Conversations with the C-Suite: Tax and Energy Policy Outlook

 On Thursday, December 3, Berkadia and Baker Botts hosted Conversations with the C-Suite: Tax and Energy Policy Changes, a discussion on the impacts of possible post-election tax law and energy policy changes on the commercial real estate industry.

To view a recording of the webinar, click here. 

As always, we’re committed to sharing the latest insights, data and thought leadership with our clients and partners. As we navigate this ever-changing landscape together, that commitment has never been more important, so we hope this webinar and report will serve as valuable resources to you and your team. 

Featured Speakers: 

Paul Landen – Partner, Real Estate – Baker Botts: For over 35 years, Paul Landen‘s practice has covered a wide-range of transactional experience, ranging from commercial real estate to domestic and international joint ventures across a variety of industries, downstream energy, petrochemical and other industrial project development and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The breadth of his experience has helped Mr. Landen develop to be a seasoned, business-oriented, pragmatic commercial lawyer.

Mr. Landen’s practice currently focuses primarily on all aspects of commercial real estate, with deep experience in real estate joint ventures, development and financings.

Stephen D. Marcus – Partner, Tax – Baker Botts: Steve Marcus is the head of the Dallas Tax Department at Baker Botts. For over 30 years, he has had the privilege of advising a wide variety of different types of clients on federal tax planning and structuring matters. He has substantial experience in the real estate sector and the energy sector, and is a member of the Baker Botts Oil and Gas M&A team. His tax planning and structuring experience extends to virtually all areas of federal income taxation with a particular focus on private equity, MLPs and other pass-through vehicles, REITs, qualified opportunity zone investments, corporate spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions, international joint ventures, oil and gas transactions and Section 1031 exchanges.

David A. Miller – Principal, National Tax Department – Ernst & Young LLP: David is a principal in Ernst & Young LLP’s (EY) National Tax Department and resides in Dallas. David is the Co-Leader of the National Tax Passthrough Transactions Group. David consults with EY‘s clients and offices on planning associated with all aspects of the formation, operation, acquisition, combination and liquidation of public and private REITs, partnerships and corporations and on real estate transactions. He has over 30 years of consulting experience and represents numerous REITs, real estate opportunity funds, private investors, public companies, venture capital funds and partnerships in connection with a variety of M&A transactions, and he also has extensive experience in structuring both strategic and financial joint ventures. David is a member of EY’s tax technical review/opinion committees for joint ventures and partnerships, real estate and infrastructure. 

Before joining EY in 1999, David was a partner in the National Tax Services Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and was previously associated with the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C. 

David contributes to a number of tax publications and tax institutes, including the Journal of Limited Liability Companies, Tax Management Real Estate Journal; the Practising Law Institute’s Partnerships, LLCs and LLPs: Uniform Acts, Taxation, Drafting, Securities and Bankruptcies and Tax Planning for Domestic & Foreign Partnerships, LLCs, Joint Ventures & Other Strategic Alliances; and USC Law School Tax Institute. He has spoken at numerous conferences and meetings around the country sponsored by the American Law Institute-American Bar Association, the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, the Great Plains Federal Tax Institute, the National Association of Real Estate Companies, the Southern Federal Tax Institute, the Tennessee Federal Tax Institute, the Tax Executives Institute, the Practising Law Institute and the Texas Federal Tax Institute, among others. 

David earned a J.D., with Distinction, from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln College of Law (Order of the Coif), and a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Nebraska. David is a member of the Section of Taxation of the American Bar Association and is the Past Chair of the Real Estate Committee. David is also a member of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Tax Section of the Dallas Bar Association, and the Board of Directors of the Texas Federal Tax Institute. 

Kenneth B. Medlock III – Senior Director – Center for Energy Studies, Baker Institute for Public Policy: Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute and the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies. He is also the director of the Masters of Energy Economics program, holds adjunct professor appointments in the Department of Economics and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and is the chair of the faculty advisory board at the Energy and Environment Initiative at Rice University. Medlock is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, holds a fellowship at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Payne Institute at Colorado School of Mines. In 2012-2013, Medlock held the prestigious Haydn Williams Fellowship at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He teaches advanced courses in energy economics and supervises Ph.D. students in the energy economics field. Medlock is a principal in the development of the Rice World Natural Gas Trade Model, which is aimed at assessing the future of international natural gas trade. He has published numerous scholarly articles in his primary areas of interest: natural gas markets, energy commodity price relationships, gasoline markets, transportation, national oil company behavior, economic development and energy demand, and energy use and the environment. He has testified multiple times on Capitol Hill on U.S. oil and natural gas exports, has spoken at OPEC, and is frequently asked to speak about global and domestic energy issues.

Medlock is the past vice president for conferences for the United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE), and previously served as vice president for academic affairs. In 2001, he won (joint with Ron Soligo) the International Association for Energy Economics Award for Best Paper of the Year in the Energy Journal. In 2011, he was given the USAEE’s Senior Fellow Award, and in 2013 he accepted on behalf of the Center for Energy Studies the USAEE’s Adelman-Frankel Award.  In 2019, Medlock was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Advancement of the Education of Future Energy Leaders by the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Foundation.  He is also an active member of the American Economic Association and is an academic member of the National Petroleum Council. Medlock has served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission in their respective energy modeling efforts.

Medlock received his Ph.D. in economics from Rice University in May 2000.

Tucker Knight – Senior Managing Director, Mortgage Banking – Berkadia: Tucker Knight is a Senior Managing Director in the Mortgage Banking division of Berkadia with responsibilities in loan origination, equity placement and management of the Texas offices. Under Tucker’s leadership the Houston office ranks at the top of Berkadia’s national network in production annually.

Mr. Knight joined Berkadia in May of 2015 and has more than $23 billion in commercial real estate transactions throughout his career. He specializes in office, industrial and multifamily properties and has extensive experience in arranging and structuring joint venture opportunities with life insurance companies, pension funds and advisors as well as originating debt for commercial real estate throughout the United States. Prior to joining Berkadia, Mr. Knight was a Senior Managing Director for Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., where he was the top producer nationally for several years. Before that, he was a Mortgage Banker with Allied Mortgage Capital Corporation.

Tucker, a native Houstonian, earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi and is a certified commercial investment member (CCIM). He serves on the National Advisory Committee for Freddie Mac and is a Vice Chair of the IOPC Black committee of the Urban Land Institute. Tucker is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, Texas Real Estate Commission, International Council of Shopping Centers, and Association of Commercial Real Estate Professionals. Mr. Knight serves as Chairman of the Board for the Institute of Stem Cell Research and Education and is a Board Member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Committee, providing college scholarships for the youth of Texas and surrounding states. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Culinary Institute Lenotre, Mutual of Omaha Bank, the Texas Wildlife Association, Trinity Oaks, and rides with the Tejas Vaqueros.