Roster of International Experts

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Michael has worked for both State and Federal compliance agencies for over 30 years.  Recent State level positions with the NSW Point to Point Transport Commission and Transport for NSW were in roles that addressed revenue leakage.  Michael was working with the Australian Taxation Office when the Australian Government implemented new taxes on Superannuation, Fringe Benefits, Capital Gains and Goods and Services. Michael’s Goods and Services role was focused on it’s application to the Insurance industry and dealing with anomalies arising between the law and business practices.  In his role Michael covered, education both internally and externally, providing law interpretation rulings to the insurance industry, policy formulation and escalation, Treasury liaison, Insurance Company audits, Audit Objections and Reviews and forging positive relationships with the Insurance industry’s peak body.

Having worked at the implementation phase of new taxes, Michael is well aware of potential teething problems faced by the Taxing Authority.

   Ms Laibida retired in 2018 from her role as Assistant Director Income Tax Audit at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) after a progressive career spanning 33 years.  Her role and scope of responsibility in the Audit and Appeals Divisions included: Chief of Appeals; and, Assistant Director Income Tax and GST/HST Excise Tax Audit.  In her role, she provided leadership, oversight and tax expertise to management and teams of auditors and appeals officers, ensuring compliance with the Income Tax and Excise Tax Acts.  As a CRA Executive, Janet worked with CRA Headquarters and Regional Staff, Department of Justice, and Provincial employees to develop tax policy and funding models.  Janet started her career at the grass roots as a collector and then to Audit as an Auditor and from there to a Team Leader and Manager responsible for Income Tax and Goods and Services Tax teams auditing individuals to large multinational corporations. 

Francois retired in fall 2020 after a successful 31 year career with the public service. His most senior position was Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Information Technology Branch and Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Canada Revenue Agency. In this role, Francois provided leadership and oversight in every aspect of information technology, including program and data management, IT architecture, delivery of business solutions and the safeguarding of sensitive taxpayer data through sound IT security practices. 

Given his extensive technical experience, proven innovative thinking and his established reputation as a collaborator, prior to his retirement, Francois led the development of a digital strategy for the CRA; within less than a year, he put the foundation for a client-centric, agency-wide digital transformation, in place.

Through 15 years of experience as an executive, Francois also honed valuable skills in human, project and financial management and procurement. 

After 35 years of service, Terry retired from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2019. During his career he held progressively more responsible roles in Audit, Criminal Investigations and Collections. Terry ultimately assumed the role of Director of a Tax Services Office until his retirement. As a Tax Service Office Director, he was responsible for over 1,200 employees and had an $84 million budget.

Terry spent 22 years working in criminal investigations. During this time, he conducted, led investigative teams and ultimately the Division. As an investigator and leader, he and his team successfully completed many of the most complex criminal investigations conducted by the CRA. In addition, he developed strong working relationships with Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the Department of Justice, and Head Office.

Terry has a proven ability to; lead and manage diverse groups, adapt to change, apply complex legislation, conduct interviews, problem solve,  assist in creating Income Tax policy and deliver excellent program results.

Terry is recognized by tax professionals for his honesty and integrity and is also a recipient of the CRA award of Excellence for team achievement.

Brian is a fiscal collection expert who assists host taxation agencies into identifying laws, policies and procedures needed to become a more effective and efficient tax revenue tool of its government. 

Upon graduating university with a Bachelor of Commerce Brian began collecting taxes in 1984 and held increasing technical knowledge roles within the Canada Revenue Agency during his 35-year career. He also completed three successful international assignments with the International Monetary Fund who recognize him as a Fiscal Collection expert. His experience in creating legislation and ministerial decrees, resolving the large and sensitive case files, creating and delivery of training tools,  and auditing offices for quality control ensuring that collectors understand and use all of the resources available to resolve accounts makes him a valued member of our team. Brian’s mantra is that when everybody pays their fair share the economy and government can work to its maximum effectiveness.

During his off times Brian enjoys time at his cabin with family, canoeing Canada’s north and exploring the canals of Europe.

Tony has over 38 years of experience as an award winning public servant including over 20 years as a senior executive in the Canada Revenue Agency. He brings a wealth of experience in developing policy which included having his work cited by the Supreme Court of Canada; successful change leadership which included the development of a White Paper on the future of Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs in CRA and developing a strategy for Technical Capacity in the organization.

His management skills have been recognized with the highest honour(s) awarded in the Canadian Public Service as well as the Canada Revenue Agency culminating in an award of excellence for Outstanding Career. He also has a reputation as a skilled strategic planner including work in the development of the Agency’s Strategic Workforce Plan. His superior communication skills have allowed him to appear on television to represent CRA.

Prior to retiring, Tony led a large tax organization in the CRA that was responsible for the delivery of multiple programs with a total budget of over $55 million and over 1200 employees. 

Harry, CPA, CMA brings 33 years of experience as an auditor, team leader, middle manager, and appeals manager with the CRA. Prior to his retirement, he was the most senior Technical Tax member in Vancouver Appeals.  His proven depth and breadth of tax knowledge made him the “go to” person for complex domestic, cross-border reorganizations, and tax treaty issues. He was a recipient of the CRA Award of Excellence for his work involving a multi-billion dollar cross-border tax avoidance scheme. 

His experience encompasses working with Tax Directors of publicly listed and multi-national entities and their legal counsel in Retail, Manufacturing, Technology, Banking, Forestry, Real Estate and Mining sectors. 

Harry has a strong analytical mind and leverages this skill to look at the “big picture” and has a proven track record for improvements to processes and the tax base.  He was a member of a working group responsible for making recommendations to Finance for tax amendments to curtail aggressive tax schemes.  His experience includes teaching tax and accounting courses at a local university.

Mike brings 34 years of front-line experience as an auditor, appeals officer and criminal investigator with the Canada Revenue Agency to the table. Mike has extensive technical expertise in the detection and examination of complex international tax avoidance strategies undertaken by large multinational oil and gas companies. Like Terry Harder, Mike was part of the team which successfully completed one of the largest and most complex criminal investigation undertaken by the CRA. Mike has demonstrated ability to obtain search warrants and productions orders under the Criminal Code, establish co-operative relationships with foreign regulatory authorities and persuade reluctant witnesses to provide necessary evidence. Mike has provided extensive assistance to Crown counsel and Crown prosecutors with respect to pre-trial and in-trial assistance including having provided testimony in Tax Court of Canada matters which produced precedent setting decisions. Mike is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of the dedication and commitment shown by him throughout his career. 

Alnasir had a distinguished 30 year career with the Canada Revenue Agency, and holds a CPA Designation. As an Auditor, he advanced progressively to leading highly specialized and detailed audits for some of the largest corporations in Canada, including Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) claims. 

During his 10 years with the Appeals Division, Alnasir led a team of Appeals Officers to resolve Income Tax, Goods and Services (GST) and SR&ED disputes, and had settlement discussions with the Department of Justice when disputes escalated to the Tax Court of Canada. 

Alnasir was a Manager in the Criminal Investigations Division, where he managed complex criminal prosecution cases and consulted with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in laying criminal charges for egregious cases of tax evasion.

Alnasir has superior communication and public speaking skills, has taught tax courses, and conducted Harassment and Discrimination seminars to raise awareness to this important issue 

Donald retired from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2019 after 35 years of service. He has held progressively more responsible roles throughout his career in the Client Service, Criminal Investigations and Income Tax and GST Audit Divisions. He retired as a Manager in Income Tax Audit with a focus on Small and Medium Enterprise Audits. He has been involved in developing regional and national audit strategies to target the most at risk files. In his role he has provided leadership, technical expertise, and mentoring and training to auditors, team leaders and other managers to develop a strong audit team focused on achieving successful outcomes. Donald built strong relationships at the National and Regional levels within CRA and with professionals outside of Government. He has the proven track record to lead, adapt to new environments and consistently deliver excellent program results.

 Paul has over 36 years of experience as a field operations manager in dynamic, multi-functional compliance focused business lines with the Canada Revenue Agency. He shares his high standards & engages people to deliver strong results.His areas of expertise are three-fold flowing from independent but harmonized programs. In areas of filing various types of tax returns (income & VAT), he creates projects to identify non-compliance as well as activities to bring individuals & corporations into compliance. Additionally, he has managed compliance activities focused on employers’ withholding taxes. In this area, Paul’s efforts resulted in a change to the National program delivery model for the CRA. He is also very well versed & has spent significant time in the collections realm.Rather than “can’t”, Paul prefers “how can we overcome this”. He is married with two adult children. He enjoys various outdoor activities in his free time.  

Sandy possesses a unique combination of leadership skills, operational experience, broad HR expertise, and a proven history of success in large, complex organizations. He has the HR and leadership experience that will directly address the many challenges faced by organizations embarking on significant transformational projects. 

Sandy’s HR and leadership experience includes: full-time instructional duties at Red River College (Winnipeg MB) in the Business Administration program; two years as the Chief Human Resources Officer for Cancer Care Manitoba; four years as a Regional Director of HR for the Canada Revenue Agency; and 20 years as an officer in the Canadian Forces where he specialized in Human Resources and Strategic and Operational Planning. 

Sandy has extensive experience leading teams and delivering all the traditional HR client-services, including: learning, training, and development; strategic planning; change management; organizational design; employee relations; recruiting (including international experience); compensation and benefits; health and safety; and team building.