Larry J. Wolfe, CEO of Taxcient, joined the company in November of 2006. Mr. Wolfe served at Intuit Inc. and certain predecessor companies from 1987 until his retirement in 2001 as senior vice president in the tax division where, under his leadership, tax division revenues grew more than three fold over a five-year period. In addition to his role as senior vice president, Mr. Wolfe was vice president and general manager of Intuit's Personal Tax Group where he was a driving force in bringing tax technology to the Internet for both personal and professional customers. Mr. Wolfe was instrumental in implementing the company's internal electronic filing system, which reduced costs and enabled the company to process a record volume of returns. In 1998, Mr. Wolfe oversaw the launch of TurboTax for the WebSM, the company's online tax preparation and filing service. Mr. Wolfe is a former board member of both the San Diego Software Industry Council and of NetCreate Inc. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Robert Schulte, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder is responsible for the strategic vision of Taxcient and is the guiding force for developing innovative products that increase accuracy and efficiencies for sales and use tax compliance. Mr. Schulte was a Senior Tax Auditor for the State of California responsible for conducting complex sales and use tax audits of California and multinational corporations. Additionally, Mr. Schulte performed electronic auditing and technical support on the most complex industrial audits. Mr. Schulte graduated with dual degrees in Accountancy and Business Administration from the University of San Diego and holds an MS in Business Administration from San Diego State University.
Marc Staheli, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, has responsibility for Taxcient's technology vision and product development. Prior to Taxcient, Mr. Staheli was responsible for designing and implementing large-scale information systems at San Diego State University. Before moving to the United States, Mr. Staheli earned an accounting degree in Switzerland, where he worked with BDO Visura. Mr. Staheli graduated magna cum laude from San Diego State University with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Information Systems, holds a Master's of Science degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University, and is an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP).
Paul Bergholm, Chief Financial Officer, brings more than 19 years experience in financial, operational and tax management. Prior to joining Taxcient, Mr. Bergholm served as Chief Financial Officer of PassMark Security. At PassMark Security, Mr. Bergholm built and maintained complete accounting and back office systems, headed the contract negotiation, human resource and legal teams, oversaw complete tax, insurance and regulatory compliance, raised $10 million in capital that culminated in the sale of PassMark Security to RSA Security in 2006. Mr. Bergholm has also worked with numerous companies in the Silicon Valley such as eBay, Keynote Systems, Xoom.com, Epicentric and Attainia. Mr. Bergholm has a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Economics and Marketing from Notre Dame de Namur University.
Luis Saenz, Vice President of Engineering, is responsible for Taxcient’s product development, quality assurance, and engineering operations. Prior to joining Taxcient, Mr. Saenz served as a a lead consulting developer and software architect at Oracle, specializing in content management and compliance, where he lead the design and implementation of large-scale enterprise applications and platform technology products. Mr. Saenz has also taught computer science and programming courses at the college level and for corporate clients. Mr. Saenz graduated from the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering.
Gene Shaffer, Director of Audit Initiatives, joined Taxcient in August 2005. Mr. Shaffer worked exclusively in the field as a Business Taxes Specialist for 22 years with the California State Board of Equalization in San Jose and San Diego. Mr. Shaffer has extensive experience auditing fortune 500 companies for sales and use tax. He also has widespread experience auditing medium size companies. In his career with the Board of Equalization, Mr. Shaffer utilized electronic downloads to perform the sales and use tax audits. He has knowledge of electronic audit techniques and has worked with the major accounting software. Mr. Shaffer handles Taxcient's audit initiatives including audit defense, nexus analysis, reverse audits, contract analysis and implementation of Taxcient programs & services. He graduated with a BS Degree in Accounting from San Diego State University in 1977.
Lloyd J. Geggatt, CPA, Director of Compliance joined Taxcient in January 2006. Mr. Geggatt spent over 26 years as an auditor with the California Board of Equalization. Mr. Geggatt was responsible for conducting the most complex sales and use tax audits of multinational corporations. Mr. Geggatt acted as the lead "Specialist" for such diverse areas as bankruptcies, fraud investigations, and the "Aerospace" exemption, a complex U.S. Government sales and use tax exemption. Mr. Geggatt was responsible for both audit selection and audit supervision and has been an expert witness for legal proceedings. Mr. Geggatt has taught basic and advanced tax law and tax auditing courses as well as provided on the job training for the audit staff. Additionally, Mr. Geggatt has served as a sales and use tax instructor for continuing education courses offered at the University of California, San Diego. Mr. Geggatt received an MS in Taxation from San Diego State University and is licensed as a CPA in the State of California.
