Ernst & Young Macroeconomic Study Speaker Biographies

Suzanne Goldstein Baker

Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Investment Property Exchange Services, Inc.

Suzanne is a licensed attorney (IL) and Certified Exchange Specialist® who has been facilitating tax-deferred exchanges for more than 20 years, and who has 25 years of trust, banking and compliance experience. Prior to joining Investment Property Exchange Services, Inc., she founded and managed the national tax-deferred exchange businesses of two large commercial banks.

Suzanne is a past President of the Federation of Exchange Accommodators, the industry association for Qualified Intermediaries, and currently serves on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the Government Affairs Committee, which she co-chairs. In these roles she has met with members of the US Congress, the Internal Revenue Service, the US Department of the Treasury, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and various state legislators, providing a resource for better understanding of the issues confronting taxpayers and their Qualified Intermediaries. She is highly engaged in industry efforts related to tax reform proposals affecting IRC §1031 like-kind exchanges. She has worked with a number of states to draft and pass legislation regulating exchange accommodators.

Suzanne has participated in panel discussions about artwork exchanges at the 2014 Art Law Day in New York City, 2013 American Bar Association, Section of Taxation Fall CLE Conference, the 2013 FEA Annual Conference, and previously at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, the Center for Visual Communication in Miami, and the LA Art Show in Los Angeles. She is a frequent lecturer at bar association and other professional continuing education seminars for attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and exchange facilitators on the subject of tax-deferred exchanges. Suzanne is the author of various articles in professional newsletters, journals and websites.

Suzanne earned a JD from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and a BA, with honors, from the University of Illinois. In addition she completed post-graduate classes in the areas of Financial Products Law and Banking Law. She is a member of the American Bar Association Tax Section and the Chicago Bar Association.

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Greg Blaszka

CFO / Controller
Jesco, Inc.

CFO / Controller for Jesco Inc for over 30 years and have been with the company over 35 years. I have BS in accounting an MBA in finance. Jesco has been using the 1031 exchange program for over 10 years. Jesco was established in 1972 and was primarily a John Deere in New Jersey up to 2009. We now have expanded from 3 locations to 14 locations representing John Deere and other like type equipment in NY, NJ , MD and Delaware. In addition we are now a Ditchwitch Dealer representing Ditchwitch in all of the New England states, parts of NY and PA ,NJ, MD and Delaware. With the expansion of our work force, rental fleet and upgrading and building of our facilities has created a number of challenges of which cash flow was a number one topic. The 1031 exchange program has indeed helped us in meeting our company goals and objectives.

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Dr. Robert J. Carroll

Bob leads the Ernst & Young LLP Quantitative Economics and Statistics practice and is an advisor to public and private organizations on federal tax policy issues, including revenue and economic effects. Before joining EY, Bob was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis of the US Treasury Department where he served as the Department’s top economist working on tax policy issues. Bob oversaw the Department’s work on developing business tax reforms to improve the global competitiveness of the US in 2007 and efforts to reform the tax system and support the 2005 President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform in 2005. He regularly advised the Treasury Secretary and other senior Administration officials on tax policy matters. Bob oversaw and directed the expansion of the Office of Tax Analysis’s capabilities for conducting dynamic analysis and the preparation and release of several Treasury Department dynamic analyses of tax policy changes. Bob served as a Visiting Scholar with the Congressional Budget Office and Senior Economist with the President’s Council on Economic Advisers. Bob was also on the faculty of American University’s School of Public Affairs and a Senior Fellow with the Tax Foundation.

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Craig E. Fernsler

VP Investment Services, KW Commercial Real Estate
CCIM, GRI, SRES, Certified Commercial and Investment Member

For over 25 years, Craig has been a Real Estate professional specializing in commercial and investment properties of all types, large or small, with helping his clients increase their bottom line, maximize their wealth, and to legally minimize tax consequences for every transaction. These methods include 1031 Exchanges, Cost Segregation, Installment Sales, Deferred Sales Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts, and Triple Net Retail Properties.

In 1989, Craig purchased his first investment property for himself – Since then, he has bought or sold approximately $18.3 million of his own personal Commercial/Investment properties, ranging from single family homes to apartment buildings to retail strip centers to vacation homes. He continues to invest in real estate to enlarge his assets and has owned several limited liability companies for this purpose. As both a principal and a real estate broker, he has completed several 1031 exchanges has a commitment to help his clients plan and create strategies for their real estate needs.

Fernsler holds the coveted Certified Commercial Investment Member® (CCIM) designation. A CCIM is a recognized expert in the commercial and investment real estate industry and is proficient not only in theory, but also in practice. CCIM is part of a global commercial real estate network with members across North America and in more than 30 countries. This professional organization closes thousands of transactions annually, representing a projected $400 billion in value. Of the more than 150,000 commercial real estate professionals in the United States, only an estimated 6 percent hold the prestigious CCIM designation.
Fernsler is the current Vice President, Mid-Atlantic Region for CCIM international and serves on the International Board of Directors. He was the President for the PA/NJ/DE CCIM Chapter for 2012.

Fernsler also has extensive experience in land development and acquisitions, for brokerage as well as his own companies, in several counties and two states.

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Carrie L. Roider

CEO, Erb Equipment Companies

Carrie Roider is the Chief Executive Officer of Erb Equipment Companies. Carrie is responsible for the efficient and profitable operation of the company which has locations in four states in the mid-west with a sales volume of approximately 150 million. Some of her responsibilities include developing long term corporate strategy, evaluation of operation manager’s performance and promoting a culture that reflects the organization’s values of passion, integrity, commitment and being team players with servant’s hearts. Mrs. Roider joined Erb Equipment in 1991 as the Accounting Manager and subsequently served the company as Controller and Chief Financial Officer. Recently, for several years Carrie served as an advisory director on the John Deere Construction dealer advisory board. Carrie holds a BS in Accounting from St. Louis University, an M.B.A. from Webster University and maintains a current CPA license. Carrie is the proud mother of three daughters and enjoys horseback riding in her free time.

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Warren Thomas

Owner, Green Valley Farms

Mr. Thomas has more than forty years of experience in private sector business including banking, oil & gas, real estate investments and technology commercialization.

His banking experience included interests in four commercial banks, one of which, with another investor, comprised majority ownership in a downtown Oklahoma City bank, where he served as Chairman of the Board and CEO. He has also served on numerous Executive and Loan Committees.

Mr. Thomas excels at creatively engineering complex financial strategies with an emphasis on enhancing shareholder’s value and mitigating risks. He has started and/or acquired numerous companies over four decades and led them to successful growth and incremental value creation. Thomas was a founding partner of Acorn Growth Companies, now AGC Aerospace, a private equity firm with over $200 million under management. AGC companies are primarily engaged in composite materials, sensors, “NDI” and “ISR” activities, all related to the Defense and Commercial Aviation industries.

He is a licensed real estate broker (over 40 years) and a seasoned commercial and industrial real estate developer with recognized expertise in sector-specific development, i.e., industry clusters like the Tinker Business & Industrial Park (TBIP), which is adjacent to Tinker Air Force Base. TBIP was conceived and developed by Thomas in 1985 and today serves as a working model of cluster development within a targeted industry – defense and aviation/aerospace – and consistently exceeds $1 billion in annual contracts with Tinker and the Department of Defense.

Mr. Thomas enjoys a 29-year partnership with the 100 (plus) year old Flintco Companies of Tulsa, OK. He also serves as Managing General Partner of TBIP, home to more than 30 prominent defense contractors such as Rockwell Collins, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, General Atomics, Lockheed, Spirit Aero Systems, DRS, Wylie, and Chromalloy among others. This highly-synergistic aviation/aerospace cluster includes strategic relationships with Oklahoma’s research universities, community colleges and Oklahoma’s CareerTech for targeted job creation and workforce development. Jobs at TBIP average over twice the state’s per capita income consistent with the goal of creating high-value, high-paying jobs. Upon completion, TBIP’s master-planned, one-million square foot campus is forecast to exceed $100 million in asset value. Today it represents the largest aggregation of technology companies in the State of Oklahoma.

Thomas is also a principal in and founding partner of Oklahoma’s new “Unmanned Systems Innovation Center” (USIC). Located within the TBIP aerospace campus, the facility includes an emphasis on research and development, technology commercialization, education, certification and training, and entrepreneurship linked to its own multi-tier capital facility. As Managing Equity Partner in Design Intelligence Incorporated (DII), he is again leading and helping to shape the emerging unmanned systems industry’s evolution, not only in Oklahoma but also in the surrounding region and on the national platform.

In 2004, Mr. Thomas was appointed by Governor Brad Henry to the Oklahoma Science and Technology Commission. He is now in his third term after being reappointed by Governor Mary Fallin. The Commission reports to the Secretary for Science and Technology and is charged with formulating a blueprint for advancing scientific and technology-related policy initiatives and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education for the State of Oklahoma. In his capacity on the Commission, Thomas was charged with overseeing the Center for Aviation Systems Support & Infrastructure (CASI), a consortium of Oklahoma’s higher education institutions organized for the purpose of supporting the State’s aerospace sector. Previously, he served on the Base Commander’s Executive Advisory Committee for Tinker Air Force Base. He is currently serving as a Foundation Trustee for the Oklahoma School for Science and Mathematics, after previously being a member of the Board. He also stood as a Director of the Oklahoma Aerospace & Defense Alliance.

In 2013, Mr. Thomas was selected as one of 200 business leaders from across the United States to serve on the GE Education Foundation. His role is to advocate for academic rigor in the State of Oklahoma, particularly relating to “college and career readiness.”

Mr. Thomas’ long-term professional associations include (among others) the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Association of University-Related Research Parks (AURRP). Mr. Thomas has attained numerous professional designations and specialized coursework in banking, finance, real estate and the petroleum industry. He has lived and worked in Oklahoma virtually all of his adult life.

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Tracy A. Thompson

CFP Yellowhouse Machinery Co.

A Texas CPA for 19 years working as the CFO for Yellowhouse Machinery Co. for 18 years. Primary responsibilities are cash flow, operational analysis and process implementation, acquisitions, and tax manager. As a John Deere Construction and Forestry dealer with six locations in Texas and three in Oklahoma, we employ 300 people and serve the various industries in our territories of West Texas and North and Eastern Oklahoma. Our primary industries served are Oil and Gas contractors, Cattle Feeding operations, Highway and Dirt Contractors, Pipeline contractors and City and County Governments. We have sales, service and parts locations in Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Odessa, San Angelo and Wichita Falls Texas. Our locations in Oklahoma are Tulsa, Enid and Mcalester providing Sales, Service and Parts.

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Daniel J. Wagner

Senior Vice President of Government Relations
The Inland Real Estate Group, Inc.

Daniel J. Wagner joined The Inland Real Estate Group, Inc. (“Inland”) in March 2005 as Vice President of Government Relations. In his role, Mr. Wagner is a liaison on behalf of Inland to local, county, state and federal elected officials and professional associations. He also manages special projects for the Chairman of The Inland Real Estate Group, Inc. Prior to joining Inland, Mr. Wagner served as the Chief Deputy to the DuPage County Board Chairman from 1998 to 2005 and held the position of legislative coordinator for the Illinois House Republican leader Lee A. Daniels from 1996 to 1998. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees from Illinois State University, and holds a State of Illinois Real Estate Broker’s license and Series 7 and 63 Security Licenses. Mr. Wagner serves as Chairman of the Board of the Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce, is Vice Chairman of the National Association of Realtors’ Commercial Legislative Regulatory Committee, serves on the Illinois Association of Realtors Board of Directors and is the President-Elect of the Chicago Association of Realtors. Mr. Wagner is also a Commissioner of the DuPage Airport Authority and Chair of its Capital Development Committee. He lives in Wheaton, Ill., with his wife Lisa and four children.

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