TEI roundtable no. 7: engaging emerging tax professionals.

• Position: Tax Executives Institute - Discussion

Tax Executives Institute has implemented several initiatives aimed at increasing participation among emerging tax professionals, including the formation of an Emerging Tax Professionals Subcommittee. Tax Executive convened a roundtable discussion, moderated by Senior Editor Michael Levin-Epstein, to find out what the subcommittee was doing and the ways emerging tax professionals can network with the overall TEI community. Co-chairs of the subcommittee participated in the discussion--Kristine Rogers, director of tax and chief tax officer at Love's Travel Stops, and Emily Whittenburg, senior tax adviser for government relations and tax policy in the Americas at Shell Oil--as well as Jibu Vergis, corporate tax accountant at The Vanguard Group.

Michael Levin-Epstein: Let's start by discussing the mission of the emerging tax professional subcommittee.

Kristine Rogers: The committee was formed in June 2014 at the Leadership Conference in California. Both Emily and I got a tap on our shoulders from Mark Silbiger, the incoming TEI president, inquiring if we would be interested in helping out with the emerging tax professionals group. At that time, the vision and purpose of the group had not been fully contemplated. However, one of the key focuses that Mark was interested in was membership and exploring other alternatives to engage younger members and the different ways to provide professional development resources as they advanced through their careers. The mission of the subcommittee is a combination of efforts and includes four key areas: professional development, soft-skill leadership development, recruitment, and networking, We believe all of these to be very important to the next generation of tax leaders.

Levin-Epstein: Who's eligible to join the subcommittee?

Emily Whittenburg: The committee is open to all TEI members in good standing, but the subcommittee's activities are targeted at emerging tax professionals, considered those professionals with five to twelve years of experience in the tax field.

Levin-Epstein: What have you done so far, and what are you planning to do in the future?

Whittenburg: We have recently finalized a three-year strategy document and implementation plan that lays out our goals and planned activities. The strategy document and implementation plan were developed in conjunction with TEI's executive committee and leadership team, including TEI Executive Director Eli Dicker. The vision for the subcommittee is to establish TEI as the preeminent organization for emerging tax professionals. We have three specific objectives that we're going to focus on in the next three years: (1) to create and deploy an integrated recruitment strategy for emerging tax professionals; (2) to develop and deliver tax technical and soft-skill programs at the Institute, regional, and chapter levels that are specifically designed for the needs of the emerging tax professional; and (3) to deliver and offer the social and the networking events and opportunities at all three TEI levels. The focus there, as Kris said, is really to engage and to retain these emerging tax professionals and support them in their growth and development as they progress through their careers. To achieve our objectives, we developed four buckets: recruitment, technical/professional development, soft-skill/leadership development, and the social and networking opportunities. We've hosted a number of sessions at the Institute level already, including events at the Annual Conference in Houston (2014), the Midyear in Washington, D.C., in 2015, and most recently the Annual Conference in Dallas (2015). We also did a regional-level event in California this past summer. We have more regional events planned for next year, and our first chapter events will be this spring. These events will be around soft-skill and leadership development topics and also will include a social and networking component. As for the remainder of the TEI 2015-16 year, we are focused on the...