Jim Silvestri.

• Position: Tax Executives Institute's chief tax officer - Interview

To say Jim Silvestri has been active in TEI would be understating his enormous value to the organization.

Take a look at his service for TEI:

* TEI International Committee chairman, 2013-15

* TEI Continuing Education Committee, 2013-15

* TEI Executive Committee, 2009-11

* TEI Board of Directors, 2001-02, 2009-16

* TEI Tax Reform Task Force, 2004-05, 2013-15

* TEI New Jersey Chapter representative, 2009-16

* TEI International Committee vice chairman, 2004-08

* TEI Region II vice president, 2001-02

Yes, that's impressive. Of course, that's just his service at TEI this century. He's been a member of TEI since 1990, and, as you might have guessed, he's been involved in this organization ever since he joined. Silvestri remains incredibly engaged today as chairman of the U.S. International Tax Committee and incoming treasurer (a position he takes over in August).

TAX: IN HIS BLOOD

You might say tax is part of his DNA. Silvestri worked part-time during his sophomore and junior years in college in the accounting department for a wholesale dairy distributor in New Jersey. It was a small company, so he did almost everything an assistant controller would do, including the tax returns.

"I enjoyed it all, including keeping the books by hand with the extra screw-in metal pieces you would add to make the books thicker each month. At that point I really liked the controllership function and thought that was where I might be headed," Silvestri explains.

Indeed, he was headed in that direction. Silvestri secured an internship in certified audit in his senior year at Rutgers and then took a part-time position with Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young) in the tax group.

"I was placed in with a group of professionals who were very helpful and willing to share their knowledge and methods. Most of them were attorneys, so I was well-schooled in research techniques and communication skills," Silvestri says. "I liked the sense that I was creating value with clients and helping them retain more of what they earned. It gave me a great deal of personal satisfaction. And I loved exploring the alternative angles of the law," he adds.

At the end of the school year, he received some good news from Ernst: He had been hired to start full-time employment in August. Then came a key decision point in his career. When given the choice between joining the audit or tax departments, Silvestri, familiar with both disciplines, chose tax. And he never looked back.

THE WHARTON EXPERIENCE

...