WASHINGTON — Former Internal Revenue Service official Nancy Lashnits will take over as chair of the American Bar Association’s committee on tax-exempt financing on July 1.
Lashnits, who is “of counsel” at Steptoe & Johnson PLLC in Phoenix, Ariz., will replace John Swendseid, a partner with Sherman & Howard, LLC.
Swendseid has been committee chair for the past two years.
Lashnits has been vice-chair of the committee for the past several years and will lead the tax-exempt financing committee’s next fall meeting in San Francisco.
The chair of the committee typically serves a one-year term, but has the option to renew for another year.
Stefano Taverna, a partner with McCall, Parkhurst & Horton LLP in Dallas, will serve as the committee’s new vice-chair.
Lashnits was an attorney advisor with the IRS from 1990 to 1997 in branch 5, the tax-exempt financing branch for financial institutions and products in the chief counsel’s office. She has been in the private sector since she left the Service.
Lashnits said Monday that she has two goals: create new and different meeting topics and attract younger members to participate either on committee panels or task forces. She’d like to move away from going over agency updates because the IRS and Treasury Department don’t seem to be doing anything new that merits discussion.
Lashnits said she wants to poll committee members about the market topics they think are most timely to discuss. ć
