New York, N.Y., – In this tense geopolitical climate chock full of overseas tensions and an election year peppered with new tax-policy mandates for businesses – and the latest changes such as that which was passed in New Jersey earlier this week – thought leaders from nationally ranked advisory, accounting and tax firm WithumSmith+Brown, PC (Withum) are available to serve as interview resources for current and future articles pertaining to these hot-button topics.

Please consider the following proposed interview resources, who can discuss – in an engaging, non-technical manner – the latest trends and challenges as well as what may be on the horizon for their respective areas of expertise:

  1. Cybersecurity in Today’s Geopolitical Climate: A matter of concern for all organizations – regardless of their industry or place of operations – given the likelihood that U.S. adversaries will launch one or more cyber attacks with widespread collateral damage, even for those not typically targeted by foreign governments.

“Cyberattacks offer other nations a means to escalate tensions within the U.S. and abroad without the threat of military retaliation or severe military actions through disruption of our everyday life and economy,” says Matthew Ferrante, practice leader of Cyber and Information Security Services and a former top electronic crimes special agent with the U.S. Secret Service.

Widely acknowledged as a top-tier industry expert involved in some of the nation’s largest and most highly publicized data breaches, Ferrante specializes in physical and network infrastructure protection, with a focus on global enterprise-class environments and SMB. Other areas of concentration include cyber warfare, corporate espionage, protective intelligence, threat assessments, international organized crime, e-crime, forensics, breach investigations, incident response, extreme hacking, data loss prevention/detection, fraud, employee misconduct, remediation, and asset identification.

Ferrante’s educational background and professional training span the U.S Secret Service Academy, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Electronic Crimes Special Agent Program, Skidmore College, Mercy College for Criminal Justice and Westchester for Applied Sciences. He is a past recipient of the Top Electronic Crimes Special Agent award by the Secret Service and recognized by the Department of Justice for his invaluable expertise.

  1. More Business Tax Changes: While 2018 marked the rollout of major adjustments to business-tax policies, 2020 is the year in which several new rules come online, including those impacting international businesses with operations abroad and a state and local property and income tax (SALT) cap.

New Jersey SALT cap alert: This past Monday, New Jersey passed a bill that was signed by Gov. Murphy offering small businesses in the Garden State a workaround for the cap on state and local tax deductions under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Withum is prepared to discuss what this means for New Jersey’s small businesses now and in the future.

“The 2018 tax law is still extending its reach well into 2020, which happens to be an election year in which public sentiment and tax policy will play an extremely meaningful role and be an important part of the narrative,” said Daniel Mayo, JD, LLM, a principal in the National Tax Service Group with more than 20 years experience in federal, international and financial products taxation.

A specialist in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and cross-border transactions, Mayo earned his B.S. in Accounting from Rutgers College; his Juris Doctor cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law; and an LL.M. in Tax from New York University School of Law. He is an approved arbitrator for FINRA and an adjunct faculty member with Georgetown University Law Center. In addition, he is a member of the New York Bar Association and American Bar Association, where he previously served as the chair of the Banking & Savings Institutions Tax Committee.

About Withum

Established in 1974, Withum is a national top-ranking public accounting firm providing advisory, tax and audit services to businesses and individuals on a local-to-global scale. In addition to its Princeton, N.J. headquarters, Withum has a presence in major financial centers including New York City; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC.; and Orlando, FL and its newest office in Irvine, CA. Withum also is an independent member of HLB, the global advisory and accounting network.