signifies a time to salute the many important clients and friends who have grown with us—many whose organizations we have served for not simply years, but decades.

Baker Hostetler is Counsel to Market Leaders. Our clients include businesses and individuals that are leaders nationally, globally, regionally and locally. Many are in the top of their market segments in virtually every industry, and many are household names. Others are leaders of the future—companies with the aspiration and will to drive tomorrow’s high-growth industries.

For more information, contact Neil Carrey at ncarrey@bakerlaw.com or 310-442-8835.

http://www.bakerlaw.com

Baker & Hostetler’s main contact with the SBCA:

Neil Carrey, Esq.

Neil Carrey [B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and J.D. from Stanford Law School] is an Of Counsel member of the Tax Group of Baker & Hostetler, although he also specializes in ERISA and corporate matters. He is a Director of the Small Business Council of America and has taught the class on qualified retirement plans at the Paralegal School of the University of Southern California and lectured at the USC Dental School.

In addition to an active law practice, Mr. Carrey has devoted, and continues to devote, many hours to civic and charitable activities. He presently is a Recreation and Parks Commissioner for the City of Santa Monica, California, and is on the Board and is a past President of the Santa Monica Police Activities League; the President of several nonprofit organizations dealing with economically disadvantaged youth; a past President and on the Board of Padres Contra El Cancer and now serves in the position of President Emeritus, a Director or former Director of a number of nonprofit organizations, including , the Santa Monica Youth Athletic Foundation, the Santa Monica League of Women Voters; serves or has served on the Advisory Boards or acts as a volunteer consultant to a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Centennial Committee for the Santa Monica Pier, the Advisors Council for the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, the California 33rd PTA District, the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, the Madison Theater of Santa Monica College and the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Sports Advisory Board. Mr. Carrey also Chairs the Parcel Tax Committee for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and over the years Chaired and served on many other advisory committees to the school district, including having been selected by the Superintendent to serve as one of four members of the select Financial Advisory Committee. In the past, Mr. Carrey also served as an officer of many additional nonprofit organizations, including serving for 8 years as the President of the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Organization of Southern California and the Santa Monica Little League and an officer of a Child Care Center. For 15 years, Mr. Carrey also coached a number of different youth athletic teams, including Little League, Bobby Sox Softball and American Youth Soccer teams.  Mr. Carrey is also a Member of the Country Music Foundation and Academy of Country Music.

Mr. Carrey has received a number of honors and awards from the University of Pennsylvania, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District PTA and the school district itself, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Venice/Santa Monica Chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Henry Gilchrist Professionalism Award, the Connie Murdoch Award from the Small Business Council of America and a Special Humanitarian Award from the Small Business Council of America. He was also selected as one of the 103 most influential people in the Santa Monica/Venice and surrounding areas.

Brucker & Morra, located in Los Angeles, is Southern California’s largest law firm practicing exclusively in Pension and Employee Benefits (ERISA—Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974). We serve businesses, business owners, non-profit organizations, attorneys, accountants, actuaries, pension administrators and consultants.

Brucker & Morra solves or prevents federal tax and fiduciary (ERISA) law problems related to employee pensions, executive compensation and welfare benefit plans, and has extensive experience with 401(k), ESOP, 403(b), and 409A plans, IRS and DOL tax and fiduciary controversies, QDROs, creditor protection, mergers, acquisitions, and business dissolutions and restructurings. Brucker & Morra’s attorneys serve as Expert Witness and Co-Counsel in ERISA litigation cases. 

Paley Rothman is one of the leading law firms in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Founded in 1972, the firm enjoys a diverse client base, including corporations, partnerships, banks, trade associations, non-profit organizations, family-owned businesses and individuals. The firm has expanded to over 40 Maryland attorneys at law.

We are proud of our Maryland heritage and our size: small enough to provide sustained personalized attention and large enough to meet sophisticated needs. Our lawyers are widely recognized in their fields on the national, regional and local level. We publish, speak, and teach about the constantly changing issues of today and tomorrow. Our involvement with federal, state and local officials on new laws and regulations gives extra depth to our expertise.

Our firm’s size allows us to provide personal attention to our clients, yet enables us to offer sophisticated legal advice in the following wide range of areas: Corporate & Securities; Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy; Employee Benefits; Employment Law; Estate Planning & Administration; Family Law; Financial Services; Government Relations; Health Care; Litigation; Real Estate; Retirement Plans; Taxation and Technology.

Our record of service and results for our clients is demonstrated best by the confidence shown by clients who return again and again for solutions to their many needs, and by the fact that new clients are frequently referred to us by existing clients, other professionals and our peers in the legal profession.

Paley Rothman’s primary contact with the SBCA:

Paula Calimafde, Esq.

Paula A. Calimafde is a Bethesda MD Lawyer & partner at Paley Rothman where she chairs the firm’s Retirement Plans Practice Area and the Employee Benefits Practice Area. Ms. Calimafde has nearly 30 years of experience advising companies and tax-exempt organizations on qualified and non-qualified retirement plans and employee benefits, including cafeteria plans. She is a nationally recognized leader in the field of creative retirement plan designs for businesses. She works closely with owners or management to prepare retirement plans which suit the particular needs of the business. Ms. Calimafde also concentrates on estate planning, particularly advising individuals with significant retirement plan assets. For nearly 30 years, she has been a legislative advocate for businesses in the Federal tax and employee benefits arena. Ms. Calimafde is the current Chair, past President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Small Business Council of America. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her J.D. from Catholic University. She is admitted to practice in Maryland and in the District of Columbia.

Ms. Calimafde has lectured for national, regional and local associations, including the ABA, ALI-ABA and the IRS Employee Benefits Conference. She has testified on numerous occasions before the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee and has been a panelist for Congressional Members and Staff for the Senate/House Ad Hoc Steering Committee on Retirement Income Security for Americans.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Small Business Legislative Council (1992-), Past Chair (1988-1990) and Vice Chair (1986-1988) of the Closely Held Committee of the ABA Tax Section, Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Advisory Board of the Journal of S Corporation Taxation from 1989-1994 and the Editorial Advisory Panel of Pension & Benefit Power, 2003-. In 1986, Ms. Calimafde was elected a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business and was subsequently appointed as one of eleven National Commissioners. In 1995, Ms. Calimafde was appointed by the White House to serve as a Presidential Delegate at the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business.

We esteem teamwork over stardom and firm accomplishments over individual accolades. We endorse a collegial environment where everyone helps to deliver the best for our clients. There is an important symbiotic relationship between individual success and firm success.

With 95 years of dedicated legal service, Cades Schutte attorneys are some of the most sought after in the Pacific region for their dedication, tenacity and innovative perspective on the law.

We are a full-service law firm with over 70 attorneys, providing superior service in over 20 practice areas from our main office in Honolulu and offices in Kona, Waimea, Kahului, and Lihue. Since the founding of our firm in 1922, Cades attorneys have been called on to serve as counsel in some of the most notable cases and transactions in the State of Hawaii.

We offer a wide range of corporate and personal legal services with an emphasis on business counseling. We are proud to serve local, national, and international clients, and regularly handle estate planning, tax, and personal litigation matters.

Cades is organized into five departments—Corporate, Finance and Real Estate, Litigation, Tax, and Trusts and Estates—but departmental lines are fluid. Cades attorneys from different departments routinely collaborate on projects to benefit our clients.  This approach provides a full array of our firm’s expertise and experience.

Utilizing a ‘firm first’ mentality, we’ve adopted a democratic style of management in which the strategic direction and vision for the firm is developed by its partners, and headed up by its Management Committee.

Together, this Committee serves as the Firm’s key visionary, and is specifically charged with implementing the direction and mission of the stakeholders.

At Carlsmith Ball, our history is driven by change. From the founding of our first office in Hilo in 1857, to welcoming the state’s first woman lawyer, to representing Hawaii’s earliest condominium projects, we’ve been a part of the evolving legal landscape over the past 160 years. And we haven’t stopped there.

With over 60 attorneys, Carlsmith Ball has offices in Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Maui and Los Angeles. Our firm is uniquely positioned to represent clients in the Pacific region and beyond. Our collaborative spirit sets us apart. We work together from oceans away to provide counsel to clients in virtually every area of law.

We believe that diversity of thought, experience, culture and geography leads to innovative thinking. It breeds creativity. It encourages our attorneys to rise to the occasion, calling on new approaches as well as refined tactics to deliver quality legal services.

Drawing from a century and a half of history, we’ll continue to lead the way in Hawaii’s legal industry.

Danziger & Markhoff LLP is a business and tax-oriented law firm in White Plains, New York that has been representing clients in the New York metropolitan area for over fifty years.

The firm’s core areas of practice are pensions and employee benefits, ESOPs, trusts and estates and tax planning, corporate law, and healthcare and professional practices.  The services that the firm provides are interrelated, thus enabling the attorneys to provide sophisticated and creative solutions that extend beyond the issue at hand.

The firm works closely with accountants and financial advisors using a team approach to identify clients’ goals and produce practical and comprehensive business solutions.

Danziger & Markhoff LLP has been included in the U.S. News – Best Lawyers 2013 list of “Best Law Firms” in the country, with a Metropolitan “Tier 1” ranking in the area of Trusts and Estates Law.

Harris Markhoff, Esq.

Harris Markhoff, a founder of the firm, has a broad business and tax practice which includes counseling individuals, professional corporations, closely held and family-owned businesses on a wide range of corporate, tax and estate planning issues.   Harris has a close relationship with his clients, many of whom have worked with him for decades.

Harris is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School and is listed in Best Lawyers in America – Trusts and Estates and Corporate Categories, was named “Best Lawyer of the Year” 2013 in Trusts and Estates in White Plains, and has been listed in the Westchester Magazine list of top lawyers in the Trusts and Estates and Corporate categories.

He is a Past President of the White Plains Bar Association (1990), the Estate Planning Council of Westchester County, Inc. (1975-1976) and the Benjamin Cardozo Society – UJA Federation (1997-1999) and is a Past Chairman of the Sections on Taxation (1973-1974) and Trusts and Estates (1995-1996) for the Westchester County Bar Association, where he also served as a Director from 1989-1995. Harris was also a Director of the Estate Planning Council of New York City, Inc. (1989-1992) and a member of the Estate Planning Committee for the Trusts and Estate Section of the New York State Bar Association (1978-1979).

Harris is a member of the Board of Directors of the Westchester Holocaust Education Center as well as a member of the American Bar Association Sections on Taxation and Real Property, Probate and Trust Law.

At Dyke Yaxley LLC, we are uniquely positioned to understand the opportunities, challenges and rising costs facing companies with international operations, as well as the complexity of planning and preparing taxes for individuals living and working abroad. With offices on both sides of the Atlantic, located in the UK and the US, our team of experienced professionals specialise in international tax planning and compliance.

We don’t just prepare your taxes. Instead, we begin our relationships with a strategic planning approach to put you in the best possible tax position for both the short and long term, while considering your specific situation holistically and offering practical solutions.

Whether you’re a UK or US expatriate, a dual citizen or owner of a small or midsize business, you can count on our commitment to providing an exceptional level of responsive and personal client service, pragmatic advice and a “no surprises” approach to fees.

At Feldman Benefit Services, Inc., we view ourselves as part of a client’s team of advisors and an extension of our client’s human resources development.  Our services are designed to provide the expertise and assistance required by our clients to meet their strategic business goals and objectives through their employees’ productivity.

Each client relationship is special to us and exclusive in their situations.  FELDMAN BENEFIT SERVICES, INC. responds to these needs with tailored plan designs flexible enough to accommodate the needs of implementation and maintenance.  We will design the plan benefit program most appropriate for each individual client.

These programs are serviced by a team of highly skilled and motivated individuals who act with care and regard for our clients’ financial needs, and employee demographics.  Our goal is to meet the expectations of our clients and their team of advisors in an environment of friendship, trust, respect and understanding.  We do this with pride, and in an atmosphere of creativity and education and current technology.

Finestone Partners is an independent Registered Investment Advisor and boutique financial advisory firm utilizing unconventional solutions for very successful individuals and companies. For almost three decades, business owners, professionals, entertainers, athletes and their families have come to us to design strategies for building, preserving and transferring wealth, estates and businesses. Our techniques for addressing the needs of our clients begins with the application of our Wealth Management Matrix® methodology, a comprehensive applied critical thinking approach to advising in all financial aspects of our clients’ lives. Attending to your financial life, so that you can successfully pursue your dreams and prosper is our passion.

As one of the oldest insurance brokerage firms in the United States, J. Smith Lanier & Co., a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company, leads the industry through unparalleled specialization in the management of business, alternative risk, employee benefits, and personal insurance needs.

Through a network of offices located throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee, our employees design state-of-the-art programs that complement a full range of risk management solutions coupled with the support of resource professionals who are unmatched in the industry. And, combined with the resources of our parent company,  you can be certain that no matter where you grow or what you do, we can offer you the advice and support you need.

J. Smith Lanier & Co. has a reputation of professionalism, outstanding technical skills, unique problem-solving ability and integrity. Our goal is to establish long-term partnerships with our clients by providing exceptional service that inspires customer confidence and trust.

Kadish, Hinkel & Weibel is comprised of a team of skilled attorneys who deliver high quality legal advice with integrity and common sense. Led by Stephen L. Kadish, Kevin M. Hinkel and David G. Weibel, the firm represents individuals and closely-held businesses in income and estate tax, corporate and real estate law matters, as well as litigation, commercial law, employment law and probate administration. Because of the firm’s core areas of expertise, transactional clients are often referred by other lawyers, accountants and financial advisors.

For more than 40 years, the firm has been active in professional organizations. A number of attorneys are frequent speakers at local and national tax and business seminars, as well as chairs in prominent legal and business associations. As a result, the firm remains at the forefront of important legal issues and trends, and has produced prominent members of the legal and business communities.

Kadish, Hinkel & Weibel’s success is the result of the focus on its foundational goal to provide legal counsel in an atmosphere that is rich in experience, integrity and common sense, yet personal in character.

Kevin Martin Insurance Services is located in Los Angeles, California. This organization primarily operates in the Insurance Agents, Brokers, and Service business / industry within the Insurance Agents, Brokers and Service sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 9 years. Kevin Martin Insurance Services is estimated to generate $367,499 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 3 people at this single location.

Each of our attorneys has significant experience in one or more areas. We have a commitment to prompt, efficient and cost effective service.

These attributes have allowed us to have long-term relationships with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and individuals. We also have relationships with other attorneys across the nation which allow us to associate them on our matters whenever necessary.

We offer the skill and experience of a large firm and the flexibility and fee sensitivity of a small firm.

HR AND BENEFIT EXPERTS Our mission is straightforward: Optimizing organizational success through HR and benefit expertise. We achieve this on behalf of our clients in numerous ways, each approach tailored specifically to that client’s needs. By identifying the HR and benefit strategies that link to the client’s organizational goals and objectives, we elevate HR from a tactical to a strategic business leader. After all, for most every organization in any sector (for-profit, not-for-profit, and governmental) the key competitive advantage are having the right people in the right place doing the right things. In the benefits arena, we provide design and administrative services for both Health and Welfare (FSA/HRA/HSA, COBRA) and 401(k) and Retirement Plans.Our experience over more than three decades has helped our clients achieve organizational success by creating the right talent acquisition, talent management, and talent engagement strategies, and then putting them in place operationally and administratively.

• All matters related to tax-qualified plans (401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, target benefit, employee stock ownership plans) maintained by public and privately held companies and tax-exempt organizations, including plan design and implementation, planning related to tax and ERISA compliance, drafting of plans and contracts, plan terminations, advice and consultation regarding qualified plan matters, determination letter filings, preparation of annual reports (Form 5500s), performance of annual testing requirements, including general nondiscrimination testing, and matters specifically related to collectively bargained plans. We work collaboratively with our clients to achieve the desired results, in a focused, problem-solving manner.
• Addressing and resolving plan defects (operational and formal), including preparation and filing of self correction submissions under both the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor correction programs (EPCRS, DFVCP, VFCP). No matter how simple or complicated the situation, we can address it. We are willing to work outside of the box to address and correct issues in as favorable a manner to the client as possible.
• Extensive experience with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), including feasibility analysis. This includes S corporation ESOPs and C corporation ESOPs.
• Matters related to non-qualified deferred compensation plans and executive compensation for taxable and tax-exempt organizations, including the design and implementation of plans and the securing of benefits, and compliance with applicable Code and ERISA requirements, including Code Section 409A. We work with clients to develop creative, goal-based deferred compensation solutions.
• Extensive experience with employment contracts, severance agreements, change in control agreements, and related compensation matters.
• Representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regarding audit, examination and investigation matters. ERISA Title I, fiduciary, prohibited transaction and plan asset matters.
• Equity-based compensation programs, (e.g., non-qualified and incentive stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, phantom stock, stock appreciation rights, and employee stock purchase plans).
• Change in control and business transaction matters, including planning, due diligence, and representation and warranty review, golden parachute payment planning and analysis. Experience regarding the investment products used to fund pension and employee benefit programs.
• We know how to listen – and to quickly identify and solve issues. We respond to our clients promptly. We are solutions-oriented and address all matters as promptly and cost effectively as the situation allows.

Let us help you address your ERISA and employee benefits issues, goals, problems and and concerns.

Lathrop & Gage L.C. offers the depth and strength of a large national law firm with the hands-on service, management style and aggressive client service of a smaller regional firm with approximately 300 attorneys in 11 offices nationwide. Office locations include Boulder, CO, Columbia, MO, Clayton,  MO,  Denver, CO, Jefferson City, MO, Kansas City, MO, New York, NY, Overland Park, K., Springfield, MO, St. Louis, MO and Washington, D.C. (affiliate office.)

We counsel clients on many issues, including general corporate governance, corporate planning and organization, complex transactions, banking,  professional corporations, federal and state regulations and business litigation.  At Lathrop & Gage, emerging businesses receive the same talent and specialized knowledge as Fortune 100 companies.

Additionally, Lathrop & Gage serves both small and large businesses with  one of the largest and most experienced intellectual property practice groups with 50 IP attorneys who are backed by a litigation department of more than 180 attorneys. Our health care department is also one of the largest and most respected teams in the region and has extensive experience in providing advice and counseling to health care providers – large and small – regarding regulatory and reimbursement issues, litigation matters and complex transactions.

More than half of the firm’s attorneys have received Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating, dozens are listed in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America and are inducted into the prestigious American colleges of their practice areas. In 2006, Worth, a magazine that caters to families of substantial wealth, recognized  two Lathrop & Gage attorneys  as among the top 100 wealth strategies attorneys in the country.  Also, Chambers USA ranked Lathrop & Gage’s corporate, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and labor and employment practices among the best in the Midwest, noting the firm is populated with “excellent legal advisers with a strong commitment to customer service.”

Founded in 1873, Lathrop & Gage is the oldest law firm west of the Mississippi River and still represents its first client, now known as BNSF Railway Company.

Lathrop & Gage’s primary contact with the SBCA:

Alson Martin

McGovern Garry LLC offers a wide range of small business professional services, from tax planning to tax compliance / estate planning / consulting services / Financial statement audits, reviews and compilations. Your time is best devoted to your core business. Contact us for a free consultation on how we can assist you and your business.

Modrall Sperling is the counsel of choice for complex business, litigation and natural resources challenges anywhere in New Mexico. In many specialty areas of practice, we are retained to work on issues throughout the Southwest and across the nation.

To solve their key challenges, clients rely on our depth of experience of our legal teams, which are built across a wide range of practice areas. We offer well-developed legal niches involving schools, railroads, banks, mining, oil and gas development companies, Native American and public lands, energy and utilities companies, healthcare providers, and Native American law, among others.

Knowing our clients’ business – together with the regulatory and competitive environments in which they operate – enables us to spot developments that may affect them so that together we can take action.

Clients hire Modrall Sperling for our experience. They keep us for our counsel.

Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C. is a local full-service law firm.  RQ&N was founded in 1940 by Paul H. Ray, S. Joseph Quinney, and A. Hulme Nebeker, and is one of the largest and most reputable law firms in the state.  Built on a solid foundation of professional excellence, personal integrity, and collegiality, RQ&N is a recognized leader among Utah law firms, with acknowledged expertise in specialties ranging from litigation to tax, automobile dealer law to winter sports law, environmental and natural resources law to white-collar criminal defense, and many others.Understanding our clients’ unique needs lies at the heart of our approach.  We take a long-term view and we take time to understand the individual demands that each client faces.  We also understand that our clients require a positive and personal working relationship with their legal counsel.To that end, we are guided by four ideals:

Robinson Grimes is the largest Certified Public Accounting firm in Columbus, Georgia and one of the largest CPA firms in the state of Georgia. The firm serves a wide variety of clients in the region, and has particular expertise in the areas of real estate, wholesale distribution, governmental, non-profit, construction, and health care. In 2017, Robinson Grimes celebrated the 85th anniversary of our founding. Our continued growth and success is the result of maintaining high standards of professional excellence and consistently delivering superior service to our clients.

Robinson Grimes is a full service accounting and consulting firm with an emphasis on personal attention and continuity in its relations with its clients. The firm is committed to the highest standards of technical competence, professional performance and ethical conduct. It is the firm’s goal to be large enough to offer our clients the widest range of professional service, yet small enough to maintain and nurture personal service. Our growth, continuity and financial success are a direct result of our ability to offer our clients superior services, provided by a uniquely integrated team who promotes the goals and objectives of the firm.

As an industry leader firm, we take an active role in our profession’s associations. Robinson Grimes is a member of both the SEC and Private Companies Practice Sections of the American Institute of CPAs. The firm is also a member of the Georgia Society of CPAs and American Institute of CPAs. Principals of the firm have served in leadership positions of these organizations on the local, state and national levels.

The philosophy of our business is to make our clients business a success by giving them the latest, most specialized and qualified services available anywhere in the world. To that end, we make available to our professional staff the expertise of thousands of other CPAs across the country and around the globe through our membership in CPAmerica International.

CPAmerica International is an exclusive international network of independent accounting firms who pool their resources to give clients the broadest base of service possible. We share our specialties and borrow from other CPAmerica International members to provide services wherever our clients do business. CPAmerica International’s membership includes 2,000 CPAs and extends from coast to coast in the United States and to more than 10,000 professionals in 85 countries around the world through its strategic alliance with Horwath International.

Robinson Grimes’ primary contact with the SBCA:

Charles D. Johnson, CPA, CGMA

Charlie Johnson is a partner of Robinson Grimes where he concentrates his practice in the areas of taxation, health care services, employee benefits, estate planning and accounting for individual and small business clients. His practice focuses on individual and small business tax planning including assistance with income, gift, estate and trust planning, and business succession issues.

Mr. Johnson graduated from Emory University where he earned his BS degree and Georgia State University where he earned his Master of Professional Accountancy degree.  He obtained his CPA certificate from the State of Georgia.  He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Georgia Society of CPAs (GSCPA); Trustee, Treasurer and Past President of the Georgia Federal Tax Conference; Treasurer of the Small Business Council of America; and member of the Tax Section of the Georgia Society of CPAs. He is an active member of St. Paul United Methodist Church where he served as Treasurer or Chair of the Finance Committee for 19 years and currently serves on the Finance Committee and Administrative Council.  He also is a member, Director and Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Columbus.