Meet Our Advisors
Our team of experienced CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and strategic advisors combines technical tax expertise with real-world experience serving business owners, real estate investors, and high-income professionals.
Christina Nortman, CPA
Christina leads the firm's Northeast practice from Maryland, bringing Big Four discipline from PwC and CohnReznick to owner-operated businesses. She works with high-income business owners and real estate investors who have outgrown reactive tax preparation and want the strategy designed before the year closes.
Background: Bachelor's and Master of Science in Accounting, University of Baltimore.
Mark Simonsen, CPA
Mark founded the firm's Mountain West practice and works from Montana with deep roots in the local business community. He builds advanced tax strategy for business owners, real estate investors, and entrepreneurs whose situations have outgrown a standard compliance relationship.
Specialty: Advanced tax strategy and entity structuring for business owners and real estate investors.
Adam West, EA
Adam leads the Southeast practice from Macon, Georgia, where he is also a partner at Gonser, West & Associates. As an Enrolled Agent he handles tax compliance and IRS representation, pairing local accessibility with national-caliber planning.
Services: Accounting, consulting, tax compliance, and IRS representation.
Sidhartha Sen
Sidhartha advises on finance, operations, and business development, structuring the complex financial arrangements that advanced tax planning often depends on. He works across the firm's growth initiatives and with clients whose situations span several entities.
Focus: Financial strategy, operations, and growth initiatives.
Jacques Snyman
Jacques leads cost segregation studies and tax analysis for AE Tax Advisors' real estate clients. He manages the full lifecycle of each study from property intake through engineering analysis and final report delivery, ensuring every study meets IRS ATG compliance standards.
Focus: Cost segregation, depreciation analysis, and real estate tax optimization.
Jesse Gibson
Jesse leads revenue strategy and client acquisition across AE Tax Advisors and its partner brands. He brings over a decade of experience scaling professional services firms, building high-performance revenue teams, and designing the systems that turn qualified prospects into long-term advisory clients. His background spans business development, strategic partnerships, and go-to-market execution in financial services and real estate. At AE Tax, Jesse owns the full revenue pipeline from first touch through signed engagement, working directly with the advisory team to make sure every client relationship starts with the right expectations and ends with measurable results.
Focus: Revenue strategy, client acquisition, and business development.
Blake Snodgrass
Blake supports AE Tax's advisory practice by assisting with client communications, document management, and engagement coordination. He ensures the operational side of each client relationship runs smoothly from onboarding through delivery.
Focus: Advisory support, client coordination, and engagement operations.
Jeff Miller
Jeff brings deep expertise in tax planning and entity structuring to AE Tax Advisors' client engagements. He works directly with business owners and real estate investors to develop multi-year strategies that minimize tax liability and maximize long-term wealth.
Focus: Tax strategy, entity structuring, and wealth optimization.
Avatar Tripathi
Avatar leads the firm's digital presence and thought leadership, turning technical tax strategy into material business owners will actually read. He manages content strategy and engagement across every platform the firm publishes on.
Focus: Content strategy, digital marketing, and community engagement.
Ashik Zaman
Ashik builds and maintains the technical infrastructure behind the firm's planning, compliance, and client portal systems. His work keeps client documents secure and the advisory team's tooling fast enough to model strategy while a client is still on the call.
Focus: Platform development, technology infrastructure, and data security.
Yash Ravee
Yash supports the advisory team with in-depth tax research, return analysis, and strategy development. He digs into the details of each client's tax situation to identify optimization opportunities and ensure every recommendation is backed by current IRC guidance.
Focus: Tax research, return analysis, and strategy support.
Alicia Orellana
Alicia owns client onboarding, coordinating document collection, scheduling, and communication from first contact through implementation. She also works with the advisory team to research and refine the less conventional planning approaches that unusual situations call for.
Focus: Client onboarding, engagement coordination, and alternative strategy research.
James Rollan Rosales
Executive Assistant at AE Tax Advisors focused on administrative execution, operational support, and internal organization, enabling leadership to focus on client relationships, advisory delivery, and fulfillment.
Krister Myrlonn, EA
Krister is an Enrolled Agent licensed by the IRS, working on entity structuring, cost segregation analysis, and tax optimization for high-income business owners and real estate investors. He is based at the firm's Billings, Montana headquarters.
Background: Montana State University Billings.
Jem Elizshel Alcantara
Jem supports AE Tax's daily operations by managing document intake, administrative tracking, and internal coordination. He keeps the back-office running so the advisory team can focus on delivering results for clients.
Focus: Document management, administrative coordination, and operational support.
Lee-Anne Naidoo
Lee-Anne is the first point of contact for clients, guiding them through onboarding and supporting them throughout their engagement. She keeps communication, documentation, billing, and internal coordination moving smoothly, ensuring clients always know what to expect and nothing falls through the cracks.
Focus: Client experience, communication, and engagement coordination.
Jared Newman
Jared oversees the technical infrastructure that powers AE Tax Advisors' client operations âÃÂàfrom automated workflows and system integrations to data pipelines and platform optimization. He ensures the technology behind every engagement runs seamlessly so the advisory team can focus on delivering results.
Focus: Technical integrations, automation, and systems architecture.
John Amato
John connects prospective clients with the right AE Tax solutions for their situation. With a consultative approach, he ensures every new engagement is built on a clear understanding of the client's goals, entities, and tax history before work begins.
Focus: Client enrollment, consultative engagement, and onboarding alignment.
Theo
Theo builds and maintains strong relationships with AE Tax clients throughout their engagement. He serves as a dedicated point of contact, ensuring client needs are communicated to the advisory team and that every deliverable meets expectations.
Focus: Client relationships, account management, and engagement oversight.
Nic Bellingham
Nic helps prospective clients understand the value AE Tax Advisors can deliver for their specific situation. With a focus on listening first, he ensures every new engagement starts with clarity on goals, expectations, and the path to meaningful tax savings.
Focus: Client enrollment, prospect engagement, and onboarding coordination.
Ruben Corona
Ruben connects with prospective clients to understand their tax situation and determine how AE Tax Advisors can help. He manages discovery calls, qualifies opportunities, and ensures every new engagement starts on the right foot.
Focus: Client enrollment, discovery calls, and prospect qualification.
Board of Advisors
Our advisory board members provide specialized legal counsel to AE Tax Advisors and our clients in their respective practice areas.
Jacob Simany, Esq.
Jacob is a tax attorney, former IRS Office of Chief Counsel litigator, and founder of Simany Law. He advises clients on tax controversy and IRS dispute resolution, drawing on insider experience with how the IRS actually develops, negotiates, and settles cases.
Advisory Focus: Tax controversy and litigation, IRS dispute resolution, succession and estate planning.
Michael A. Zara, Esq.
Mike is a business attorney with nearly two decades of experience and a background in accounting, which lets him read a transaction financially and legally at the same time. He advises clients on entity structuring, business formation, contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance.
Background: J.D., University of Denver Sturm College of Law; B.S. in Accounting, Arizona State University. Licensed in Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.
Scott Nortman
Scott Nortman is a mortgage lending specialist working alongside AE Tax Advisors to provide qualified mortgage solutions for clients pursuing real estate investment strategies. With deep experience in investment property financing, portfolio lending, and DSCR loans, Scott helps AE Tax clients secure the financing they need to execute on short-term rental acquisitions, cost segregation strategies, and real estate portfolio expansion.
Specialty: Investment property financing, portfolio lending, and DSCR loans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are my options if I owe more than I can pay?
Installment agreements, currently not collectible status, penalty abatement for reasonable cause or first-time abatement, and in appropriate cases an offer in compromise. Which applies depends on your financial position, and the analysis should happen before enforcement action begins.
What should I do if I receive an IRS notice?
Read it carefully for the specific issue and the response deadline, and do not ignore it. Many notices are automated matching notices that can be resolved with documentation. Responding within the stated window preserves your appeal rights and prevents automatic assessment.
What triggers an IRS examination?
Common triggers include large deductions relative to reported income, S-Corp officer compensation that appears low, real estate professional status claims, and information return mismatches. Selection is also partly random through the National Research Program.
How long can the IRS go back?
Generally three years from the filing date. That extends to six years where more than 25% of gross income was omitted, and there is no limit for a false or fraudulent return or a failure to file. Employment tax and certain international matters have their own rules.