Brian Spilker
Brian C. Spilker (PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 1993) is the Robert Call/Deloitte Professor in the School of Accountancy at Brigham Young University. He teaches taxation at Brigham Young University. He received both BS (Summa Cum Laude) and MAcc (tax emphasis) degrees from Brigham Young University before working as a tax consultant for Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst & Young). After his professional work experience, Brian earned his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. He received the Price Waterhouse Fellowship in Tax Award and the American Taxation Association and Arthur Andersen Teaching Innovation Award for his work in the classroom. Brian has also been awarded for his use of technology in the classroom at Brigham Young University. Brian researches issues relating to tax information search and professional tax judgment. His research has been published in journals such as The Accounting Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of the American Taxation Association, Behavioral Research in Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Accounting Education, Journal of Corporate Taxation, Journal of Accountancy, and The Tax Adviser.
Benjamin Ayers
Benjamin Ayers (PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 1996) holds the Earl Davis Chair in Taxation and is the dean of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He received a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and an MTA and BS from the University of Alabama. Prior to entering the PhD program at the University of Texas, Ben was a tax manager at KPMG in Tampa, Florida, and a contract manager with Complete Health, Inc., in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the recipient of 11 teaching awards at the school, college, and university levels, including the Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor for University of Georgia junior faculty members. His research interests include the effects of taxation on firm structure, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets and the effects of accounting information on security returns. He has published articles in journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of the American Taxation Association, and National Tax Journal. Ben was the 1997 recipient of the American Accounting Association’s Competitive Manuscript Award, the 2003 and 2008 recipient of the American Taxation Association’s Outstanding Manuscript Award, and the 2016 recipient of the American Taxation Association’s Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award.
John Barrick
John Barrick (PhD, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 1998) is currently an associate professor in the Marriott School at Brigham Young University. He served as an accountant at the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation during the 110th and 111th Congresses. He teaches taxation in the graduate and undergraduate programs at Brigham Young University. He received both BS and MAcc (tax emphasis) degrees from Brigham Young University before working as a tax consultant for Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). After his professional work experience, John earned his PhD at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He was the 1998 recipient of the American Accounting Association, Accounting, Behavior, and Organization Section’s Outstanding Dissertation Award. John researches issues relating to tax corporate political activity. His research has been published in journals such as Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Journal of the American Taxation Association.
Troy Lewis
Troy K. Lewis (CPA, CGMA, MAcc, Brigham Young University, 1995) is an associate teaching professor in and Associate Director of the School of Accountancy at Brigham Young University—Marriott School of Business. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in introductory taxation, property transactions, pass-through entity taxation, advanced individual taxation, and accounting for income taxes. He is the past chair of the Tax Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) in Washington, D.C., as well as the president of the Utah Association of CPAs (UACPA). He has testified six times before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the House Committee on Small Business. Prior to joining the faculty at BYU, he was a tax manager at Arthur Andersen and KPMG in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, he was employed for over a decade as the CERMO and Tax Director of Heritage Bank in St. George, Utah. He is the recipient of the AICPA Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award and the Tax Section Distinguished Service Award, the BYU Marriott Ethics Teaching Award, and the UACPA Distinguished Service Award. Troy researches and publishes in professional tax journals in the areas of individual and pass-through taxation, qualified business income deduction, and property transactions as well as professional tax practice standards. His work has been published in journals such as Practical Tax Strategies, Journal of Accountancy, Issues in Accounting Education, and The Tax Adviser.
John Robinson
John Robinson (PhD, University of Michigan, 1981) is the Patricia ’77 and Grant E. Sims ’77 Eminent Scholar Chair in Business. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, John was the C. Aubrey Smith Professor of Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, and he taught at the University of Kansas, where he was the Arthur Young Faculty Scholar. In 2009–2010 John served as the Academic Fellow in the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He has been the recipient of the Henry A. Bubb Award for outstanding teaching, the Texas Blazer’s Faculty Excellence Award, and the MPA Council Outstanding Professor Award. John also received the 2012 Outstanding Service Award from the American Taxation Association (ATA) and in 2017 was named the Ernst & Young and ATA Ray Sommerfeld Outstanding Educator. John served as the 2015–2016 president of the ATA. John conducts research in a broad variety of topics involving financial accounting, mergers and acquisitions, and the influence of taxes on financial structures and performance. His scholarly articles have appeared in The Accounting Review, The Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Finance, National Tax Journal, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of the American Taxation Association, The Journal of the American Bar Association, and The Journal of Taxation. John’s research was honored with the 2003 and 2008 ATA Outstanding Manuscript Awards. In addition, John was the editor of The Journal of the American Taxation Association from 2002–2005. Professor Robinson received his JD (Cum Laude) from the University of Michigan in 1979, and he teaches courses on individual and corporate taxation and advanced accounting.
Connie Weaver
Connie Weaver (PhD, Arizona State University, 1997) is the KPMG Professor of Accounting at Texas A&M University. She received a PhD from Arizona State University, an MPA from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a BS (chemical engineering) from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to entering the PhD program, Connie was a tax manager at Ernst & Young in Dallas, Texas, where she became licensed to practice as a CPA. She teaches taxation in the Professional Program in Accounting and the Executive MBA Program at Texas A&M University. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Texas at Austin. She is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the American Taxation Association/Deloitte Teaching Innovations Award, the David and Denise Baggett Teaching Award, and the college and university level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in teaching. Connie’s current research interests include the effects of tax and financial incentives on corporate decisions and reporting. She has published articles in journals such as The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of the American Taxation Association, National Tax Journal, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Tax Notes. Connie is an editor of The Accounting Review and has served as the senior editor of The Journal of the American Taxation Association and on the editorial board of Contemporary Accounting Research.
Ronald Worsham
Ron Worsham (PhD, University of Florida, 1994) is an associate professor in the School of Accountancy at Brigham Young University. He teaches taxation in the graduate program at Brigham Young University. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. He received both BS and MAcc (tax emphasis) degrees from Brigham Young University before working as a tax consultant for Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst & Young) in Dallas, Texas. While in Texas, he became licensed to practice as a CPA. After his professional work experience, Ron earned his PhD at the University of Florida. He has been honored for outstanding innovation in the classroom at Brigham Young University. Ron has published academic research in the areas of taxpayer compliance and professional tax judgment. He has also published legal research in a variety of areas. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of the American Taxation Association, The Journal of International Taxation, The Tax Executive, Tax Notes, The Journal of Accountancy, and Practical Tax Strategies.
