H. Blair Kincer is a partner in the metro Washington, D.C., office of Novogradac & Company LLP in the firm’s government consulting and valuation advisory services (GoVal) group. Mr. Kincer specializes in the following primary practice areas: market analysis and appraisal of various types of mixed income and affordable housing developments, new markets tax credit (NMTC) industry consulting, historic tax credit (HTC) consulting, and market analysis and appraisal in the alternative energy industry. The real estate appraisal practice has specialized competencies in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) MAP program, HUD rent comparability studies and valuation of all tangible and intangible assets involved in affordable housing development. In the NMTC arena, Mr. Kincer specializes in various analyses involving evaluating debt and real and financial asset value/appraisal questions. Further, he has developed reasonableness opinions and market verifications of various fees and relationships to assist tax counsel with evaluating structures in light of recent IRS revenue rulings. His experience in the renewable energy industry includes solar, wind and other energy facility appraisals and impact analyses of renewable energy assets provided to affordable housing developments. Mr. Kincer, a certified LEED Green Associate, brings to his practice a broad understanding of green building technologies, best practices and the LEED Rating System. Mr. Kincer is also a member for the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) and of the Appraisal Institute. Before joining Novogradac & Company LLP, Mr. Kincer was vice president of acquisitions for a regional developer where he specialized in financial and economic feasibility analysis. His responsibilities included finding and processing potential acquisitions for rehabilitation using tax credit and tax-exempt bond financing. Mr. Kincer served as a manager with Ernst & Young LLP, where he performed portfolio valuations, market analysis and loan pool performance reviews. His areas of specialization include retail and hospitality. Mr. Kincer received his bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University and his MBA from Duquesne University. He is a member of the Appraisal Institute and a certified general appraiser in Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Forrest Milder is one of Nixon Peabody LLP’s lead tax partners when it comes to tax credits and other tax-advantaged investments. Mr. Milder has a national practice that emphasizes the development of renewables, affordable housing, historic and new markets tax credit projects as well as resolving disputes with the IRS. Mr. Milder’s practice emphasizes structuring and bringing to closure many kinds of tax-advantaged projects, both for investors and those who need their investment. Mr. Milder has advised on an exceptionally wide range of ventures, with sizes from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions. He is especially known for “outside-the-box” solutions. For example, he has developed a technique that facilitated more than $100 million of renewable facilities qualifying for government grants, even though the projects were nominally owned by the government and bond-financed. Mr. Milder enabled another client to obtain a $15 million-plus state credit as the first user of a new program by working with the applicable agency before it had published any rules. Mr. Milder has resolved three multi-million-dollar disputes with the IRS with the taxpayer having zero liability. On one occasion he worked with clients and others to get the applicable tax code provision changed, thereby ending the audit. Mr. Milder has worked with countless developers and investors to close hundreds of transactions involving the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), including everything from standard ventures to “80-20” deals and “lease pass-throughs” that also involve the historic tax credit (HTC). Mr. Milder has written tax opinions enabling a client with an innovative renewable technology to close more than $50 million of tax credit investments. Mr. Milder served as chair of the American Bar Association’s 7,000-member Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development and chairman of the 3,000-member MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. He’s authored a leading treatise on housing and historic tax credits, and written more than 40 articles about renewables, and he is heavily involved in drafting legislation and guidance for the historic rehabilitation industry.