Barber, Bingel, Hernandez, Jackson, Mowery, Thissen, Verges and Walkush Promoted to Partners

Devon, PA   March 1, 2007 – SMART is pleased to announce that Thomas Barber, Gary Bingel, Anthony Hernandez, Michael Jackson, Carl Mowery, John Thissen, Ricardo Verges and Lisa Walkush have been promoted to company Partners.

Thomas Barber is a new Partner within the Tax practice of SMART.  Barber has more than 23 years of experience dealing with the taxation of property and casualty, life, health, mortgage, financial guaranty, blue cross/blue shield and captive insurance companies.  He is responsible for coordinating the National Insurance Tax Services team and leading numerous tax consulting service engagements for FAS 109 (including FIN 48) and SSAP #10, federal/state income tax return preparation and reviews, IRS audit/tax controversy, co-sourcing/out-sourcing arrangements, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.  Tom is one of the leaders of SMART’s FIN 48 implementation task force.

Gary Bingel is a new Partner within the SMART’s Tax practice, based in the company’s New York City office. Gary is the state and local income/franchise tax practice leader at SMART.  He has over 17 years of public accounting experience serving clients in a variety of industries including biotech, high-tech, manufacturing, service and retail.  These clients include companies of all sizes from start up to those with over $1 billion in sales; the majority of clients are in the $25 million to $750 million range.  In 2005, Gary headed up the company’s involvement in the Bio 2005 International Convention.

Anthony Hernandez is a new Partner of Business Consulting Services.  Tony has 16 years of experience and specializes in technology infrastructure and information security assessment, design, implementation and project management. Tony’s role is to coordinate the company’s initiatives in the infrastructure and information security services across all of SMART’s Solutions Teams. Tony has managed projects in the higher education, pharmaceutical, healthcare, chemical, financial services, and telecommunications industries.

Michael Jackson is a new Partner within the company’s Tax practice.  Mike leads SMART’s private client group in the tax department and has over 17 years of experience providing a wide range of tax compliance and consulting, financial planning and wealth transfer strategies for closely held businesses, private and publicly held company executives, and high net worth individuals.

Carl Mowery has been promoted to Partner of the SMART’s Compensation and Benefits practice, based in the company’s Chicago, Illinois office. Carl has extensive experience with a wide range of compensation and benefits issues, including experience in corporate employee benefits law, as well as corporate, labor, administrative and tax law. 

John Thissen is a new Partner of Accounting and Advisory Business Services, based in the company’s Chicago, Illinois office. John has more than 10 years experience in professional advisory services, primarily focusing on helping public and private sector clients manage their financial, operational, and information technology risk.  He has significant experience in working with public sector organizations and has extensive analytical abilities in assessing internal controls, enhancing business processes, and enacting positive change on behalf of clients.  John is one of the leaders in SMART’s public sector and higher education practices, where he advises numerous government, not-for-profit, and educational clients.  He has significant experience in the areas of risk assessment, financial internal controls, and business process analysis.

Ricardo Verges has been promoted to Partner of Accounting and Advisory Business Services leading SMART’s Property and Casualty Actuarial Services practice.  He has more than 20 years of broad-based actuarial and managerial experience in property and casualty insurance, with particular expertise in litigation and arbitration support, operations, MGA management, strategic planning, reserving, financial reporting, reinsurance negotiation, and profitability studies.

Lisa Walkush is a new Partner of Business Consulting Services.

About SMART

SMART (www.smartgrp.com) is a premier, full-service business consulting and advisory company serving clients throughout the US and globally. SMART offers innovative solutions to public and private companies in the areas of business consulting and advisory, technology, business process, assurance, accounting, compensation and benefits, and tax.

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