Roth IRA Conversions: Issues and Opportunities
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Blanche Lark Christerson
Managing Director
Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management

Blanche Lark Christerson is a managing director at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, where she works with clients and their advisors to help develop appropriate planning strategies. She is also the author of Tax Topics, a regular commentary on current legislation and other tax issues. Prior to joining Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank) in 1997, she was in the estate planning department at U.S. Trust for 10 years, and had primary editorial responsibility for Practical Drafting, the estate planning publication. Ms. Christerson lectures to various planning and professional organizations nationwide, and is a frequent source for the media. She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, her J.D. from New York Law School and her LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law. Ms. Christerson is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association; she is also the president of the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts.

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Barry C. Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP
Shareholder
Picker & Auerbach, CPAs, P.C.

Barry C Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP is a Certified Public Accountant with the Personal Financial Specialist designation from the AICPA, is a Certified Financial Planner™ licensee, and has a Masters of Science in Taxation from Pace University. Besides being a shareholder in Picker & Auerbach, CPAs, P.C., an accounting and financial planning firm located in Brooklyn, NY, he regularly consults with other professionals on retirement planning issues.

Barry has appeared on radio and television, and has been quoted in numerous publications, including Worth, Fortune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Newsweek, Kiplingers, and Business Week. He regularly speaks to other accounting and financial planning professionals on estate planning and financial planning topics.

Barry is the author of “Barry Picker’s Guide to Retirement Distribution Planning” (June, 2002), is a member of the NYS Society of CPAs Estate Planning and Personal Financial Planning Committees, is the former chairperson of the NYS Society of CPAs’ Employee Benefits Committee, and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of New York City.

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Laura R. Westfall
Associate
White & Case

Laura R. Westfall concentrates in executive compensation and employee benefits law. She represents clients in the employee benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions, financings, and other types of transactions.

Ms. Westfall also counsels investment fund sponsors and investing plans on the fiduciary, prohibited transaction and other implications of ERISA. She provides advice to clients on all aspects of their employee benefit programs, including the design and implementation of tax-qualified retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans and ESOPs), health, welfare and other fringe benefit plans (including medical, dental, disability, life insurance, cafeteria and consumer-directed health plans) and executive compensation arrangements, as well as compliance with ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA and the Internal Revenue Code.

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David A. Berek, JD, LLM, CPA, CFP
Director, Family Wealth Management
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

Mr. Berek is a Wealth Strategist in the Wealth Planning Group working with Relationship Managers in advising clients and prospective clients regarding their private wealth planning objectives. He is assists the Family Wealth Management team at Credit Suisse which is a multi-family office offering by Credit Suisse. As a Wealth Strategist/Family CFO, Mr. Berek works with ultra high net worth families and is responsible for coordinating the family’s financial and estate planning goals with investment management. He works as a facilitator between Credit Suisse clients and their outside advisors including trust and estate planning attorneys, certified public accountants, and insurance professionals to help the family meet their multi-generational family financial goals.

Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 2005, Mr. Berek practiced for 6 years as a trust and estate planning attorney, most recently with McGuireWoods LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Mr. Berek also practiced for 7 years in public accounting experience with Arthur Andersen LLP and Coopers & Lybrand LLP specializing in the taxation of high net worth individuals, and 4 years of experience in estate settlement and trust administration with The Northern Trust Company.

Mr. Berek is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Florida and is awarded an AV peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell which is the highest rating available for both legal abilities and ethical standards. Mr. Berek is also a Certified Public Accountant (Illinois), and a Certified Financial Planner™. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the School of Accountancy at DePaul University, a Juris Doctorate cum laude from The John Marshall Law School, and an LL.M. with honors in Employee Benefits from John Marshall Law School.

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Roth IRA Conversions: Issues and Opportunities
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Picker & Auerbach, CPAs, P.C.