C. Elizabeth Wagner, an attorney, an accountant and a director in the Washington national tax office of KPMG LLP, will become the new director of governmental affairs for the National Association of Bond Lawyers on April 18, NABL announced Friday.
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NABL is hoping that Wagner, who previously worked at the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, will raise its profile in the nation's capital. She will replace William L. Larsen, who left NABL at the end of 2004 after serving in the post for almost six years.
"Elizabeth has a real reputation for having a knowledge of tax issues and an ability to work with federal regulators and other tax policy makers. We're hoping this will mark a new beginning in our relationship with the regulators, both the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission," said NABL president Monty Humble.
"We have found someone who can reach out and work with the regulators and other market participants to be sure that the municipal market continues to enjoy the trust of investors and a reputation for integrity," said Humble, a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Dallas.
Wagner, 55, is not a complete stranger to municipal bonds. She did a small amount of corporate trust work involving munis when she worked at the Bank of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City in the mid-1980s, and she sold municipal securities when she worked at the brokerage firm of Underwood-Neuhaus Inc. in Houston in the 1970s. She also knows some of the representatives of municipal market groups in Washington from her association with the Tax Coalition, a group of women involved in tax issues. But she faces a learning curve.
"I'm looking forward to joining NABL," she said in a brief interview Thursday. "I'm very excited about it. I'm always looking for new challenges and for the ability to learn something new."
"What NABL wants me to do, and what I believe I can do for them, is to strengthen their working relationships with the Treasury, IRS, SEC, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and Congress to better enable them to work cooperatively with the federal government," she said.
Wagner, who plans to leave KPMG April 15, joined the accounting firm's Washington office in November 1999 and managed a portion of its federal tax legislative and regulatory practice, including the areas of energy, transportation, telecommunications, and electronic commerce. She served as an expert witness on federal tax issues in civil litigation and she was the KPMG's representative to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Before that, she held a similar post in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's office here and managed teams of professionals for client projects on energy trading and tax matters.
From November 1995 to July 1997, she was an assistant to IRS commissioner Margaret Richardson, advising her on administrative, regulatory, legal, and legislative issues. She also represented Richardson before federal and state agencies, congressional offices, professional associations, and special interest groups.
For three years before that, she was an associate tax legislative counsel at the Treasury Department, where she advised the secretary and senior officials on tax matters, helped formulate policy positions, draft legislation, and testified before congressional committees.
From May 1989 to September 1992, she was an associate at the law firm of Latham & Watkins here, where she participated in both domestic and international transactions, including securities underwritings, purchase-sale agreements, leases and financing instruments in the equities area.
In the 1980s she worked in Oklahoma City and was, at various times, an assistant vice president, trust officer, and tax adviser at the Bank of Oklahoma, a trust officer and tax manager at First National Bank & Trust Company of Oklahoma City, and a senior tax accountant at Arthur Young & Co.
In the 1970s she was an investment executive and a registered representative on the New York Stock Exchange for the investment banking firm of Underwood-Neuhaus, a public affairs administrator and program adviser at Exxon in Houston, as well as an advisory committee management officer at the Federal Energy Administration and a staff assistant to the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development here in Washington.
Wagner received a law degree from the University of Texas Law School in 1988, a master's degree in accountancy and taxation from the University of Houston in 1981, and a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas in Austin in 1971. She also participated in graduate studies at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1978.
Wagner is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Texas and is a member of the American Bar Association, the AICPA, and the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy.
