Armanino Elects Largest Partner Class Ever With 14 New Partners in 2021

Armanino LLP, one of the 25 largest accounting and business consulting firms in the U.S., has promoted 14 staff members to partners, the largest class in firm history, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Despite the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19, Armanino was able to create opportunities at the highest level.

“We are proud to celebrate our largest ever partner class in 2021, with new partners who represent a wide range of specialties from across our geographies,” said Matt Armanino, CEO of Armanino LLP. “As a firm that strives to provide a diverse and inclusive work environment that fosters the professional development of all members of our team, we are pleased to share that nearly half of this new partner class are women. Our congratulations go out to all of our new partners, who have demonstrated incredible leadership at the firm.”

Armanino’s Women’s Advancement Network (WAN) has been focused on growing the pipeline of female leaders with programs and education resulting in more women pursuing partnership and aligned with advocates to secure nominations. The high percentage of women in this year’s newly elected partner class can be attributed to the WAN’s efforts.

Armanino’s 2021 New Partner Class

Rob Abramowitz, Business Management partner, is located in the firm’s Los Angeles office and consults as a business manager and tax advisor for clientele in the entertainment and professional service industries. His areas of focus are business management, tax planning and compliance, as well as financial planning. He has deep expertise in analyzing and evaluating a client’s financial status, helping them make informed financial decisions including personal and business transactions, managing their day-to-day financial affairs and overseeing their risk exposure.

Derek Barto, Consulting partner, is based in the firm’s El Segundo office and provides advice on critical issues that law firm managers encounter, including advising on partner compensation methodologies, merger and acquisition analysis, firm startups, finance and reporting restructuring, accounting department process improvement, profitability improvement, and analysis and benchmarking studies. His clients range from startup law firms with fewer than 10 attorneys to multi-office firms with over 500 attorneys operating in multiple states. He also manages tax return and financial statement engagements for his law firm clients.

Elizabeth Cai, Business Management partner, is located in the firm’s Los Angeles office and started her public accounting career in audit before becoming interested in tax. Now she uses her audit and tax experience to provide business management services to high-net-worth families. She specializes in family tax planning, multigenerational and succession planning, trusts and estates. She is passionate about the work she does and being a trusted advisor to her clients.

Christy Calderon, Tax partner, is based in the firm’s San Jose office and has nearly 20 years of experience in public accounting, with a specialization in corporate tax services for high-tech companies. She began her career at the Big Four and has extensive experience in corporate taxation, including income tax provisions, ASC 740-10 analysis, IPO readiness, purchase accounting, compliance and consulting. She specializes in serving multinational and multistate corporations of all sizes, from startups and pre-IPO firms to publicly traded corporations.

Pamela Dennett, Tax partner, is located in the firm’s Dallas office and has more than 30 years of expertise in the estate, gift and trust tax area. She works extensively with high-net-worth multigenerational families, closely held business owners, executives, fiduciaries (corporate and individual), family offices and beneficiaries of large estates/trusts.

Pamela Drucker, Tax partner, is based in the firm’s West Los Angeles office and has over 20 years of experience advising clients on international tax matters. Her clients include closely held businesses, middle-market companies and high-net-worth individuals. She has expertise in a full range of domestic and international transactions, including inbound and outbound international structuring and compliance; income and estate tax planning for inbound investments in U.S. real estate; U.S. withholding tax matters; cross-border structuring and U.S. tax compliance issues for film finance and production companies; planning and compliance for pre-immigration, expatriation and multi-jurisdictional families with U.S. connections, including foreign trusts with U.S. beneficiaries; and income tax treaty analysis.

Nick Gibbons, Tax partner, is based in the firm’s San Jose office and has more than 17 years of public and private accounting experience, with significant hands-on expertise in ASC 740 (FAS 109), corporate taxation, purchase accounting, opportunity zones consulting, cryptocurrency taxation and business development. He serves numerous industries, including technology, real estate, biotech and entertainment.

Michael Hogan, Consulting partner, is based in the firm’s San Ramon office and leads the firm’s Corporate Finance and Restructuring practices. An accomplished senior-level executive, he has more than 30 years of diverse experience in operations, finance and strategy. He specializes in assessing strategic options, stabilizing and turning around underperforming businesses and driving exits by improving operations and margins, refocusing strategy, negotiating debt structuring/renegotiations, increasing cash flow and managing expenditures with focused leadership and control.

Jill Juniper, Tax partner, is located in the firm’s Irvine office and has more than 20 years of experience serving high-net-worth individuals and their closely held businesses. She provides tax, consulting and compliance expertise and works extensively in the areas of real estate entities, individual taxation, partnerships, limited liability companies, S corps and trusts.

Jonathan LaMantia, Audit partner, is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office and has more than 10 years of public accounting experience and over two years of accounting experience in the private sector. He is the Digital Media and MadTech practice leader and also has significant experience working with technology, manufacturing and distribution companies.

Julissa Quirk, Tax partner, is located in the firm’s Irvine office and has more than 20 years of public accounting experience. She focuses on helping C corporations and S corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and high-net-worth individuals in the areas of tax research, consulting, compliance, and Internal Revenue Service and Franchise Tax Board examinations.

Marcus Sharei, Tax partner, is based in the firm’s San Jose office and specializes in international tax structuring, cross-border transactions, transfer pricing, merger and acquisition integration, and global earnings mobility strategies. He has extensive experience in the manufacturing, internet, SaaS, computer hardware, biotech and services industries.

Ryan Sievers, Tax partner, is located in the firm’s Dallas office and has more than 14 years of experience providing tax consulting and compliance services, with an emphasis on real estate and alternative investment structures, including real estate investment funds, REITs, private equity funds and hedge funds. He has a thorough understanding of the full life cycle of investments and entities, including formation, operation and restructuring, and disposition/liquidation, and the tax considerations and issues at each phase. He has deep expertise with complex partnership taxation issues, including income and debt allocations, distribution waterfall calculations, carried interest considerations, and structuring and transactional analysis.

Bryan Vencill, Audit partner, is based in firm’s San Ramon office and has more than 10 years of public accounting experience. He focuses on serving real estate funds and private education clients, providing assurance and advisory services to private equity debt funds, mortgage real estate investment trusts and K-12 private schools around the country. He has extensive experience in value-added initiatives, including industry best practices, industry-leading KPIs and peer-to-peer benchmarking.