Private wealth in focus: The Great Wealth Transfer and Legislative Outlook

Eric L. Johnson is a Tax Partner at Deloitte Tax LLP in Chicago. His thirty-year career in public accounting has focused on serving ultra-wealthy individuals, family groups, family offices, private trust companies, and closely held business owners on tax, estate planning, and financial matters. Eric currently serves as Deloitte’s Private Wealth Leader and Family Office Tax Leader for the U.S. Firm. He co-leads Deloitte’s National Family Office Forum at Deloitte University and Deloitte’s Chicago Family Office Forum. He also serves as the senior adviser on Deloitte’s Private Wealth Masters’ Program. Eric frequently lectures on family office matters and is an author for leading tax publications including The Tax Adviser, Trusts & Estates, Tax Notes, and Family Office Elite. He previously served as Deloitte’s National Competency Leader for the Estate, Gift, Trust and Charitable (EGTC) Competency Group from 2012 – 2017.

Jeff specializes in US tax policy. He oversees a team of tax policy professionals who monitor US tax legislative and regulatory developments to develop articles for Deloitte Tax’s weekly newsletter, Tax News & Views, and in-depth publications on issues such as the US deficit and US tax reform. He also provides insights on these same developments to tax leaders throughout the US. His Capitol Hill experience includes working on tax and budget issues for former US Senator and Senate Finance Committee member Steve Symms, R-Idaho. Jeff is a frequent speaker at Deloitte-sponsored tax and industry events, as well as events sponsored by industry groups such as Tax Executive Institute, American Petroleum Institute, and Financial Executives International. Jeff holds a BS in political science from University of Idaho and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Doug has extensive experience designing and implementing strategies to address the personal and charitable objectives of many of Deloitte's wealthiest clients including both highly compensated executives and business owners. He specializes in estate, gift, and trust planning, and charitable planning including charitable trusts, generation-skipping tax, disposition of investments, estate administration, and international estate planning. He is a frequent speaker at wealth and estate planning conferences and co-authors Deloitte's annual Essential tax and wealth planning guide. Doug holds a BBA from Texas A&M University and JD from South Texas College of Law.

Chris specializes in representing clients before, and advising clients as they resolve tax disputes with, the California taxing authorities and the IRS. He also serves as a trusted advisor to many high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and fiduciaries, consulting on tax matters involving residency, trust taxation, source of income derived from investment partnerships, among other issues, in California and other states. Prior to joining Deloitte, Chris led a state tax controversy practice at an international law firm where he as represented clients in litigation with the IRS, California State Board of Equalization, and California Franchise Tax Board. He also has extensive experience in bankruptcy-tax matters and has represented debtors and creditors as special tax counsel in bankruptcy cases. Chris is an active participant of the California Lawyers Association Taxation Section and chaired their Executive Committee. He also is a member of the Advisory Boards of both the California Franchise Tax Board and California Office of Tax Appeals. He was an adjunct professor of state and local taxation at Loyola Marymount University Law School's Tax LLM Program and recognized as a “Rising Star, Southern California Super Lawyers” by Los Angeles magazine (2012-2014). Chris holds a BA from Dartmouth College and a JD (cum laude) from University of Michigan Law School.