TEI Charters European Chapter.

• Author: Maggiore, Anthony J.

The following report was submitted by Anthony J. Maggiore, who is 1999-2000 President of TEI's European Chapter.

Tax professionals in Europe will remember May 26, 1999 as the date that the first TEI chapter outside of North America received its charter. On that date, TEI President Lester Ezrati and Executive Director Michael Murphy presented the new charter to Lisa Peschcke-Koedt, current chapter president of the new chapter, and to Anthony Maggiore, incoming president. The event marked the culmination of over a year's effort by the chapter's founders, and the dawn of a new era for TEI.

This initiative had humble beginnings as a task force established within TEI's International Tax Committee to increase TEI membership and activities overseas. Globalization of multinationals had all but required overseas headquarters or service centers, often located in Europe, and the staffing of these sites often included U.S. and local tax professionals. An overseas assignment made it all but impossible for U.S. tax professionals to participate in TEI activities, which occurred almost exclusively in North America. Because of the distance, local tax professionals rarely participated in TEI. There were no pan-European organizations devoted to the corporate tax professional with a combined U.S. and EU tax focus.

TEI's leadership was aware of the professional void facing tax executives in Europe, and set out to attract European-based tax professionals to Tax Executives Institute. Then-President Paul Cherecwich, Jr. and International Tax Committee Chair Joseph S. Tann, Jr. approached Lisa Peschcke-Koedt, who managed Hewlett-Packard's European-based tax department and was a member of the International Tax Committee, to spearhead the effort. In 1997, Lisa started contacting TEI members based in Europe and some European tax professionals.

Once she developed a core group of interested tax professionals, Lisa initiated a series of conference calls to determine how such a group might interact with TEI, and what they would want to achieve by that liaison. An interesting pattern emerged. The participants preferred an autonomous group focused on the concerns of U.S. and local tax professionals. That group would become a magnet for European-based tax professionals. TEI was delighted by the interest but there were some hurdles to be jumped. Would members travel across borders to meet in different countries? In what language would they conduct business? Would they adhere...