Brad Flaherty was appointed director of the Department of Revenue, State of Washington on January 13, 2012. Brad brings more than 30 years of experience at DOR to this role, as well as extensive knowledge of how the agency assesses, collects, processes, audits and accounts for state and local taxes.

Brad started at DOR in 1979 as a revenue auditor, and continued to move up the ranks at the agency. In 2006, he was named assistant director of the agency's property tax division, and in that position, earned the 2009 Governor's Award for Leadership Management. Last August, he was asked to serve as deputy director of DOR.

Brad earned a degree in business administration at the University of Washington. He also has taken course work in strategic management of regulatory and enforcement agencies at Harvard University and strategic leadership for state executives at Duke University.

Alan Mierke is part of Ernst & Young LLP's State and Local Tax practice. Alan serves as the Director of Operations and the West Virginia State Desk for Sales and Use Tax. In his Director of Operations role, Alan works with the firm's State and Local Tax leadership to manage our State and Local Tax services. He also assists in the development and deployment of various national initiatives.

Prior to joining Ernst & Young in 1999, Alan founded and operated a private tax advisory firm that assisted West Virginia municipalities with the administration and collection of municipal taxes. Alan also previously served as a lobbyist and consultant to electric power companies and business associations on state and local tax and economic issues. In 1997 and 1998, Alan served as a special advisor to the West Virginia Governor's Commission on Fair Taxation. He previously served as a citizen member of the Property Valuation Training and Procedures Commission.

Prior to entering private industry in 1993, Alan worked for the West Virginia Department of Tax & Revenue in various capacities. As Assistant Secretary of Revenue from 1989 to 1993, he was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of eight divisions, covering all aspects of state tax administration. In this capacity, he also provided policy guidance to the Secretary of Revenue and the Governor's Office on state tax matters and acted as the Department's primary liaison to the State Legislature.

Alan also served as Acting State Tax Commissioner in 1990 and 1991. Alan received a B.A. and an M.A. from West Virginia University.

Steven Wlodychak is a principal with Ernst & Young LLP's Indirect (State and Local) Tax Practice. Based in Washington, D.C., he is also the state and local tax leader of the firm's Center for Tax Policy, coordinating Ernst & Young LLP's point of view on emerging state and local tax legislative, judicial, and administrative issues.

He also leads the firm's state and local transactions practice. He serves both private equity and strategic investors in a variety of industries to address state and local transactional tax issues involving business combinations, reorganizations, restructurings and divestitures, including the taxation of such transactions under state and local corporate income/franchise, net worth, gross receipts, sales and use, real property transfer, employment and real and personal property taxes, as well as matters involving unclaimed property. He has addressed state and local tax considerations in all 50 states and on well over 700 different transactions.

Prior to moving to Washington, Mr. Wlodychak served in Ernst & Young LLP's Los Angeles, California, and New York offices, was state tax counsel for a multinational insurance company, and was an associate attorney for a large regional law firm. He also served in various positions in New Jersey government, including in the Office of the Governor.

A frequent speaker, Mr. Wlodychak has presented on various state and local tax issues at Ernst & Young LLP's Annual CFO Roundtable for the Real Estate Industry, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, Bloomberg BNA, the Practising Law Institute, and Stafford Publications. He is a visiting lecturer at the LL.M. in taxation programs at Georgetown University's School of Law and Loyola Marymount University's School of Law in Los Angeles, as well as at Arizona State University's Masters in Taxation program.

Mr. Wlodychak received a B.S.F.S. degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, a J.D. from Seton Hall University's School of Law and an LL.M. (Taxation) from New York University. He is a member of the ABA, the New York Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, and the New Jersey Bar.

Trim Smith recently joined Ernst and Young LLP as a Senior Manager in our Indirect, State and Local Tax Services practice located in Seattle. Prior to joining the firm, Trim worked with the State of Washington Department of Revenue, most recently serving as the Deputy Director. In this role, Trim was responsible, along with the Director, for the operations of the Department. During his 33 year tenure with the Department of Revenue, he has held various positions in the Department. He has served as the Senior Assistant Director - Operations, Assistant Director of the Audit Division, Special Assistant to the Director on Streamlined Sales Tax efforts, and as Program Manager in Taxpayer Services Division, overseeing the agency's taxpayer information and education program.

Trim has played an important role in Washington State's involvement in regional and national tax administration. In 2009, he received the Wade Anderson Memorial Medal for Leadership in Interstate Tax Cooperation. He received Governor's awards for Distinguished Management Leadership in 2005 and for Quality and Performance in 2004. Trim earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Washington State University. He regularly speaks at industry-wide conferences and has authored numerous articles on tax and accounting-related issues.

Jeffrey Saviano is the global Ernst & Young organization's Americas Director of Indirect, State and Local Tax. Based in New York City and Boston, Jeff is a principal of Ernst & Young LLP. Jeff directs the Ernst & Young LLP practice that helps companies manage their state and local taxes in the United States. He also advises clients on state tax policy matters affecting corporate taxpayers. Jeff has more than 17 years of experience with Big Four public accounting firms, and a wealth of experience in the tax legislative and policy area, as well as in tax controversies, planning and transactional analysis.

Jeff has testified before the Joint Tax Committee of the Massachusetts legislature on the impact of proposed changes to the state's tax laws. He is a frequent speaker at taxpayer organizations and trade associations, including the Council on State Taxation (COST), the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association (for which he serves as a Trustee), New York University Institute on State and Local Taxation, Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum at Vanderbilt University, Georgetown Law State and Local Tax Institute, Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, Tax Executives Institute and the American Bar Association.

Jeff received a bachelor's degree in accounting from Iona College, a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and an LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University School of Law. He has published articles on state tax policy and practice. Jeff is a member of the Board of Directors of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. He is a former professor of state and local taxation at Suffolk University's Sawyer Business School.