Thursday, December 11, 202
7:30 – 8:00 AM
Continental Breakfast and Registration
8:00 – 8:15 AM
Opening Remarks
Christina Lynch, Esq. – Director of Legal, Cook County Assessor’s Office, Chicago, IL
Will Shepherd, J.D. – President, William D. Shepherd P.A., Delray Beach, FL
Donna Vandervries – AAS, CAE, PPS, Esq., 2025 IAAO President
8:15 – 9:15 AM
Cases of Note in Your Jurisdictions
Thomas A. Jaconetty, Esq. – Attorney at Law, Chicago, IL
9:15 – 10:15 AM
Problems with Valuing Utility Properties
Elliott B. Pollack – Attorney, Connecticut/Pullman & Comley, LLC, Hartford, CT
10:15 – 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 – 11:30 AM
Anatomy of a Tax Assessment Case
Michelle Drea – City Assessor, Attorney-at-Law, City of Madison, WI
Jason Donker – Assistant City Attorney, City of Madison, WI
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Affordable Housing Property Tax Exemptions
Tiffany Pinkstaff – Chief, General Litigation, Kansas Department of Revenue, Topeka, KS
12:30 – 1:30 PM
Luncheon provided at the hotel
1:30 – 2:30 PM
Debating the Hot Topics
Will Shepherd, J.D. – President, William D. Shepherd P.A., Delray Beach, FL
Thomas Wilhelmy – Partner, Ryan Law, Minneapolis, MN
2:30 – 3:30 PM
The Dilemma in Assessing Marijuana Cultivation Facilities
Kevin Rudden – Principal Assessor, Town of Holliston, MA
3:30 – 3:45 PM
Break
3:45 – 4:45 PM
Holy Cow! The Valuation of Wrigley Field and Other Special Purpose Sports Facilities
Christina Lynch – Director of Legal, Cook County Assessor’s Office, Chicago, IL
Will Shepherd, J.D. – President, William D. Shepherd P.A., Delray Beach, FL
Michael Piper – Chief Valuations Officer, Cook County Assessor’s Office, Chicago, IL
Mildred Terzic – Director of Special Properties, Cook County Assessor’s Office, Chicago, IL
Friday, December 12, 2025
7:30 – 8:00 AM
Continental Breakfast & Registration
8:00 – 9:00 AM
Special Purpose, Special Problems: A Case Study in Hospitality Valuation and Functional Obsolescence
Shawn Wilson, MAI – Fee Appraiser/Expert Witness, Compass Real Estate Consulting, Inc., Lakeland, FL
9:00 – 10:00 AM
Turning the Tables: Attacking Valuation Experts in Equity Appeals
Lee Winston – Attorney/Shareholder, Gray Winston & Hart, Austin, TX
Tyler McCarty – Attorney/Shareholder, Round Rock, TX
10:00 – 10:15 AM
Break
10:15 – 11:15 AM
Mega-Mansion Valuations, Unrestrained Riparian Rights, & Country Club Challenges
Andrea Raila – Founder, CEO, Cook County, Training Research Advocacy & Education Network, Inc., Chicago, IL
Emily Frank – Property Tax Analyst, Cook County, Training Research Advocacy & Education Network, Inc., Chicago, IL
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Property Tax Caps/Proposition 117—An Introspective Analysis
Michael Combrink, Esq. – Attorney, Maricopa/Jones Skelton and Hochuli PLC, Phoenix, AZ
Ed Hermes, Esq. – Partner, Maricopa/Snell & Wilmer, Phoenix, AZ
12:15 – 1:15 PM
Luncheon provided at the hotel
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Which is To Be Master: The Meaning of Words and Statutes
Joshua Wood, J.D., MAI, AI-GRS – Senior Managing Director, Valbridge Property Advisors, Houston, TX
2:15 – 3:15 PM
Ensuring Assessment Quality through Public Policy that Promotes Oversight—Case Studies from Idaho and the Netherlands
Alan Dornfest – Property Tax Policy Bureau Chief, Idaho State Tax Commission, Boise, ID
Marco Kuijper – Strategist, Netherlands Council for Real Estate Assessment, The Hague, Netherlands
Fred Nicely – Sr. Tax Counsel, Council on State Taxation, Washington, D.C.
3:15 – 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Adjusting the Temperature of AI LLM Prompts to Encourage More Reliable Outcomes in Property Tax Determinations
Ted Smith – Chief Counsel, Kansas Department of Revenue, Topeka, KS