Brad Elphick is a partner in the metro Atlanta office of Novogradac & Company LLP. He has extensive experience in the low-income housing (LIHTC), historic (HTC) and new markets tax credit (NMTC) programs. Mr. Elphick specializes in developer consulting with an emphasis in forecasting and partnership taxation. He also works extensively with real estate partnership audits, compliance audits, as well as the structuring of LIHTC and NMTC applications. Mr. Elphick also leads and coordinates the NMTC Working Group, a membership organization that is highly regarded for the work it does addressing technical programmatic issues surrounding the NMTC industry. He is a regular contributor to the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits’ NMTC content, a frequent speaker at industry events, and serves as chairman of Novogradac & Company’s annual fall New Markets Tax Credit Conference. Mr. Elphick received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance from Emory University and a master’s degree in taxation from Georgia State University. He is licensed in Georgia, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as a certified public accountant.

Eric Darling is the founder of Carlisle Tax Credit Advisors, created in 2006 to bring innovative transaction structuring to tax credit transactions. Mr. Darling has more than 25 years of experience in the tax credit syndication industry, assisting developers, owners, syndicators and investors in resolving transactional issues and optimizing transactions that utilize federal and state tax credit incentives for the rehabilitation of historic properties, the introduction of subsidized economic equity into under-served low income communities, the development of subsidized affordable housing developments and alternative energy projects.  

More recently, Mr. Darling has created the Carlisle Historic Investment Funds, a series of funds that have invested directly in more than 60 historic rehabilitation transactions. The 2014 fund is structured to take Rev. Proc. 2014-12 into account while respecting the needs of both investors and property developers.

Mr. Darling is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and industry gatherings.

Alexander Szilvas has practiced tax law at BakerHostetler for more than 20 years, and as a partner since 1995. His practice concentrates on the federal income tax treatment of businesses and real estate, which involves the taxation of individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, regular and S corporations, and their respective partners, members, and shareholders. He assists a wide range of clients with their tax planning, from major public corporations to closely held businesses and their owners to entrepreneurs and investors. Mr. Szilvas has significant experience dealing with the tax aspects of real property transactions and is the leader of the real estate tax transactions team. He has substantial experience in advising on the tax considerations and structuring of acquisitions, dispositions, mergers, split-ups, and other transactions involving real estate, as well as partnerships and other legal entities that own real estate. In addition, he assists clients with structuring, negotiating, and documenting such transactions. Mr. Szilvas has been a speaker on tax-related topics at numerous accredited continuing legal education programs, including the Cleveland Tax Institute, the Ohio State Bar Association Annual Convention, and the Ohio CLE Institute. He has published outlines and articles on various tax topics, including an article that he co-authored in 2009 entitled, "IRS Reverses Position on Like-Kind Exchanges of Certain Intangibles, Creating Opportunities for Business Swaps and Intellectual Property Assets," which was featured in the prestigious national publication BNA Daily Tax Report. Mr. Szilvas earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and his juris doctor from Georgetown Law Center.

Edward "Ted" Hickey is the practice group leader of the Tax Credit Transactions Practice and an attorney in the firm's Boston office. The Tax Credit Transactions Practice has more than 30 lawyers in multiple offices around the firm working on transactions involving various tax credits and other tax-advantaged investments. 

Mr. Hickey's practice emphasizes structuring and bringing closure to syndicated real estate transactions that qualify for the low-income housing and/or the historic rehabilitation tax credit. His in-depth background spans a variety of complex transaction structures, including multiple-source financing, credit enhancements, syndications, financial guarantees, derivative swaps, dispositions, secondary market portfolio acquisitions, partnership interest transfers and workouts.

Mr. Hickey has practiced at the forefront of the rapidly changing historic rehabilitation tax credit industry. In the aftermath of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Historic Boardwalk Hall case and the release of IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-12, he has worked with clients to develop new transaction structures to address the altered legal landscape and has assisted clients in evaluating how industry changes and IRS positions impact existing investments.

Mary focuses her practice on real estate and business law and has significant experience handling the acquisition, financing (including new market, low income, and historic tax credit financing) and all development matters related to real property. She specializes in the development and financing of urban properties and was recognized by CREW for her work related to the largest HUD-financed project in Ohio. Mary is a frequent speaker on business and real estate topics including alternative financing techniques, historic tax credits (HTCs) (state and federal), new market tax credits (NMTCs), low income housing tax credits (LIHTCs), urban development, negotiating acquisitions and leases, strategies for like-kind exchanges, preservation easements, urban sprawl and eminent domain. Her most recent presentation was given at the Cleveland Commercial Real Estate Summit presented by Midwest Real Estate News. Mary is ranked as one of Ohio’s “Leaders in Their Field” in Real Estate by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2015). She is named to the Ohio Super Lawyers list (2008-2015) and has achieved the highest rating, AV Preeminent®, from Martindale-Hubbell®.

Mark Diachok brings more than 15 years of tax credit experience to PNC Bank where he functions as an equity specialist and product manager and is responsible for the identification and acquisition of historic tax credits (HTCs) nationally. Before joining the tax credit equity and debt team at PNC Bank, Mr. Diachok’s last position was as senior vice president, tax credit equity with Bank of America, where he served for seven years. At Bank of America, he was responsible for managing tax credit functions across NMTC and HTC platforms. His experience includes years of specializing in historic tax credit origination and acquisition activities and tax credit produce development. Preceding his term with Bank of America, Mr. Diachok’s experience includes investment consulting in retail securities for Salomon Smith Barney, tax credit consulting for Reznick Group, and tax specialist in the area of corporate tax returns for KPMG. Mr. Diachok received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from The College of William & Mary.

Steven Stogel is president of DFC Group Inc., a real estate transaction and investment advisory firm based in St. Louis. He had been president of the Technical Assistance Corporation in St. Louis until 1995, participating in various pending real estate transactions of approximately $150 million. Before that, he was co-owner of McCormack, Baron & Associates. Earlier in his career, Mr. Stogel practiced law and was a partner in the St. Louis law firm of Rosenblum, Goldenhersh, Silverstien & Zafft, specializing in real estate, tax and security law matters.