DAVIS & HARMAN - Key Persons
Adam McMahon is a partner in the law firm of Davis & Harman LLP. Adam works with retirement plan service providers and employers to help them develop real-world solutions for implementing the requirements imposed on them by ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, and other federal laws impacting retirement savings. Adam also keeps clients up to date on the latest legislative and regulatory developments impacting retirement savings.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman, Adam was Associate Counsel at MissionSquare Retirement (formerly ICMA-RC), where he advised MissionSquare on the design and administration of governmental retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, and IRAs. While at MissionSquare, Adam also worked on issues related to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Adam graduated from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where he served as a Teaching Assistant for the law school's legal writing program and as a Staff Editor and Editorial Assistant for the Catholic University Law Review.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Co - Chair of the ABA Section of Taxation, Committee
- Co - Editor
Alison Peak is a partner in the law firm of Davis & Harman LLP. Alison advises clients on a wide range of issues relating to insurance products and company taxation. Her practice focuses on the federal tax treatment of variable and fixed annuities, life insurance contracts, and IRAs, by providing advice on the design, implementation, and compliance of these products. She also advises clients on tax withholding and reporting obligations related to insurance contracts and IRAs and the tax treatment of insurance company separate accounts, including issues relating to diversification and investor control. In addition, Alison represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service obtaining private letter rulings and closing agreements on insurance tax matters.
Alison is currently a Co-Chair of the ABA Section of Taxation, Committee on Insurance Companies. Alison often speaks on topics related to insurance tax and has given presentations at the Federal Bar Association's Insurance Tax Seminar, the Insurance Tax Conference, the Society of Actuaries Life & Annuity Product Symposium, the Society of Actuaries Product Tax Seminar, and the ABA Tax Section meetings.
Alison is a co-editor and contributing author to the 403(b) Answer Book (Wolters Kluwer, 11th Ed.). She is also a co-author of the BNA Tax Management Portfolio: Income Tax Definition of Life Insurance and Annuity Contracts (Bloomberg Tax) and a contributing author to the Annuities Answer Book (Wolters Kluwer, 5th Ed.). She occasionally contributes to Taxing Times (Society of Actuaries).
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the District of Columbia
Barbara has been with Davis & Harman LLP since 2005, representing clients on tax and benefits issues before the U.S. Congress. Barbara's extensive experience includes several positions with Members of Congress.
Prior to working with Rep. Portman, Barbara served as Tax Counsel, Legislative Director, and Chief of Staff to Representative J.J. Pickle (D-Texas). She advised Rep. Pickle on successful legislative initiatives to encourage research and development, provide capital through dividend reinvestment, and promote retirement savings. Her portfolio also included extensive work on tax-exempt bonds, charitable organizations and energy taxes. She served as Chairman Pickle's liaison to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight.
Barbara is a member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bar Associations. She is a founding member and former co-chair of the Tax Coalition, a forum for professionals involved in federal tax policymaking.
Barbara graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1978. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., she worked in the Texas House of Representatives, serving as Legislative Counsel to a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Prior Experience
Tax Counsel and Legislative Director to U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
Tax Counsel, Legislative Director and Chief of Staff to Rep. J.J. Pickle (D-Texas)
Professional Memberships
Founding member and former co-chair, Tax Coalition
Member and former officer, Texas State Society
As a partner with Davis & Harman LLP, Bryan Keene advises clients on a variety of issues relating to the federal income tax treatment of life insurance and annuity products, focusing particularly on variable insurance products (registered and non-registered), annuities (qualified and non-qualified), IRAs, 403(b) contracts, and corporate-owned life insurance. In addition, Bryan represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department on insurance tax matters and is a frequent commentator on proposed regulations and other guidance projects affecting the life insurance industry.
He has co-authored several articles including: "The Taxes on Starlight: A Case for the Repeal of Sections 809, 815, and 1503(c) of the Internal Revenue Code," in 20 Insurance Tax Review 31 (2001), and "The Impact of Financial Services Reform on State Insurance Regulation," in the Journal of Financial Service Professionals (November 2000).
Prior to joining Davis & Harman in 1999, Mr. Keene received a B.S. from the University of Florida in 1994. He received a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Florida in 1998. While at the University of Florida, Mr. Keene was a senior editor of the Florida Law Review.
Mr. Keene is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
Job Titles:
- Principal, Director of Government Relations
Chris Gaston is Principal, Director of Government Relations of Davis & Harman LLP. Chris has more than a dozen years of Capitol Hill experience and he represents clients on a wide range of issues before Congress, particularly retirement and savings policy.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman LLP, Chris served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) who was a senior member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
After growing up in Central New Jersey, Chris initially started with Rep. Holt as an intern and over the next twelve years, worked for Rep. Holt in a number of congressional and political positions. For more than five years Chris served as Rep. Holt's Legislative Director where he helped establish an ambitious legislative agenda and advised him on a diverse range of legislative issues. In that capacity, Chris was responsible for all of Rep. Holt's work on the Education and the Workforce Committee, including his legislative initiatives to promote retirement savings.
Chris graduated with a B.A. in Political Science with a Public Policy Focus from The George Washington University and received a M.A. in International Law and Politics from Georgetown University.
Prior Experience
Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Courtney Zinter is a partner in the law firm of Davis & Harman LLP. Courtney first joined Davis & Harman in 2011 as a part-time law clerk while receiving her JD from The George Washington University Law School.
Before attending law school and joining Davis & Harman, Courtney held several roles in the insurance and financial services industry. As a representative of Thrivent Financial, she worked with clients to create and implement retirement plans, and sold life, annuity, disability, and long-term care insurance products to address client protection needs. She also sold health insurance as a BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota agent. From a corporate role, Courtney worked in insurance product management where she managed Thrivent's compliance with changes brought by the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act to Medicare supplement insurance products and processes. She also held roles in new business development and web sales development, where much of her work focused on addressing the financial needs of the middle market.
Craig Springfield has been a partner with Davis & Harman LLP since 1998. His federal tax advisory practice focuses on the taxation of life insurance, annuities, long-term care insurance, accelerated death benefits, health insurance and other insurance products. Craig frequently represents insurance companies to obtain private letter rulings and other forms of guidance from the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury. He also has extensive experience working with clients to obtain closing agreements that address various compliance issues, including under sections 7702 and 7702A of the Code and for failures to satisfy withholding and reporting obligations. Craig has worked on various legislative matters, e.g., the tax treatment of long-term care insurance combination products and the Medicaid rules governing qualified state long-term care insurance partnerships.
Craig frequently writes on insurance tax topics. He is coauthor of Life Insurance & Modified Endowments (2d ed., Society of Actuaries 2015) and Tax Management Portfolio No. 528, U.S. Income Tax Definition of Life Insurance and Annuity Contracts (Bloomberg 2018). Craig also coauthored the chapter on "Tax Reporting and Withholding Requirements for Annuities" in the Annuities Answer Book (5th ed. Wolters Kluwer 2017). Some of the articles Craig has authored or coauthored include: The Life Insurance Product Tax Provisions of H.R. 1, Taxing Times (June 2018); Product Tax Implications of the Adoption of the 2017 CSO Tables, Taxing Times (October 2016); They Go Bump in the Night: Life Insurance Policies and the Law of Material Change, Taxing Times Supplement (May, 2012); A Mystery Partially Unveiled: The IRS Rules on Section 7702A's Necessary Premium Test, Taxing Times (Feb., 2012); The CLASS Act: What Does it Mean for Private Long-Term Care Insurance, Journal of Financial Service Professionals (Sept. 2010); New Closing Agreement Procedure for Failed Life Insurance Contracts - Rev. Proc. 2008-40, Taxing Times (Feb. 2009); Rev. Proc. 2008-39 - Correction of Inadvertent MECs: Is the Third Time the Charm? Taxing Times (Feb. 2009); New Rules and Opportunities for Long-Term Care Insurance Combination Products, Taxing Times (May 2007); Determining Guideline Premiums for Fixed-Premium Universal Life Insurance Contracts, Taxing Times (Dec. 2005); Stop Q-LTC Premium Distinctions, National Underwriter (May 10, 1999); and The New Tax Rules Governing Long-Term Care Insurance, Journal of the American Society of CLU and ChFC (Sept. 1997, Nov. 1997 and Jan. 1998).
A native of Florida, Craig received his B.S.B.A., magna cum laude, and M.S. in Accounting from the University of Central Florida. In 1990, he earned his J.D., with honors, from the University of Florida, and in 1991 he received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University. Craig is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, where he previously served as chair of its Committee on Insurance Companies.
Daniela Stoia is a partner with Davis & Harman LLP, specializing in insurance product tax matters. In particular, her practice concentrates on various life insurance and annuity contract compliance issues, including the correction of such products when they fail to comply with applicable federal income tax laws. Since 1998, Daniela has represented clients in over 90 proceedings with the IRS to obtain relief for failures to comply with Internal Revenue Code sections 101(f), 7702, and 7702A as well as reporting failures. Drawing on this experience, Daniela and others in the firm submitted comments in response to Notice 2007-15 recommending that changes be made to the correction procedures for "failed life insurance contracts" and "inadvertent MECs" in order to address the insurance industry's concerns about the toll charges due under such procedures and the administrative burdens such procedures placed on taxpayers. In addition, since the release of the new correction procedures in 2008, Daniela has spoken before numerous groups about these procedures and has represented clients seeking relief under these procedures.
Grace joined Davis & Harman LLP as an associate in October 2020.
Grace graduated from The George Washington University Law School in 2020, where she served as a senior editor for the Public Contract Law Journal. During law school, Grace interned with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Office of the General Counsel's public contract division and with the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen.
John helped found Davis & Harman LLP in 1985 and was the firm's first managing partner. His insurance product taxation advisory, ruling and audit practice covers universal life insurance, variable life insurance, group-term life insurance, COLI, fixed and variable annuities, long-term care insurance, and business and compensatory uses of the products. In addition, he has conducted extensive advisory and ruling work relating to insurance company taxation.
Since 1980, John has represented insurance companies on tax matters relating to the companies and their products, including the enactment or revision of Internal Revenue Code sections 72, 101(f), 101(g), 101(j), 264, 801-818, 845, 846, 1035, 7702, 7702A, and 7702B. Prior to founding Davis & Harman, he was a partner in the insurance tax practice of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan and served as law clerk in the Trial Division of the US Court of Claims and to Judge Marion Bennett of the Court of Claims Appellate Division.
"Life insurance companies are among the most complex institutions in the world," says John Adney. "Their tax issues present continually fascinating challenges for lawyers."
In his long legal career, John takes special pride at being present at the creation of universal life insurance and helping to resolve its basic tax treatment. During the process, he helped fashion legislation addressing life insurance and annuity taxation throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
John is a prolific writer on insurance taxation topics. He co-authored a textbook on life insurance product taxation, Life Insurance & Modified Endowments (Society of Actuaries, 2004). He is also the co-author of the Annuities Answer Book (Aspen Publishers, 4th ed. 2005) and of the chapter on taxation in Variable Annuities & Variable Life Insurance Regulation (Practising Law Institute, 2008). His byline appears on numerous articles on the taxation of insurance companies and products. Three of his articles, published in the Journal of Financial Service Professionals and its predecessor, won author awards from Journal readers. John is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal.
John has often been a speaker at programs of the Insurance Tax Conference, Society of Actuaries, National Association for Variable Annuities, and American Bar Association. He currently serves as a member of the Council of the Taxation Section of the Society of Actuaries.
He received his B.A. summa cum laude from Millikin University in 1972 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1975. A native of Illinois, John and his wife have commissioned over a dozen choral and orchestra musical works-including works for Wolf Trap, Reston Chorale, Reston Community Orchestra and United Christian Parish of Reston. He is Chair emeritus of his alma mater Millikin University Board of Trustees.
Prior Experience
Partner, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan
Law Clerk to Judge Marion Bennett, US Court of Claims, Appellate Division
Law Clerk, US Court of Claims, Trial Division
Professional Memberships
Joe joined Davis & Harman LLP in 1985. His practice focuses on the Federal income taxation of life insurance company products and includes advising individual life insurance companies on specific product design and compliance issues. Joe, like many of the other members of Davis & Harman's Insurance Practice Group, has extensive experience in dealing with both the National Office of the IRS and various IRS field offices. He has represented numerous life insurance companies in obtaining private letter rulings, closing agreements and other forms of guidance and relief over the past 40 years. His substantive experience with life insurance company products is quite broad, including qualified and non-qualified annuities, life insurance contracts, and the special diversification and investor control rules applicable to variable contracts.
Joe is a past President of the Insurance Tax Conference. He also has served as Chairman of NAVA (now known as the Insured Retirement Institute) and of the ABA Tax Section, Committee on Insurance Companies and was on the Advisory Committee of the FBA Insurance Tax Seminar for a number of years.
Joe is a co-editor and contributing author of the Annuities Answer Book (Panel Publishing).
Kent advises Davis & Harman LLP clients in the retirement savings area. He works primarily with major employers, large plans, and national vendors of retirement plan services. He is an expert in the full range of retirement savings issues-including all types of retirement plans, IRAs, and deferred compensation arrangements-with respect to tax, ERISA, and PBGC matters.
Kent frequently represents clients before Congress, the IRS, Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. He also works extensively for trade associations on legislative and administrative issues affecting retirement savings.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman, Kent served as a Legislation-Attorney for the Joint Committee on Taxation, U.S. Congress, and as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Tax Policy of the US Department of the Treasury. While with the government, he focused on retirement plans, health plans, and other employee benefits. After law school, he served as a Law Clerk for Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
"We are trying to improve the employee benefits area, and ensure that people have a secure retirement and adequate health care," says Kent Mason. "I am doing work I believe in."
Kent speaks and writes frequently on employee benefits issues, and has testified on several occasions at hearings before Congress, the IRS, and the Department of Labor. His speeches cover a complete range of benefits issues-including legislative updates, analysis of new regulations, plan design alternatives, and new compliance issues.
Kent received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and was elected to the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.
Kent is a native of Bethesda, Maryland. After a long career of coaching kids' sports on weekends, he has retired his cap and clipboard.
Prior Experience
Legislation Attorney, Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
Attorney-Advisor, Office of Tax Policy, US Department of the Treasury
Law Clerk to Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Professional Memberships
American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the District of Columbia Bar
Mark has been providing Davis & Harman LLP clients with expertise in taxation and insurance law since 1988. He specializes in the federal income tax treatment of life insurance and annuity contracts. His practice area encompasses the federal tax treatment of annuity contracts issued as nonqualified annuities, as well as in connection with IRAs, section 403(b) arrangements, qualified retirement plans and structured settlement arrangements. His work with life insurance contracts includes modified endowment contracts, corporate-owned life insurance contracts, and split-dollar life insurance arrangements.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman, Mark served as Attorney-Advisor to Special Trial Judge Hu S. Vandevort, Jr. of the US Tax Court. He also speaks and writes frequently on the federal income taxation of insurance products, and he is a contributing author to the Annuities Answer Book (Panel Publishers, 3d ed. 2000).
He received his BA, magna cum laude, from Hamilton College in 1981 and his JD, cum laude, from Syracuse University in 1984. He was awarded an LLM in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1988.
Mark is a member of the District of Columbia Bar. He is a member of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation and is a member and former officer of the Federal Bar Association Section of Taxation.
Prior Experience
Tax Law Specialist, Office of the Assistant Commissioner, Exempt Organizations Technical Division, Internal Revenue Service, Washington, DC, 1985-1986
Attorney-Advisor, US Tax Court, Washington, DC, 1986-1988
Professional Memberships
Michael Hadley is a partner in the law firm Davis & Harman LLP. He practices in the area of employee benefits, advising clients on the full range of tax, ERISA, and other laws affecting benefit plans. He has a particular focus on helping financial institutions that sell products to defined contribution and defined benefit plans, IRAs and similar plans navigate the special rules that govern those plans. He also provides clients with strategic advice, plan design, counseling, and compliance assistance for qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, non-qualified executive compensation, employment agreements, and health and other welfare plans.
Mr. Hadley was formerly Associate Counsel for Pension Regulation at the Investment Company Institute, the national association of U.S. investment companies. His responsibilities included advocating for the Institute's membership before Congress, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Securities and Exchange Commission on retirement security issues and assisting ICI members and staff in understanding tax and ERISA rules. Among other duties he managed ICI's work implementing the Pension Protection Act and responding to 401(k) fee, investment advice, and fiduciary developments in Congress, DOL, and the courts.
Prior to joining ICI, Mr. Hadley was with the law firm Covington & Burling LLP in the employee benefits group.
Mr. Hadley is a frequent speaker on the latest retirement savings policy developments coming out of Congress and the regulatory agencies and has testified before Treasury, IRS, and Department of Labor. He is the co-editor of the 403(b) Answer Book and is the author of the chapter on "Annuities in Tax-Favored Retirement Plans" in the Annuities Answer Book. A sampling of articles he has authored or co-authored: States Dive Headfirst Into Retirement Cos average Debate - But Will Their Initiatives Run Afoul of Federal Law, Pension and Benefits Daily (February 2015); ERISA Compliance for Investment Advisers: A Q&A Guide To DOL's 408(b)(2) Disclosure Regulation, Investment Lawyer, Vol. 20, No. 7 (July 2013); The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees, and Expenses, 2010 ICI Research Perspective, Vol. 17, No. 4 (June 2011); and 401(k) Plans: A 25-Year Retrospective, ICI Research Perspective, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Nov. 2006).
Mr. Hadley was a law clerk for the Honorable Gerald Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his B.A., cum laude, from the College of William and Mary.
Prior Experience
Associate Counsel for Pension Regulation, Investment Company Institute
Associate, Covington & Burling
Law Clerk to Hon. Gerald Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Richard is a retired partner of Davis & Harman LLP, where he concentrated on tax and legislative matters. Since 1991, he has represented the firm's clients on a wide range of issues-including taxation of insurance companies and products, tax-advantaged affordable housing, and tax aspects of business aviation.
Richard practiced law in both New York and Connecticut before entering public service. He served as Chief Counsel to the Senate Majority and Republican Leader who happened to be Senator Robert Dole. From 1980 to 1984, Richard was Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, where he headed the committee's tax staff. His role in the tax legislation of the Reagan years is one of his most memorable career accomplishments. "It probably will be the high point of tax reform as I think of it-low rates and broad tax base-for some time."
"I enjoy solving problems and have always been fascinated by the use of language to communicate and persuade," says Richard Belas. "It is gratifying to find a clear and precise way to express an idea."
In addition, Richard has lectured widely throughout the United States on tax issues and has taught tax policy in the MBA program at Chaminade University in Honolulu.
Richard received a B.A. degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He earned his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1973 and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 1977. While at the University of Virginia, he was a member of the Law Review Editorial Board.
Prior Experience
Chief Counsel to the Senate Majority and Republican Leader Senator Robert Dole
Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance
She served as Tax Counsel and Legislative Director to U.S. Representative Rob Portman (R-Ohio) from 1995 to 2005. During the ten years she worked with Congressman Portman, Barbara played a central role in the development and enactment of a series of bipartisan pension bills authored by Rep. Portman and Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland). She was also the key advisor on tax matters to Rep. Portman, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and House Republican Leadership. As Co-chairman Portman's congressional liaison to the Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, Barbara helped develop and enact landmark legislation increasing taxpayers' rights and ensuring IRS oversight and accountability.
Robert's practice is focused on employer-sponsored health and welfare benefit programs. His areas of expertise include the tax treatment of such programs, as well as the myriad related legislative and regulatory requirements such as COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA, the Public Health Service Act, and the Affordable Care Act. He has extensive experience advising clients on all types of health and welfare programs, including group health plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), cafeteria plans, and retiree medical programs.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman, Robert was a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he was head of the Washington Rewards Policy Center of Excellence. In that role he advised a broad range of private and public sector employers and service providers on compliance issues relating to health and welfare, retirement, and leave programs. Among other things, he led efforts to help clients achieve compliance with the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, and the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
He writes and speaks frequently on employee benefits issues. Additionally, he is a former Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he taught a course on health and welfare benefit plans.
Robert is a graduate of Wake Forest University (BA) and the University of North Carolina School of Law (JD). He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
Prior Experience
Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Legislative Representative, The ERISA Industry Committee
Senior Legislative Assistant/Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives
Job Titles:
- Coordinator
- Legislative Coordinator
Taylor Howard is the Legislative Coordinator of Davis & Harman LLP.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman LLP, Taylor served as a Legislative Fellow to Monument Policy Group focusing on policy research related to trade, technology, agricultural, and energy issues.
Taylor began his career in Alabama working under the State Senate Majority Leader while obtaining his undergraduate degree from Auburn University. Formerly an Atlanta native, Taylor moved to D.C. after graduating from Auburn University to pursue a Master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.
While pursuing his M.P.P., Taylor studied a diverse range of issues related to public policy and legislative affairs. While at Georgetown, he consulted in a capstone project for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), assisting with research on the implementation of their policy agenda on Capitol Hill. He also served as an Online Editor and Senior Business Manager of the Georgetown Public Policy Review.
Taylor graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology, magna cum laude, from Auburn University in 2017, and a M.P.P. from Georgetown University in 2019.