Emerging leader: Jacqueline Hart.

• Position: MEMBER NEWS

"Taxes are inevitable. People complain about them, but many do not understand tax and the ways to manage or minimize tax liability."

With that explanation, it's easy to understand why Jacqueline Hart chose to go directly into the tax department at Ernst & Young (EY) right after graduating from college. "The exposure to C Corp., pass-through (S Corp. & LLC), individual, and trust taxation was invaluable," she explains.

But Hart, currently corporate tax director at Aetna Inc., didn't go directly from EY to the insurance giant. There were a few twist and turns.

First, as luck would have it, one of her clients at EY was a family who owns of one of the largest privately held companies in Buffalo, New York, Rich Products Corp (Rich's). So when an opportunity arose to work in the corporate tax department at Rich's, Hart seized the moment.

Rich's was Hart's first experience in a corporate tax environment, and it proved to be "a refreshing change from public accounting."

"Instead of worrying about public accounting time sheets and jumping from one client to another, I enjoyed being able to focus on a dedicated group of entities while collaborating with other areas in the organization, including the executive team, finance, business development, IT, HR, legal, payroll, operations, and facilities," she says.

Then, in an effort to expand her career, Hart took a risk, leaving Rich's to start the corporate tax function at Prodigy Health Group. Previously, all tax work was outsourced to CPA firms, but due to exponential growth via acquisitions, the function was being developed in-house. "At the time, I was the only dedicated tax person, which was a challenge, but I found this role to be extremely rewarding. I was responsible for all aspects of corporate tax, such as audits and risk management, compliance, planning, provision, credits and incentives, and mergers and acquisitions. I became a value-added business partner within the company and created policies and processes that previously never existed," she explains.

A Key Acquisition

After a few years, Prodigy Health Group was acquired by Aetna Inc. In addition to being a member of the transaction team with responsibility for all tax aspects of the sale, Hart also led the tax function integration of the Prodigy group of entities into Aetna. Eventually, she took on a role within the multistate area of Aetna's large and dynamic tax department, and now she focuses on consolidated federal income taxation for...