Estate, Gift & Trust Conference (C74513)

Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished) is a partner with Keebler & Associates, LLP and is a 2007 recipient of the prestigious Accredited Estate Planners (Distinguished) award from the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. He has been named by CPA Magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Practitioners in the United States and one of the Top 40 Tax Advisors to Know During a Recession. His practice includes family wealth transfer and preservation planning, charitable giving, retirement distribution planning, and estate administration. Mr. Keebler frequently represents clients before the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the private letter ruling process and in estate, gift and income tax examinations and appeals, and he has received more than 250 favorable private letter rulings including several key rulings of “first impression.” He is the author of over 100 articles and columns and is the editor, author or co-author of many books and treatises on wealth transfer and taxation. Mr. Keebler has been a speaker at national estate planning and tax seminars for over 25 years including the AICPA’s: Estate Planning, High Income, Advanced Financial Planning Conferences, ABA Conferences, NAPEC Conferences, The Notre Dame Estate Planning Conference and the Heckerling Estate Planning Institute. He also served as chair of the AICPA’s Advanced Estate Planning Conference from 2014-2020.

Ryan James Boyle is a Senior Vice President and Chief U.S. Economist within the Global Risk Management division of Northern Trust. In this role, Ryan is responsible for briefing clients and partners on the economy and business conditions, supporting internal stress testing and capital allocation processes, and publishing economic commentaries. Prior to joining Northern Trust, Ryan held multiple management roles at TransUnion. He researched and reported on trends and key topics in the consumer credit industry, and he led initiatives to improve the breadth, depth, and quality of data reported on consumer files. Before TransUnion, Ryan worked as an economic consultant at Navigant Consulting, supporting expert testimony in competition and securities litigation. He started his career as a business analyst at ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank. Ryan holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in computer science, with highest honors, from DePaul University. In addition, Ryan completed the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Brian T. Whitlock retired as Senior Tax Partner from a Midwest regional certified public accounting firm in October 2016. He currently practice law.

Brian develops and implements wealth transfer strategies for high net worth individuals; business succession planning; and the administration and tax compliance of trusts, estates, and exempt organizations. Brian is adept at tailoring estate tax deferral and wealth transfer strategies that fulfill the personal and non-tax objectives of clients.

Brian received his B.A. from Northwestern University in 1976 and his J.D. with honors from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1979, and his L.L.M. (Taxation) with high honors from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1989.

For over 13 years, Brian taught as an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Masters of Science in Taxation Program at the Chicago Campus. He taught both “Taxation Closely Held Business Entities and their Stakeholders” and “Fiduciary Income Taxation”.

Brian is the current Chairman of the Illinois Board of Examiners which oversees the administrate of the CPA Examination in Illinois. He is a Past Chairman of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS). and a receipient of the ICPAS Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chicago Estate Planning Council’s Austin Fleming Distinguished Service Award.

In addition to his continued active involvement in professional associations of Certified Public Accountants, Brian is a member of the American Bar Association, including its Tax Section and the Real Property and Probate Section; the Illinois State Bar Association; the Chicago Bar Association, including participation in the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Committee. Brian writes a quarter column under the by-line “Untaxingly yours” for Taxes – The Tax Magazine, published by the CCH division of Wolters Kluwer’s.

Stacy E. Singer is a Senior Vice President and Central Region Advisory Practice Executive at The Northern Trust Company, where she works closely with trust professionals on all aspects of the delivery of fiduciary services to clients throughout the Midwest. She previously served as a Manager of Estate Settlement Services at Northern.  Ms. Singer joined Northern Trust in 2003. 

Ms. Singer was previously a Vice President in the Estate Administration Division at Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago, where she handled the administration of decedent, minors and disabled estates. Prior to Harris, she was a member of the estate and succession planning department at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., where she specialized in estate and succession planning strategies, estate and trust administration and guardianship for minors and disabled adults.  She has been appointed as a Guardian ad Litem in both decedent and disabled estates and as a Special Administrator in decedent estates.