Federal Tax Policy: Navigating the New Political Landscape

Brian is a Tax Partner in the Charlotte PCS practice. He serves a variety of companies including closely held businesses, private equity portfolio companies and inbound subsidiaries. His industry experience includes manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service businesses. Brian has extensive experience in consolidated return issues, corporate planning, partnership planning and structuring, accounting methods, and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Kumar is a principal and Co-Leader of PwC’s Washington National Tax Office. In his role, Mr. Kumar advises clients on all aspects of domestic policy including tax policy. His insights and knowledge enable companies to assess critical policy issues more effectively and develop legislative strategies to address those issues from both a technical and political perspective. Prior to joining PwC, Mr. Kumar served as the Domestic Policy Director and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. He served 11 consecutive years in the Office of the Republican Leader for three different senators, having previously been Director of Policy and Senior Counsel to Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist and Senior Policy Advisor and General Counsel for Senate GOP Leader, Trent Lott. In all of these roles, Mr. Kumar worked in close collaboration with Senate leaders in developing and implementing all aspects of domestic policy including tax, trade, budget, and health care. Mr. Kumar also held positions in the Office of Senator Phil Gramm as Legislative Director and Chief Counsel, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs as Deputy Chief Republican Counsel and clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Kumar has been named in Roll Call as one of the fifty most influential staffers for mastery of policy and procedure and access to decision makers at key times. He was described in the Washington Post publication Who Runs Gov as, “an expert in both politics and policy” and also listed in the Almanac of the Unelected as an expert in tax, trade, banking/financial services and immigration. Mr. Kumar received his J.D. from the University of Virginia. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Duke University.

In addition to his leadership as director of the institute, Greg is also the founder and research director of the Institute for Private Capital, an institute-affiliated research center. Greg’s research focuses on financial risk and the use of financial derivative contracts as risk management tools. He also studies private investment strategies such as hedge funds and private equity. His research has been published in leading academic and practitioner finance journals, including The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Review of Financial Studies, The Journal of Derivatives, Financial Analyst Journal and RISK. Greg received his doctorate in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated cum laude from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in physics and economics.