Brian is the managing partner and a founder of the TAX PROJECTS GROUP. Overseeing the New York and Boston offices, Brian has over 21 years experience in corporate and individual tax consultation. As a former Deloitte & Touche, LLP partner in both New York and Los Angeles, he was responsible for serving the firm’s most significant clients. Brian was a member of the firm’s national tax practice specializing in corporate income tax planning, entity structuring, reorganizations, and mergers and acquisitions. He was also a Regional Managing Director for a national firm that focused on performing R&D Tax Credit Studies and was a tax manager at Arthur Andersen in Orange County, California, where he focused his practice on corporate tax planning, the use of partnerships and other flow-through entities as well as international tax.

Brian is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California and a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a B.S. in accounting from the University of Southern California.

Randy Eickhoff, Founding Partner

Randy is a founding partner and manages the Los Angeles and Phoenix offices. He has over 21 years experience in professional services including eight years of corporate, partnership and individual tax consulting. During his tenure at Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles, Randy was responsible for providing federal and state tax consultation in the manufacturing, software, high technology and financial service industries. Randy was also a Regional Managing Director for a national professional services firm that specialized in R&D Tax Credit Studies. Randy also spent four years with Korn/Ferry International recruiting top CEOs, Presidents, CFO and other executives to public and private companies.

Randy is a national lifesaving champion and has more than 10 gold medals from the World Masters Lifesaving Competition. He holds a B.S. in business economics from University of California, Santa Barbara.

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Greg Elias, Founding Partner

Greg is a founding partner and manages the Chicago and Kansas City offices. He has over 19 years experience in accounting, tax and business consulting primarily with Deloitte & Touche and KPMG Peat Marwick. As a member of Deloitte & Touche’s national tax consulting group, he was responsible for serving and advising Fortune 500 clients throughout the country focusing on income tax planning, merger and acquisition consulting. During his tenure at KPMG, Greg was responsible for assisting both public and private clients with a variety of value-added accounting, tax and business consulting strategies. Greg was also a Regional Managing Director in charge of the Great Lakes region for a national firm that specialized in performing R&D Tax Credit Studies.

Greg is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California and holds a B.S. in accounting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Krajcer, Partner and Technical Director

Mike is a partner in our Cleveland headquarters and is the firm’s Technical Director. He has over 22 years experience in tax consulting and IRS & state taxing authority controversy resolution. Previously, Mike was the leader of Ernest & Young’s IRS Practice and Procedure Group in Cleveland and a member of E&Y’s national tax practice where he specialized in tax controversy resolution and large case R&D Tax Credit projects. Mike also spent 13 years with the IRS, where he was responsible for federal income tax examinations and R&D Tax Credit positions. More recently, Mike was Vice President at National City Bank, where he was responsible for managing the bank’s own R&D Tax Credit study, Like-kind Exchange program, Cost Segregation studies, as well as other specialty projects.

Mike is an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Ohio. He holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the Kent State University and a J.D. degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where he also instructs as an adjunct professor.

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Al Sanifar, Partner - SEC Tax Services

Al is a partner and nationally in charge of SEC Tax services. Al specializes in delivering tax compliance, consulting, mergers & acquisitions advisory services and assisting clients in planning and implementing tax strategies in a transactional setting. Al was a member of PwC tax mergers & acquisition group in Los Angeles. Al also worked at Ernest & Youngs National Office West (EYNOW) mergers & acquisition group in Silicon Valley and San Francisco California advising clients on various tax transactional matters. Prior to joining EYNOW, Al was the tax manager at Arthur Andersen Los Angeles office providing compliance, consulting and FAS 109 services to corporate clients.

Al has extensive experience on advising both strategic and financial buyers and sellers in a wide variety of industries, including technology, communications, financial services, retail, distribution, energy and biotechnology. Al has also worked on federal income tax planning for corporate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, tax opinions and private letter rulings. Al's former clients include multinational corporations including, JDS Uniphase, Sun Microsystems, Hilton Corporation, Intel, ING, Vivendi and Tribune Broadcasting Company. Al has also an extensive experience implementing and consulting tax strategies for middle market clients. In addition, Al has worked with many private equity and venture capital firms providing tax due diligence, structuring, and post merger integration services.

Al received his B.S. degree in accounting and Master of Business Taxation from University of Southern California. Al is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the AICPA, and California Society of CPAs.

George Elias, National Director

George is the national director in charge of International Tax Services and has over 22 years experience of tax working with Fortune 500 companies in the manufacturing and financial institution sectors. Throughout his career he has specialized in international tax issues as well as state & local income/franchise tax. George was most recently an Assistant Vice President at National City Bank where he managed the bank’s sales & use tax department and was involved in federal and other state/local tax consultation. Prior to National City Bank, George was Tax Manager at Yokohama Tire Corp. in charge of federal, state, and international income tax issues. George began his carrier with LTV Corp. and LTV Steel Company where he specialized in real estate and personal property taxes.

George is a Certified Public Accountant in the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio and holds a B.S. in accounting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

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Ted Drass, Director

Ted is the managing director of the Atlanta office. He has over 19 years experience in accounting, tax, audit, international finance and business consultation predominately with Grant Thornton and Kenneth, Leventhal and Company. At Grant Thornton, he was responsible for managing financial statement audits as well as advising and consulting middle market clients on various value-added issues. Ted was also a member of the senior management team at Avnet Electronics where he held finance and operations positions including Global Business Development and Corporate Controller. At Avnet he was responsible for directly managing a 25 person finance department, merger and acquisition due diligence, international expansion, treasury and cash management, financial transaction and reporting compliance, all aspects of international tax compliance and managing the worldwide operation and logistics for Avnet ’s global customer account base.

Ted is a Certified Public Accountant in the states of California and Pennsylvania and holds a B.S. in accounting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Phil Dottavio, Director

Phil is a director in the Cleveland office and has over 19 years experience in individual and business taxation. Previously, Phil was a member of Ernest & Young’s Specialty Tax Practice, focusing primarily on R&D Tax Credit Studies for Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller companies and pass-through entities. More recently, Phil was responsible for overseeing R&D Tax Credit Studies at the largest independently-owned accounting and business consulting firm in the state of Ohio.

Phil is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Ohio and is also an Enrolled Agent. He holds an A.S. in business and a B.B.A. in accounting from Kent State University, Summa Cum Laude, and received his Master of Taxation from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Phil is a member of the Ohio Society of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and has presented several articles and speaking engagements regarding the R&D Tax Credit as well as other tax-related topics.

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Carl Padding, National Director

Carl is the national director in charge of Cost Segregation Services. He is located in the Chicago office and has over 21 years experience in tax, accounting and engineering consulting.  Most recently, Carl was the president of a national consulting firm, providing cost segregation studies and real estate tax services.  He was also the Great Lakes Regional Leader and developer of the cost segregation service line for RSM McGladrey, a national CPA firm.  Carl was also a senior manager at Arthur Andersen specializing in tax depreciation regulations & cases, valuations, cost segregation studies for various federal and state income tax credits, mergers & acquisitions.

Carl received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Letters and Engineering from Calvin College in Michigan.