Keynote Speakers

The opening session begins at 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 18.

CHRISTOPHER WAGNER

IRS Commissioner for the Small Business/Self-Employed Division (SB/SE)

Christopher (Chris) Wagner is Commissioner for the Small Business/Self-Employed Division (SB/SE).  In this position, Mr. Wagner provides executive leadership and direction to approximately 26,000 employees who serve 57 million taxpayers; approximately 41 million self-employed persons and supplemental income earners, approximately 9 million small business corporations and partnerships with assets of less than $10 million, and approximately 7 million filers of employment, excise, estate, gift and fiduciary returns.  SB/SE serves roughly one-third of the overall taxpayer base.  Prior to his selection as Commission in August 2008, he was Deputy Commissioner, SB/SE.

Chris began his IRS career as a revenue agent in 1977 when he was a co-op student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He spent several years as the executive assistant to the assistant regional commissioner, Examination and later to the assistant regional commissioner, Compliance. As the executive assistant, Chris had oversight responsibility for both examination and collection programs. After a one-year acting assignment as the assistant director, Northern California District, he was selected as a transition executive for Modernization, and later in 2000 was named director, Centralized Workload Selection and Delivery (CWSD) in SB/SE.

Chris became the Deputy National Taxpayer Advocate in August 2003. In that position he managed the day-to-day operations of TAS, participated in IRS modernization activities, built and maintained coalitions and partnerships, and contributed to IRS strategic management in formulation of tax policy, long-range objectives, and internal administration.   Chris became the Deputy Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division in July 2006 and was selected as the Deputy Commissioner, SB/SE in October 2007.

WILLIAM COMISKEY

Deputy Commissioner of Tax Enforcement  NYS Department of Taxation & Finance

William (“Bill”) Comiskey was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Tax Enforcement for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance in March 2007.  In this role, Bill supervises the full spectrum of the Department’s enforcement activities, including audits, collections, investigations and civil and criminal enforcement efforts.  Immediately prior to joining the Department, Bill was the Deputy Attorney General in charge of the New York State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), the largest and oldest law enforcement unit in the nation dedicated to fighting Medicaid fraud and patient abuse.  In addition, Bill spent ten years with New York’s Organized Crime Task Force, where he rose to First Assistant; worked for several years as the Deputy Bureau Chief in the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecution’s Bureau, prosecuting fraud and corruption cases; and served as Chief Assistant District Attorney in Rensselaer County and as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.  Bill also served as Chief of the Bureau of Professional Medical Conduct, in New York’s Department of Health, where he worked for three years as counsel and chief prosecutor for New York’s physician disciplinary board and he spent several years in private practice in New York and Albany. Bill began his legal career at the New York Court of Appeals, where he clerked for Associate Judge Hugh R. Jones.  He is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law.