February 13th, 2018 Monthly Breakfast Series

Rob Massey has 20 years of professional experience in tax consulting for technology companies including search, SaaS and gaming with an expertise in blockchain, cryptocurrency and tokenization.  He serves companies throughout the blockchain ecosystem inclusive of miners, specialty chip design and manufacturing, payment processing, wallet hosting, exchanges, ETFs, hedge funds, tokenization and protocol development.  Rob leads Deloitte’s blockchain efforts in tax for the global firm. Rob’s demonstrated expertise in blockchain includes:

• Analysis of the tax considerations of blockchain enabled transactions including foreign/state sourcing, transaction taxes, and withholding taxes
• Leading Deloitte’s development team in a proprietary blockchain solution.
• Assisting internal and external development teams in the evaluation of blockchain applications across various industries.
• Analysis of the tax impacts of tokenization and token launches as developed across various business models and industries.

Rob holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of San Diego, as well as an M.S. in Tax from San Diego State University.                      

Lowell Ness is a partner in the firm's Corporate practice with considerable experience in securities law and corporate governance matters. His practice focuses on high-growth emerging companies and involves venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, and private placements. His clients range from startup companies in the earliest stages to well-established public companies, as well as private equity and venture capital funds.

Lowell regularly acts as either company counsel or investors' counsel in venture capital financings. He has also acted as either company counsel or underwriters' counsel in public offerings for several high-profile clients, and has represented numerous companies in their mergers and acquisitions.

Lowell has taught a course in securities regulation at Santa Clara University School of Law and is a frequent speaker at national MCLE seminars on topics such as legal opinions, drafting stockholders' agreements, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions.

Lowell is also a core member of the Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency industry group where he focuses part of his practice on assisting Blockchain, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency clients raise money by maintaining relationships with key venture capital groups and other potential investors in the industry.  He is very active and well known in the industry and often speaks on the subject in San Francisco and Palo Alto through MeetUp groups at Hero City and other startup workspaces.

Tyler Pinckard, with Manifold Technology, worked as the integration lead and primary systems engineer for the first enterprise blockchain production deployment at a global top 10 financial institution where it is used as the basis for their credit card rewards system. In addition to the blockchain work, his background encompasses satellite systems launch and deployment (STSS '09), computer security, enterprise sales, and research & development. Previously, Tyler spent 10 years in the US Military, most recently with the California Army National Guard, rising up to the rank of Captain before exiting the service. He graduated UCLA '13 with a Masters in Systems Engineering and from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University '07 undergrad in Computer Engineering. 

Roger Royse is a tax and business attorney with in-depth expertise and expansive influence: (https://www.rogerroyse.com/)

• A recognized authority in tax and business law, with more than 30 years of experience 
• A growing influence in Washington D.C., testifying at US Congressional Hearings, for issues related to agriculture technology, data regulation, tax and business 
• A supporter and an advocate for cutting edge technology and innovation in Silicon Valley, particularly agriculture technology, health tech and Fintech
• Founder of Royse Law Firm, PC, a growing business and tax firm with domestic offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orange County and a foreign presence in Beijing and Shanghai. 

Tax - domestic & international:

• General & transactional business tax advisory
• Supporting and expert witness advice to law firms on the tax aspects of corporate, real estate, commercial transactions, and litigation recoveries 
• Works with all sizes of closely held and family businesses due to their unique need for integrated legal solutions that emphasize tax efficiencies 

Business, Corporate, Securities, M&A:

• Business structuring, financings, mergers & acquisitions and partnership and joint venture transactions
• High stakes business negotiations
• Large international financial transactions
• Creator of the Total Startup Solution, designed to automate the business formation process
• Super-connector between investors, corporate venture executives, angels, tech startups, founders, entrepreneurs, and service providers

For more information on Roger Royse, please email to: rroyse@rroyselaw.com