IFA Canada Tech & Tax Seminar 2.0
Date: Friday, August 15, 2025
Registration: Free
In-person only
We are back this year with a new edition following last year’s successful seminar!
This year’s seminar explores strategies for managing big data, integrating artificial intelligence into tax workflows, and understanding how tax authorities are deploying AI. It also addresses the crucial role of effective people management in the adoption of new technologies and focuses on balancing innovation with effective people management in the age of AI.
The seminar is designed for in-house tax practitioners, tax lawyers and accountants in private practice, as well as tax professors and students.
Bringing together academics and practitioners, the goal of the seminar is to highlight the potential applications of evolving technological developments, such as automation tools, data analytics, and large language models, that are transforming the practice of tax. Additionally, the seminar aims to raise awareness among tax professionals about the growing impact of these innovations on the profession. This event presents a unique opportunity for students, academics, and professionals to engage in meaningful discussions on current and future applications of emerging technologies in tax. The seminar will offer practical demonstrations, outline ethical considerations, and provide guidance for responsible implementation.
HEC Montréal, Downtown Campus | Get Directions
Édifice Hélène Desmarais
501, rue de la Gauchetière Ouest
Montréal (Québec) H2Z 1Z5
A.335 Amphithéâtre Rachelle et Alain-Paris
1st Panel: Tax is Cool: Leveraging Big Data and AI in Tax
2nd Panel: It’s Not You, It’s Me: Changing People and Processes
3rd Panel: Technology and Compliance
Moderators
Speakers
Register below or directly on the google form here.
Professor Aidid received his B.A. from the University of Toronto, his J.D. from Yale Law School and his LL.M from the Faculty of Law. He previously practiced litigation and arbitration at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City and most recently served as the VP, Legal Research at Blue J, where he oversaw the development of machine learning-enabled research and analytics tools.
Professor Aidid is the co-author of The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better, which received the PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers and was a finalist for The Donner Prize
Fabiola Annacondia is the editor of the International VAT Monitor and the EU VAT Compass book, and the cluster manager for the VAT courses offered by IBFD International Tax Training.
Ms. Annacondia works at IBFD for the last 25 years. She is a member of the VAT Expert Group at the European Commission and the Subcommittee on Indirect Taxation at the United Nations.
Ms. Annacondia holds a postgraduate degree in International Tax Law from Barcelona University, a postgraduate degree in Tax Law from the Argentine Social Museum University, and studied Comparative Tax Policy and Administration at Harvard Kennedy School. Before joining IBFD, she worked as a fiscal auditor (tax inspector) for 11 years with the Argentine tax authorities and teaches indirect taxation at the University of Buenos Aires.
Anarella Calderoni is a Certified Financial Planner, graduated with a BBA in Financial Management and an LL.M in International and European Tax Law. She is currently serving as the International Taxation Manager at the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), where she leads initiatives on transfer pricing regulation, the interpretation and application of anti-avoidance rules, and tax treaties.
She has authored contributions to many publications, including Springer’s Tax Policy for the 21st Century and CIAT’s Comparative Study on Transfer Pricing in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Christine is a CPA and an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy. She has also had the honor of being a visiting scholar with the SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis Office of Structured Disclosure from late 2020 through summer 2022 and is a current member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Taxonomy Advisory Group.
Christine is the 2023 Graduate teacher winner of the American Accounting Association/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize, which is the foremost recognition of an individual who consistently demonstrates the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting.
Raphaël is currently a doctoral student in law at McGill University and a lecturer at HEC Montréal, where he teaches international taxation. His research focuses on the governance mechanisms of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS, with a particular interest in transparency, inclusivity, and the role of developing countries in global tax policymaking.
He was previously a lawyer with the Department of Justice Canada, where he focused on tax litigation. Raphaël holds an LL.M. in Taxation from HEC Montréal, where he received the Canadian Tax Foundation’s MTax Award for academic excellence.
Christina Dimitropoulou is an Assistant Professor in International Tax at the department of tax law of the law faculty of Maastricht University.
She wrote a dissertation at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law entitled “Robot Taxation: Normative Tax Policy Analysis, Domestic and International Tax Considerations”.
Her Phd dissertation has already been awarded the Honorable Mention of the 2023 IFA Mitchell B. Carroll Prize, the Wolfgang Gassner Science award 2023 and the Brigitte-Knobbe Keuk award 2023 and she was nominated as one of the 35 young leaders in the excellence list prepared by TaxCOOP in 2019.
Mariana is an International Tax Manager at Agoda, a Booking Holding Company, and a member of TEI (chapter EMEA). Prior to that she worked at Bayer Spain as a Tax Specialist, as a Tax Senior Advisor at Dell Technologies for the Global Tax Planning team, and practiced law as a Tax Lawyer in Brazil. She holds two postgraduate degrees, in Tax Planning and in Tax Law.
Partner, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP and Vice-President IFA Canada
Laura Gheorghiu is a tax partner in the Montréal office of Gowling WLG. Her practice focuses on M&A, RWI, cross-border investment structures, corporate reorganizations and providing advice on national and multinational private equity funds. She also has much experience in the taxation of new technologies — in particular, of providers of e-business, data center and blockchain technology solutions. Laura also advises on issues involving stock-option plans, employer payroll and pension obligations, Federal and Québec value-added taxes (GST/HST and QST) and Québec commodity taxes (in particular, with respect to fuel and alcohol). In the area of dispute resolution, she represents clients in dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec at the audit and notice of objection stages and prepares voluntary disclosures on income tax and sales tax issues.
Laura sits on the Executive Committee of the International Fiscal Association – Canada and is a frequent speaker and contributor in the international tax community. She is ranked in Chambers Canada for Tax.
Yasmine is a Law Clerk in the National Tax Group at Gowling WLG, where she supports both the tax and business law teams. She recently graduated in accounting from the John Molson School of Business and has prior experience in in-house tax. Yasmine also serves as Vice Chair of the Young Tax Network at the Tax Executives Institute (TEI), where she actively contributes to the development of young professionals in the field. She values collaboration and continuous learning in the evolving tax landscape.
Al Hounsell is Gowling WLG’s National Director of AI, Innovation & Knowledge.
Al is also an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he teaches courses on Legal Innovation, AI, and Technology. He is an active member of the Ontario Bar Association’s AI Task Force.
His contributions have earned him several notable accolades, including Innovative Leader of the Year (2024) from the International Legal Technology Association and two “Best Use of Technology in a Law Firm” awards (2022 and 2023) from the Canadian Law Awards.
Hersh Joshi is the head of Tax at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), he has led global finance and tax functions, supporting OTPP’s strategy through strategic partnerships and assisting in the deployment of billions of dollars in investments worldwide.
Hersh is a CPA from Ontario, from Colorado, and a CA from India. He holds a Masters of Taxation from the University of Waterloo, and has completed leadership programs at Ivey Business School, Harvard Business School, and Rotman School of Business, earning the ICD.D designation in 2024.
Brigitte Muehlmann is a Professor of Accounting at Babson College, and an Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M University School of Law
Dr. Muehlmann serves as a Council Member of the IFA’s USA Branch, a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc, a Director of Babson Global, Inc, an editor of the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, a member of the Editorial Board of the ATA Journal of Legal Tax Research, among others.
Brigitte holds Ph.D. and MSBA degrees from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). Over time, she added a Master of Science in Taxation from Bentley University, as well as the CPA, CMA, CFM, Entrepreneurship Education, and Transformational Neuro-Coaching credentials to her portfolio.
William is a graduate student at HEC Montréal, pursuing a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation. With a strong foundation in accounting, he has demonstrated both academic excellence and community engagement, earning the First-Cycle CPA Scholarship. Recently, William distinguished himself at the Symposium André-Lareau, achieving an impressive second-place finish. His dedication to the field of taxation reflects a commitment to both professional expertise and meaningful contributions to the community.
George L. Salis is a recognized economist, lawyer, and tax professional. He is currently the Chief Economist and Senior Tax Policy Director at Vertex, Inc. George is also an adjunct professor of graduate tax and transfer pricing at Texas A&M University Law School and the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.
He is a contributing author to LexisNexis’ US Transfer Pricing Guide, UNCTAD’s study on the Indirect Taxation of E-commerce and Digital Trade and is a member of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Global Ecommerce Taxation.
Dr. Salis holds the SJD in taxation from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, a PhD in International Law and Economic Policy, and an LLM in International Taxation. He earned both the Advanced Certificate in EU Law from the Academy of European Law, European University Institute, Florence and the Executive Certificate in Economic Development from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. George is a Certified Business Economist (CBE), designated by the National Association for Business Economics (US-NABE Charter).
Josephine (Josie) Scalia is the International President of the Tax Executives Institute (TEI) and the VP, Global Taxation at CAE. For the first 12 years of her career she worked in the Big Four accounting firms in audit, M&A consulting, and tax. She then moved to an in-house tax role where she lead the tax department of a major Canadian shipping company for 9 years. After that role, she accepted her role as VP Tax for Atrium Innovations, which was later acquired by Nestlé and where she was then promoted to Global Head of Tax at Nestlé Health Science.
Ms. Scalia holds CPA licenses in both the United States (Massachusetts) and Canada (Quebec) and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Concordia University and an MBA with a concentration in taxation from the University of North Florida.
Ms. Scalia was included in the “ITR Global Tax 50 2023″, the annual report by the International Tax Review (ITR) highlighting the 50 most influential tax individuals globally. She is committed to mentoring and fostering the next generation of tax professionals and is the chair of TEI’s International Tax Student Case Competition held in August in Montreal.
Joey van de Pasch is the coordinator for the master’s program Tax and Technology and a lecturer within the field of Computational Science of Taxation at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Outside academia, Joey works at De Nederlandsche Bank (Central Bank of the Netherlands) as senior advisor artificial intelligence. He served as a chair of the Innov8 Large Language Model working group of the European Central Bank. Before joining De Nederlandsche Bank, Joey worked at PwC developing strategies and development plans to advance the tax business with Artificial Intelligence, RPA and Data Visualization – both in the MiddleEast region as well as in the European and Global network.
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