About Birch

Biography

Steve Bunson is an Advisory Director at Birch Risk Advisors, with particular expertise advising clients on both structuring and global tax risks.

Prior to Birch, Steve was a Partner at Goldman Sachs where he served as Global Head of Tax from 2000 until 2020. Steve has nearly 40 years of experience overseeing financial statement tax preparation, tax legislation lobbying, structured products, tax advisory, international tax planning, IRS controversy and effective tax rate management.

Steve serves on the Board of Trustees at Brandeis University. He was formerly Chair of the Wall Street Tax Association and the Federal Tax Committee of the Securities Industry Association, a board member at the Advisory Council of the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, and a board member at the Goldman Sachs Trust Company.

Steve received his BA in Economics from Brandeis University, and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Biography

Barry Sklar is a founding Partner at Birch Risk Advisors, with a focus on advising clients on structured transactions and renewable energy risks.

Previous to Birch, Barry was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs serving as U.S. Head of Structured Investing from 2007 until 2023. At Goldman Sachs, he managed a team that optimized firm-wide investing, lending and treasury activities for tax, regulatory capital and financial accounting purposes. In this capacity, he employed tax risk insurance as a risk mitigant.

A former tax attorney and investment banker, Barry leverages 30 years of developing efficient strategies to the structuring of comprehensive insurance solutions for global financial risks.

Barry received a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Columbia University, a JD from Columbia Law School, and an LLM in Tax from New York University Law School.

Biography

Sheldon Elefant is a founding Partner at Birch Risk Advisors, where he develops and executes specialty insurance structures for unique transactional risks.

Prior to Birch, Sheldon served as U.S. Head of Tax Insurance at Willis Towers Watson. A pioneer of specialty insurance, Sheldon has advised underwriters and clients since the inception of transactional risk insurance, and is continually sought by industry advisors for his creative risk transfer expertise.

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Sheldon also practiced as an M&A tax attorney for nearly 20 years, most recently with Norton Rose Fulbright, where he regularly worked with private equity sponsors on strategic transactions worldwide and advised financial sponsors and developers operating in the renewable energy space.

Sheldon received a BS in Accounting from Touro University, a JD from Brooklyn Law School and an LLM in Tax from New York University Law School.

Biography

David Danesh is a founding Partner at Birch Risk Advisors, where he sources, negotiates, and structures specialty insurance solutions globally.

Before Birch, David was a lead tax attorney-broker at Alliant Insurance, and practiced as a federal and state tax attorney at Goldman Sachs, McDermott Will & Emery, and TD Bank.

David has advised on billions of dollars worth of transactional risk insurance coverage for M&A transactions, corporate reorganizations, tax qualifications, tax controversy, tax credits, and other financial risks. His specialty insurance clients have included Fortune 500 companies, investment banks, private equity & sovereign wealth funds, and high-net-worth individuals.

David received his BS in Business Management from Yeshiva University, Sy Syms School of Business, and a JD from Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Biography

Brandon Edwards is a Partner at Birch Risk Advisors, where he leads the team that facilitates renewable energy tax credit transfer transactions.

Brandon is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building high-growth enterprises, spearheading successful mergers & acquisitions, and scaling advisory and technology-enabled services companies.

Prior to joining Birch, Brandon spent two decades providing solutions for corporate tax departments as CEO of Tax Credit Co. (TCC), a tax credit advisory and technology-enabled services firm serving the Fortune 500.  Brandon completed two strategic acquisitions for TCC including Incentives Advisors, a tax credit technology firm, and uConfirm, a verification of income and employment technology platform.   Brandon sold TCC to Experian in 2021, as a key component of the new Experian Employer Services division.  He served as Chief Strategy Officer of the division for three years.

Brandon received his BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Biography

Bill Kellogg is a Managing Director & Head of U.S. Tax Insurance at Birch Risk Advisors.

Prior to Birch, Bill was a leading tax insurance underwriter for six years.  He held Head of Tax roles at Ryan Transactional Risk and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, where he underwrote over $4 billion of tax insurance limits covering a diversity of tax risks arising from M&A transactions, financings, clean energy tax credit transfers, and tax controversies.

Before joining the tax insurance industry, Bill served for over ten years in a variety of in-house and external tax advisory roles at Oracle Corporation, American International Group, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Bill received a BS in Computer & Information Sciences and JD at the University of Florida, and his LLM in Tax from New York University School of Law.

Biography

Rachel Sumers is a Director at Birch Risk Advisors, where she brokers tax insurance solutions for clients in all sectors.

Rachel has over 15 years of experience in tax advisory, including M&A, fund formation, reorganizations, and spin-offs.

Prior to joining Birch, Rachel served as Vice President and Tax Counsel at Goldman Sachs and as a Tax Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Rachel received a BA in Political Science from the University of New Mexico, and a JD and LLM in Tax from New York University Law School.

Biography

Howard Morris serves as a Senior Advisor at Birch Risk Advisors, where he provides Birch clients strategic counsel in optimizing complex transactions and navigating the global M&A markets.

Howard is a highly regarded transactional lawyer with a proven track record in transformational growth, restructuring and corporate negotiations. Prior to joining Birch, Howard served as Co-CEO of Dentons and led the firm’s client development efforts across the US and EMEA, marketing the firm to sovereign wealth funds, financial organizations and global corporations, in addition to institutionalizing key client relationships around Denton’s international footprint.

Subsequent to Dentons, for nearly ten years, Howard was Head of the European Business Restructuring & Insolvency Practice for Morrison Foerster in London. During his tenure there, he advised the Creditors Committee in the chapter 11 and administration of Valaris PLC for the purpose of converting $7 billion to equity. He also counseled boards of late-stage growth companies in the tech industry to manage through financial crises.

A graduate of Queen Mary College, University of London, Howard qualified as a barrister in 1979 and as a solicitor in 1990.

Biography

Bob Principe is a Senior Advisor at Birch Risk Advisors, where he provides strategic guidance structuring intricate transactions and innovative transactional risk solutions to clients.

Bob has over 30 years of experience in M&A tax and structured transactions as Managing Director at KPMG, Barclays, JP Morgan, and UBS.

Bob received a BS in Accounting from Fairfield University, a JD from Seton Hall University School of Law, and an LLM in Tax from New York University School of Law.

Biography

Meirav is an external Senior Advisor at Birch Risk Advisors, where she advises the Birch leadership team on strategic affairs.

Meirav has over two decades of investment and financing experience in the specialty finance, fintech, and solar finance sectors.

Prior to joining Birch, Meirav was a Director in the Investment Banking Group at Piper Sandler focused on advising financial services clients. At Piper Sandler, Meirav successfully raised $10 billion for Sunlight Financial and $450 million for Sunagage Financial, amongst numerous other transactions and advisory assignments. Before Piper Sandler, Meirav held numerous roles in the investment banking divisions of Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. Over her career, Meirav has raised over $60 billion of capital across more than 40 deals.

Meirav has served in the Israel Defense Forces and is a veteran of Unit 8200 / Military Intelligence.

Meirav received a BA in Management from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.

Biography

Troy Lauterbach is a Senior Advisor at Birch Risk Advisors, where he advises renewable energy and power developers on optimizing their renewable energy tax investments and financing structures, and associated project finance matters.

Before Birch, Troy served as CEO & President at NovaSource Power Services, the global leader in solar and storage services provider for renewable energy assets, where he led over 1,500 employees in 10 countries.

A recognized leader and veteran of the renewable energy industry, Troy has particular expertise in the construction and operational lifecycle of renewable assets. Troy enjoys interfacing with sustainable energy owners and operators in developing solutions to emerging challenges in their businesses.

Troy received his BS in Computer Science from Oklahoma Christian University, and an MBA in Business Administration from Colorado State University.

Biography

Adam Taplinger is a Director at Birch Risk Advisors, where he leads the renewable energy tax credit transactions focused on enhancing energy and power developer relationships.

Adam is experienced in the areas of tax consulting, corporate development and investment banking.  Prior to joining Birch, he served as Strategic Growth Executive at Experian Employer Services, as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Oberon Securities, and as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning for YouFit Gyms.

Adam holds his BS in Finance and Marketing from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Biography

Tim Cate is Senior Vice President at Birch Risk Advisors, where he leads renewable energy tax credit transfers concentrating on developing buyer relationships.

Tim has over 30 years of experience consulting companies on strategic tax initiatives, and in developing administration services based on legislative or regulatory changes impacting tax and business incentives.  Prior to joining Birch, he led global account business development for the Tax Credit Service divisions of ADP and Experian.  He has also served in corporate tax and finance roles at Yum! Brands and 7-Eleven.

Tim received his BA in Economics from the University of Iowa and his MBA in Finance from the University of North Texas.

Biography

George Pearsall is Senior Vice President at Birch Risk Advisors, where he directs renewable energy tax credit transfers with an emphasis on advising renewable energy and power developers on optimizing their energy transfer investments.

George’s career in tax credit services spans over 20 years.  Prior to joining Birch, he was a leader in the tax credit service divisions of both ADP and Experian where he led teams responsible for client and partner development focused on optimizing the tax credit attributes of Fortune 500 clients.

George received his BS in Marketing from Penn State University.

Biography

John Harris is a Director at Birch Risk Advisors, where he facilitates energy tax credit transfer transactions through partner development and engagement.

John has over 20 years of experience in the areas of tax consulting and business development, including sales and use, property, and tax credits and incentives.

Prior to joining Birch, John served as Director of Business Development at Experian and Business Development Representative at Tax Credit Co., focused on client and partner development in employment and sales and use tax incentives.

John received is BBA in Marketing from Georgia State University.

Biography

Eric Lunzer is a Vice President at Birch Risk Advisors, where he focuses on structuring and executing transactions involving transferable renewable energy tax credits.

Before joining Birch, Eric was a Vice President and investment analyst at MJX Asset Management, where he focused on leveraged loans and structured credit. He was co-head of the technology sector and managed a $1.5 billion portfolio. He also led special situations and workout efforts totaling more than $500 million in firm exposure.

Eric began his career at Société Générale as an analyst, covering cross-asset derivatives and structured products for institutional clients.

He serves as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army National Guard with the 27th Finance Battalion. Prior to commissioning, he served 10 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Eric received a BS in Sociology from Columbia University.

Biography

Karina Wong is an Associate at Birch Risk Advisors, where she supports the development and execution of specialty insurance solutions for bespoke tax risks.

Prior to Birch, Karina was an Associate at Vale Insurance Partners specializing in transactional liability risks.

Karina received a BA in Economics from Fordham University.

Biography

Liana Seidenfeld is an Analyst at Birch Risk Advisors, where she assists the tax insurance broking team on a variety of transactions in the M&A and renewable energy sectors.

Liana received a BS in Accounting & Finance at Yeshiva University, Sy Syms School of Business.