Annette Nellen, CPA, CGMA, Esq.

Annette Nellen is a professor in and director of San José State University's graduate tax program (MST), teaching courses in tax research, accounting methods, individual tax, property transactions, employment tax, ethics, and tax policy. Annette is active in the tax sections of the AICPA (including former chair of the Tax Executive Committee and current chair of the Digital Assets Tax Task Force), ABA (vice chair of the Tax Policy & Simplification Committee), and California Lawyers Association (member of the Tax Executive Committee). Annette also serves on CalCPA’s Accounting Education Committee. In 2023 she was appointed to the IRS Advisory Council (IRSAC) and serves as chair for 2024.

Annette is the recipient of the 2013 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award given by the Tax Division of the AICPA, the highest award given by the accounting profession in the area of taxation, and the 2019 Benjamin F. Miller Award from the Taxation Section of the California Lawyers Association for achievement and contribution in the field of state and local taxation law. In 2023, she was awarded the Sid Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education from the AICPA. Annette is a fellow with the American College of Tax Counsel. She is a research fellow with the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.

Annette authors Bloomberg Tax Portfolio #533, Amortization of Intangibles, and Tax Analysts’ Tax Notes State Moving Forward? column. She is co-author/co-editor of four tax textbooks from Cengage (the South-Western Federal Taxation series). Annette is a frequent speaker on tax developments, cryptocurrency, ethics, tax reform and tax policy. She was the lead author of the AICPA’s Guiding principles of good tax policy: A framework for evaluating tax proposals (still in use today). She has testified several times before various legislative committees and tax reform commissions on tax policy and reform. Annette runs the 21st Century Taxation website and blog (www.21stcenturytaxation.com). Prior to joining SJSU in 1990, Annette was with the IRS (Revenue Agent and lead instructor) and EY. Annette is a graduate of CSU Northridge (BS Accounting), Pepperdine University (MBA), and Loyola Law School (JD).

Fabio Ambrosio[1] is an associate professor at Central Washington University. He is an attorney admitted to practice in Washington, New York, England, Wales, Ireland, and before the United States Tax Court. He is also a certified public accountant in the U.S. and an Irish chartered accountant. He is the author of the book Principles of Taxation in the United States: Theory, Policy, and Practice and has published articles in the Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure, The Tax Development Journal, The CPA Journal, The Journal of Financial Planning, and several others. Prior to joining academia, Fabio was an appeals officer in the estate and gift tax program at the Internal Revenue Service. Fabio loves any type of work where an issue of tax compliance creates difficult intersections between accounting, law, and life.

[1] PhD, JD, LLM, CPA, EA, Solicitor (Ireland, England and Wales), ACA (Ireland), CPA/ABV, CFP, CVA, CFE, MBA, MAFF. 

Mitchell Merrill, C.P.A., E.A., C.P.B., serves as the Station Chief of the Assurance Division and Director of Standards at Mt. View CPAs PS. In this position, he oversees firm Attest engagements in practice and is responsible for quality control monitoring to include continuing professional education and peer review compliance for the firm. Mitchell earned his bachelor’s degree from Centralia College. He has extensive knowledge in bookkeeping, financial statement audit, preparation, review, payroll preparation, tax preparation, and IRS representation. In his free time, Mitchell enjoys singing, playing the piano, and gardening.