Linda Burke to be appointed LMSB Division Counsel.

Second TEI President Assumes Top IRS Post

Former TEI President Linda B. Burke is slated to become Operating Division Counsel for the IRS's Large and Mid-Size Business (LMSB) Division. Ms. Burke, who retired from Alcoa in February, will join another TEI president, Larry R. Langdon, who was appointed LMSB Commissioner last year. The new IRS division officially "stood up" on June 4.

Ms. Burke joined TEI in 1977 and quickly established herself as a highly qualified tax executive. During her two decades-plus of membership, she was an active member of the Pittsburgh Chapter, where she served on the Chapter's Board of Directors and later as its Secretary and President. In 1989, she became Pittsburgh's Chapter Representative to the Institute's Board of Directors and was later elected Vice President-Region VI. In addition to her service on TEI's Board of Directors, Ms. Burke was active at the national level, serving as the first chair of the IRS Administrative Affairs Committee, on the Institute's Executive Committee, and as co-chair of TEI's 50th Anniversary Task Force.

In 1992, Ms. Burke was elected Institute Secretary, and she became its 46th President in 1994. As President, she spearheaded an effort to place TEI on the "Information Super Highway" by establishing what eventually became TEI's electronic communications system, TEI On-Line. She also sought to integrate the chapter committees into the Institute's national committee structure and oversaw the work of TEI's State and Local Tax Task Force. After she left office, Ms. Burke remained an active participant on the Institute's Board of Directors and represented TEI on the IRS Commissioner's Advisory Group.

Ms. Burke was among the first TEI representative to become as a full-fledged member of an IRS task force -- on involving the taxpayer in the examination planning process. Her work on this task force paved the way for initiatives that eventually became standard practice in the IRS's Coordinated Examination Program. For her work in this are, Ms. Burke Linda received the IRS Assistant Commissioner's Award in 1992.

"Linda has had a long and distinguished career as a tax executive and a member of TEI," President Charles W. Shewbridge, III stated. "She has worked tirelessly and effectively to advance the mission, principle, and purposes of the Institute and to improve tax administration for the common benefit of taxpayers and government. I know that she will bring those same attributes to her duties as Operating Division Counsel. IRS Commissioner Rossotti has pledged to bring the best to the new IRS. TEI members know first hand how lucky the government is to have Linda join the LMSB Division. Our loss will be the government's -- and the public's -- gain."

Ms. Burke is expected to assume her position sometime this summer.