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 Dennis Gerschick
is the founder and CEO of Regal Seminars. He brings to the podium a truly unique
set of skills and many years of experience as an Attorney, CPA, Chartered Financial
Analyst, and Venture Capitalist. Mr. Gerschick has the knowledge and background to
present topics from a variety of perspectives.
Earning an accounting degree from Florida Atlantic University, he passed the May,
1978 CPA exam on his first attempt, with only 6% doing so. Before entering law school,
he worked as a CPA with Ernst & Young, one of the Big 4 accounting firms. While
he practiced primarily in the tax department, valuable experience was gained by working
on a number of audits.
After graduating from Drake University Law School in 1983, Mr. Gerschick worked in
the tax department of one of Atlanta's largest law firms, Powell, Goldstein, LLP,
which has since merged with Bryan Cave, LLP. There he was involved in a wide variety
of real estate and business transactions.
In 1990, he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. The CFA program
is a three year program of study, and it requires the participant to pass three rigorous
annual examinations. Since 1999, he has served as President of VenCap Advisory Group,
Inc.; which is the sole general partner of VenCap Opportunities Fund, L.P.; a venture
capital fund.
Mr. Gerschick speaks frequently throughout the world regarding a variety of business,
investment, legal, and tax topics. The Georgia Bar has asked him to chair many seminars
over the years. He has spoken at the annual Corporate Litigation seminar several
times, once about "Using Financial Statements in the Courtroom."
The Institute of Continuing Judicial Education in Georgia has invited Mr. Gerschick
to speak many times. There, he educates judges about accounting, financial statements,
forensic accounting, and valuations of private companies.
In addition to speaking at seminars, he provides financial, business, and investment
advice to individuals and companies through Gerschick Business & Investment Counsel,
LLC. Attorneys, CPAs, and other professional advisors request Mr. Gerschick to assist
them, so that they can represent their own clients more effectively. His service
on several Boards of Directors and audit committees gives him another perspective
to more effectively counsel executives and directors about corporate governance,
contracts, tax, and business issues, and other matters as well.
Mr. Gerschick has served on the American Institute of CPAs' Business Valuation Subcommittee.
There he worked with some of the country's recognized experts in the business valuation
area.
A book written by Mr. Gerschick was recently published titled, Raising Capital:
A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs Seeking Venture Capital. This book was
built upon two monographs he authored, Raising Capital and Attracting
Investors to Your Start-Up, both of which are offered by the Capital Formation
Finance Institute in Washington DC. American Venture, a magazine targeted
at entrepreneurs and accredited investors, featured an interview with Mr. Gerschick.
His articles have been published in magazines such as eeeluminator, and by
a number of state CPA societies in their magazines and newsletters. A series of his
articles can be viewed on-line at www.EvanCarmichael.com and www.Gerschick.com.
 Vivian Hoard
practices in the area of Civil and Criminal Tax Controversies and has appeared numerous
times before the United States Tax Court and Federal District Courts. Some of her
reported Tax Court cases include Peaden v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 116 (1999); Caracci
v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. No. 25 (2002); and Estate of Brockenbrough v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo 1998-454. Ms. Hoard has successfully settled civil tax controversies involving
many varied tax issues including tax shelter/sham transactions, Section 29 energy
credits, deductibility of illegal payments under Section 162, the civil fraud penalty,
hobby loss, worker classification, trust fund liability and much more. Ms. Hoard
has also successfully represented taxpayers targeted for criminal prosecution by
convincing justice department attorneys the case should be treated as a civil matter
rather than a criminal matter.
Early in her career Ms. Hoard was a felony prosecutor and tried many jury trials
in the Superior Courts of Fulton and Hall Counties. She has forty reported criminal
appeals which she briefed and argued either in the Georgia Supreme Court or Georgia
Court of Appeals.
Ms. Hoard is a frequent speaker on tax controversy matters.
Publications
- “Corporate Tax Shelters: Is Every Generation
Doomed to Repeat History?” Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure, Vol. 2,
No. 3 June-July 2000
- “Employment Tax Audits: both IRS Criminal
and Civil Divisions Raise the Stakes” Journal of Taxation, Vol. 96, No. 6,
June 2002
- “Offshore Scheme Participants Can Get Onboard
IRS Program” 70 Practical Tax Strategies 159 (March 2003
Practice Areas
- Civil Tax Controversy
- Criminal Tax Defense
Education
- LLM, Taxation, Emory University 1990
- J.D., University of Georgia, 1985
- B.A. University of Georgia 1982
 David Sawyer
is a CPA, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Internal Auditor. As a forensic
accountant and litigation advisor, he has served as a consulting or testifying expert
in dozens of investigations involving fraud, corruption, embezzlement and a variety
of other legal disputes. Mr. Sawyer has performed forensic financial analysis in
a variety of matters, including fraud investigation, contract and post-acquisition
disputes, calculation of damages and lost profits, bankruptcy proceedings, intellectual
property infringement, and financial misstatement. Also as a former internal auditor
for Fortune 500 corporations, he still regularly consults with businesses on improvements
of internal controls, as well as fraud prevention and detection. Clients, of Mr.
Sawyer’s, have included law enforcement and prosecutors, senior executives and managers,
boards of directors, audit committees, general counsel, attorneys and litigators
for governments, publicly-traded global corporations and privately-owned businesses.
As an internal auditor and business risk consultant for multi-national corporations,
Mr. Sawyer has identified process and financial control weaknesses which indicate
exposure to fraud or abuse, and recommended solutions for improvements in operational
efficiency and effectiveness in achieving company objectives.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Auburn University. He then served
as a Staff Accountant with two local / regional accounting firms on the Gulf Coast.
He performed financial statement audits, reviews, and compilations, and he prepared
corporate, partnership, and individual income tax returns.
Thousands of professionals and students have been addressed, by Mr. Sawyer, on the
topic of fraud examination and forensic accounting. He is past president of the Georgia
Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners and currently serves as an adjunct professor
in Fraud Examination at North Georgia College.
Mr. Sawyer serves on the Technical Advisory Board for Oversight Technologies, where
he was instrumental in the design of Fraud Detection Queries for Oversight’s real-time
fraud detection application for SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft systems.
 Mr. Sheffield’s
diverse employee benefits legal and consulting background includes several years
of ERISA litigation and liability analysis, pension, and health and welfare plan
design consulting, as well as regulatory compliance consulting.
Currently he is associated with McGuire Woods, a large regional law firm. He was
previously a senior legal consultant and litigation analyst, specializing in issues
related to fiduciary investment governance, prudence, and accountability. He has
performed extensive data sampling, analysis, and client consulting related to federal
litigation trends, and the associated plan sponsor and fiduciary liabilities arising
from long-term disability benefit terminations and other individual or class-based
employee benefits terminations. He is a contributing editor for Pension Governance,
LLC, and is director of legal content and general counsel for www.PensionLitigationData.com.
Practice Areas
- Employee Benefits
- Employee Benefits/Executive Compensation
Litigation
Education
- Western New England College, School of
Law, Springfield, Massachusetts, J.D., 2006
- Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia,
B.A. Political Science, magna cum laude, 2003
Previous Experience
- Associate, Taylor, Busch, Slipakoff &
Duma, LLP, Atlanta, Georgia, 2007-2008
- Senior Legal Consultant & Litigation
Analyst, The Michel-Shaked Group, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts, 2005-2007
Publications
- ERISA Litigation Study, PensionLitigationData.com,
April 15, 2009
- "Congress Approves Temporary Relief
for Defined Benefit Funding, Announces Technical Amendments to the PPA and Clarifies
Effective Date For the Mental Health Parity Act," McGuireWoods News, December
29, 2009
- "IRS Expands Relief for Section 409A
Operational Failures," McGuireWoods News, January 16, 2009
- “ERISA Litigation, Cumulative National
Trends Analysis for 2005 & 2006,” The Michel-Shaked Group, LLC, and Pension Governance,
LLC, January 2007
 Bill Venema
is an experienced business lawyer who has handled scores of merger and acquisition
transactions in a variety of industries. He is the author of The Strategic Guide
to Selling Your Software Company: Essential Advice from a Veteran Deal Warrior,
as well as numerous articles on mergers and acquisitions and other business law topics.
He also created The Venema Report, an e-newsletter and Web site devoted to
helping entrepreneurs manage their businesses better. The Web site is: www.TheVenemaReport.com
Bill is a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, where he earned a
BS in Engineering and was selected for membership in the honor society Phi Kappa
Phi. In addition, he earned an MBA from Georgia State University and a JD from the
University of Virginia School of Law.
In his private law practice, Bill has represented entrepreneurs and start-ups, as
well as Fortune 100 companies. His law practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions,
venture capital, securities offerings, licensing, joint ventures, and commercial
transactions.
Prior to leaving active duty in the U.S. Army, Bill completed Ranger and Airborne
training and served as a cavalry officer in Germany. After attending law school,
he served as a military prosecutor in the Republic of Panama, where he prosecuted
85 felony cases. In 1988, Bill left active duty and entered the U.S. Army Reserve,
where he attended the Command and General Staff College. He retired from the U.S.
Army Reserve in 2000 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Bill is a member of Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C., and is the head of the Business
Law section of the firm’s Houston office. He can be reached here via email.
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REGAL SEMINARS
Dennis J. Gerschick
2691 Blairsden Place
Kennesaw, GA 30144
770-792-7444
Email
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