Board of Advisors

Michael is a Director, Strategic Initiatives at IPTI. He was formerly the Executive Director of Real Estate Operations for the Province of British Columbia and is a fully accredited member of the Appraisal Institute of Canada. In his current role, and in other past senior positions with Public Works and Government Services Canada; Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada; Revenue Canada; BC Assessment and BC Housing, Michael has gained significant experience in property taxation; payments-in-lieu of taxes programs; real estate deal and partnership structuring; asset and facilities management; contracting and procurement management; project and construction management; and portfolio planning.

Mr. Kevin Siu is the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation Department (the Department), Hong Kong SAR Government.

Claudia works as a property tax advisor for the Porto Alegre City Council – Secretariat of Finance, in Brazil. She co-organizes courses, workshops and conferences in property taxation for the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She was responsible for creating and developing the Program for Capacity Building to Improve the Performance of the Property Tax in Brazil, which is run by Lincoln in partnership with the Ministry of Cities in Brazil. She is a Civil Engineer, has a Masters Degree in real estate valuation and has been awarded a PhD degree on Property Tax Equity by the University of Salford, England.

Riël Franzsen is Professor and Director of the African Tax Institute, Department of Economics, University of Pretoria. Previously he was professor in the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of South Africa. He obtained the BLC and LLB degrees from the University of Pretoria and, in 1990, obtained a doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, with a thesis on South Africa’s real estate transfer tax. Riel was a co-editor (2000-2004) and is an editorial board member (2004) of the Journal of Property Tax Assessment & Administration. From 2001 to 2003 he was a David C Lincoln Fellow of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Massachusetts, United States, reviewing (with Dr WJ McCluskey) property taxation in the Commonwealth of Nations. He has authored or co-authored numerous conference papers, journal articles and a number of textbooks on especially land and property taxes. He has acted as an advisor to The People’s Republic of China, DRC, Egypt, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda as well the World Bank on property tax issues.

Jan is a Director of Research at IPTI. He was a founding Member of the European Property Institute, Partner in REAS Residential Advisors, Chairman of Supervisory Board of Polish Forces Housing Agency, Dr. Brzeski has been involved in Poland’s economic reforms from their outset in 1990 and spent 5 years as senior advisor for real estate reform for the Polish Government. He was Deputy Mayor of Kraków early into the transition process and worked extensively with international development including the World Bank. Dr. Brzeski has shared his experience through numerous publications and speaking engagements. He is member of various professional organizations including being a Fellow of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and member of IPTI’s Advisory Board.

Larry is currently a Director, Assessment Services at IPTI. Until recently he was the Chief Assessor with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), North America’s largest assessment jurisdiction. As MPAC’s Chief Assessor, Larry was responsible for the valuation of 5 million properties in Ontario.

Larry is a graduate of the University of Toronto and an accredited member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS). He also holds a diploma in Urban Affairs and Real Estate from Fanshawe College and has completed the University of British Columbia’s.

Certificate Program in Real Property Assessment.

Larry is an internationally recognized assessment professional with extensive experience in operations and strategic development at the executive level. Larry is the 2013-2014 President of the Institute of Municipal Assessors (IMA) and sits on the Education and Advisory Boards of the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), and Valuation Standards Committee of the Chinese Appraisal Society. Larry is a former Chair of the IMA’s Education Committee, and the Steering Committee of the Real Estate Degree Program of York University. He is a distinguished speaker and a skilled negotiator with an industry wide reputation for integrity.

Zhang Jian’gang

Master of Management (Accounting)Vice Secretary General of China Appraisal Society

Mr. Zhang Jian’gang worked for the former Research Institute of State owned Assets Management Bureau from July 1995 to November 1998. From November 1998 to September 2000, he worked in the Editorial Department of the State Assets Management Journal. From September 2000 to August 2014, he hold the position of Vice Director and Director in the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China. In August 2014, Mr. Zhang Jian’gang was appointed as the Vice Secretary General of China Appraisal Society.

Mr. Zhang Jian’gang has been engaging in management works for a long period in the field of financial policies, assets and tax policies. Many of his professional papers have been published. Mr. Zhang has a high theoretical level. He has strong interests in Chinese real estate tax system reform and tax assessment in tax base valuation and has conducted deep research in relevant areas.

Roy is a Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Studies, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University and the Director of the Program on Fiscal Decentralization and Local Government Financial Management. Previously, he spent 19 years with Harvard University at the Kennedy School of Government, the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), and the Harvard International Tax Program teaching local government finance, tax analysis and project evaluation.

Dr. Enid Slack teaches a graduate course in urban public finance to the planning students. She chairs the Intergovernmental Committee for Economic and Labour Force Development in Toronto (ICE), is a member of the Associations Advisory Committee of the Ontario Municipal Knowledge Network (OMKN). She is currently the chair of the Municipal Port Property Taxation Fairness Commission for Metro Vancouver and, in 2007, she was a Commissioner on the Vancouver Property Tax Policy Review Commission. Enid has co-authored three books on property taxes and municipal finance in Canada and has co-edited two books, one of which is entitled International Handbook of Land and Property Taxation. She has also published numerous articles on property taxes and urban public finance.

Jack A. Walker is a partner in the law firm Walker Poole Nixon, LLP where he specializes in municipal assessment and tax litigation. He was called to the bar with Honours in 1967. He has appeared before tribunals and courts across Canada on assessment matters. He has lectured at Osgoode Hall Law School, and the University of Toronto. He has written extensively on assessment and taxation and is co-author of Ontario Property Tax Assessment Handbook with Jerry Grad, editor of Ontario Assessment Legislation and contributor to the International Property Tax Institute’s publications and journal.

Philip is a National Government and Asset Services Manager at the Opteon Property Group in Sydney, Australia. Previously he was appointed a Valuer General for New South Wales. Philip also was the principle advisor to the New South Wales government on valuation issues. His responsibilities included the regulatory functions relating to statutory land valuations, determination of compensation and the professional conduct of and ensuring the integrity of the valuation system and processes. Philip has been responsible for some significant enhancements to the NSW valuation system, in a drive to improve the accuracy, consistency and quality of land values and to provide more transparency in the valuation system. Philip’s medium term goal is to ensure that the New South Wales valuation system becomes a world recognized benchmark valuation system providing credible, consistent and accurate valuations. In 2003, Philip was made a Fellow of the New South Wales (NSW) division of the Australian Property Institute. He is currently a NSW Divisional Councilor; National Councilor and the Junior Vice President of the National body. He is also a member of the Australian Property Institute National Education Board and currently serves on a number of sub committees.

Larry is currently a Director, Corporate Services at IPTI. He is a partner in the New York property tax law firm of Huff Wilkes, LLP, as well as the Global Property Tax Consultant to Cushman & Wakefield. He is the former Chairman of The Appraisal Foundation (publisher of USPAP), and the Vice Chairman of the RICS Americas Valuation Council, a Counselor of Real Estate and the former Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Property Tax Committee, as well as co-founder and Vice Chairman of the National Association of Property Tax Attorneys (NAPTA).

David has served as Senior Legal Advisor on property tax and finance reform working in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In addition to a law degree from Boston University, he earned a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Appraisal from New York University, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious quarterly journal, “Real Estate Review” for many years. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the New York State Bar Journal for nearly a decade, and is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on property taxation. He sits on the Transportation Research Board’s Intergovernmental Relations in Aviation Committee. David is an airplane pilot, a licensed rock climbing guide, and mountaineer.