Instructors and UK Staff
Instructors and UK Staff
About the Instructors
Our primary instructors include seasoned, experienced CPAs who have a keen understanding of tax laws, legislation updates, and return preparation. Our instructors incorporate and share their own day-to-day experiences in their presentations to enhance our participants’ understanding of key topics.
The UK Income Tax Seminar partners with the Internal Revenue Service, Kentucky Department of Revenue, and University of Kentucky Farm Analysis Specialists to provide targeted presentations in the areas of federal income tax topics, Kentucky tax legislation, and Agricultural issues. The UK Income Tax Seminar is the only tax seminar program in the state of Kentucky that includes speakers from the Internal Revenue Service and the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
Instructors
Bill is the Managing Member of Summit CPA. Summit is a strategic tax planning and family office consulting firm. Bill has over 20 years of consulting and public accounting experience. He specializes in providing comprehensive, personalized, and proactive advisory services to ultra-high net worth individuals, multi-generational families, family offices, and foundations. His experience also includes complex entity and deal structuring, business advisory services, strategic tax planning, guidance on transfer of wealth and family philanthropy, and risk management. Bill is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants. Bill received his Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting from Indiana University Southeast. He currently resides in Louisville.
James Blandford is a certified public accountant. He is President of Klump & Blandford, PSC, a certified public accounting firm, and managing member of Blandford Wealth Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser. His focus is providing tax, accounting, consulting, and financial planning services to individuals and closely held businesses. He has held a variety of positions in public accounting, asset management, insurance, and manufacturing. Mr. Blandford earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration, both from the University of Louisville. He is a native of Owensboro, Kentucky and currently resides in Louisville.
Laura Powers, Area Extension Specialist in Farm Business Management, Pennyroyal
Since September 2012, Laura Powers has been a Farm Business Analysis Specialist in the Pennyroyal Farm Analysis Group, located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Laura spent the previous five years as an Extension Specialist with the University of Kentucky, Department of Agricultural Economics, working in tobacco financial analysis and labor education. She has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from UK. Previous work experience includes time as a Credit Analyst with CoBank and a Business Development Specialist with the Kentucky Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. Laura has worked with hundreds of farmers in Kentucky and surrounding states on various management, financial, labor and tax issues.
Jonathan Shepherd, State Director, UK Income Tax Education Program
Jonathan Shepherd is a former area Extension Specialist with the Kentucky Farm Business Management Program with the University of Kentucky. In that capacity, he assisted farm families in the Lincoln Trail Farm Analysis Group with financial record keeping and farm management decision making. He teaches Farm Management Principles at UK. He holds BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky.
John Linstead is a Senior Stakeholder Liaison with Internal Revenue Service, Office of Stakeholder Liaison Field in Cincinnati, Ohio. He works with tax professional organizations and small business organizations across Ohio and Indiana to educate them about the tax laws and about their federal tax responsibilities. During his 30 years with the IRS he has held the positions of Tax Examiner, Tax Auditor and Appeals Officer prior to joining Stakeholder Liaison in September of 2005.
The Kentucky Department of Revenue will have a representative teaching at each of the UK Income Tax Seminar locations.
Please visit their site here: https://revenue.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx
Jonathan Shepherd, State Director, UK Income Tax Education Program
Jonathan Shepherd is a former area Extension Specialist with the Kentucky Farm Business Management Program with the University of Kentucky. In that capacity, he assisted farm families in the Lincoln Trail Farm Analysis Group with financial record keeping and farm management decision making. He teaches Farm Management Principles at UK. He holds BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky.
Trish Murphy, Program Coordinator
Trish Murphy is the Kentucky Income Tax Program Coordinator at the University of Kentucky, responsible for planning, executing, and managing tax education seminars across the state and online. Prior to this role, she held positions as a Sales Assistant & Communications Specialist at the University Press of Kentucky and Vice President at Nate's Coffee. Trish holds a Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame.
