Kenneth Heitner
Weil, Gotshal, & Manges LLP

Kenneth H. Heitner is a partner in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. He is co-chair of the global tax practice.

He was formerly the chairman of committees on reorganizations, corporations, practice and procedure and net operating losses of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section. Mr. Heitner is also the past president of the Tax Club. He has authored articles for The Tax Lawyer and the Journal of Partnership Taxation. Mr. Heitner is general counsel and a member of the board of trustees of the Central Park Conservancy. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the New York University School of Law.

Mr. Heitner is a member of the New York State Bar Association, Tax Section; American Bar Association, Tax Section; and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Mr. Heitner earned his B.A. in 1969 from Rutgers University, his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1973, and his LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 1977.

Rose Williams
Ernst & Young LLP

Rose L. Williams is a partner at Ernst & Young LLP, where she is a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of the National Tax Department in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Williams served in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury from 1995 to 1997. From 1987 to 1995, she worked at the Internal Revenue Service in the corporate tax division of the Office of Chief Counsel. While at the Office of Tax Policy, Ms. Williams was a principal drafter of the proposed regulations regarding continuity of interest and continuity of business enterprise.

In addition, she participated in the deliberations concerning the corporate tax provisions included in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. While at the Internal Revenue Service, Ms. Williams was the principal drafter of the regulations under section 358 dealing with the basis consequences of triangular reorganizations. She participated in other guidance projects regarding tax-free reorganizations, spin-offs and consolidated returns.

Ms. Williams is a Vice Chair Law Improvement, American Bar Association Corporate Tax Committee. She is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, where she teaches courses in corporate reorganizations and tax planning in corporate acquisitions and dispositions.

Ms. Williams received her B.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and her J.D. from the University of Nebraska.

Thomas Wessel
KPMG LLP

Thomas F. Wessel is a partner in the Washington D.C. office of KPMG LLP. He advises clients on all aspects of corporate taxation, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, restructuring transactions, debt and equity offerings and consolidated returns, international tax, taxation of financial instruments, partnership taxation, and tax accounting.

Prior to joining KPMG in 2000, Mr. Wessel was a partner with McKee Nelson, Ernst & Young LLP. Before that, he was the lead merger and acquisition tax partner in the Washington, D.C. office of King & Spalding, which he joined in 1991. From 1990 to 1991, Mr. Wessel was special counsel to the chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service, where he served as the principal legal advisor to the chief counsel on the development of regulations, rulings, and designated tax litigation.

Mr. Wessel served as associated tax legislative counsel and an attorney advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Legislative Counsel from 1985 to 1990. There, he had primary responsibility for developing corporate tax legislation and regulatory guidance. From 1980 to 1982, he clerked for the Honorable Jacob Mishler of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

In 1985, Mr. Wessel earned an LL.M. in taxation from the New York University School of Law. He earned his J.D., cum laude, in 1980 from New York University School of Law, where he served on the New York University Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Wessel graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1976 with a B.S.E., and was elected to Beta Alpha Phi.

William Alexander
Internal Revenue Service

William D. Alexander is the Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate) at the Internal Revenue Service. He has been with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (Corporate) since 1990. Prior to joining the IRS, he was associated with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a law degree from Columbia Law School, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law.