Mark Feigenbaum
Mark Allan Feigenbaum (born February 5, 1969) is a Canadian-American accountant, lawyer, teacher and author. He is the chairman of Republicans Abroad, Canada. He is a scholar on Canada-United States cross-border taxation. He worked in accounting, tax and management positions in entertainment, retail, manufacturing and public accounting. He taught both full and part-time university undergraduate and graduate programs. Feigenbaum is a public speaker at conferences and professional development programs.
Early life
Feigenbaum was born on February 5, 1969 in Simcoe, Ontario, the son of Paul and Laura Feigenbaum (nee Levitt). The family moved to Markham, Ontario in 1976 and then to Toronto in 1979. His father and mother started a chain of clothing stores throughout Southwestern Ontario in 1973, Hi-Lo Fashions which was sold in 1987. Feigenbaum's interest in accounting began while working at his family’s stores. He also had interest in computer programing, writing and selling a dental back-office computer program in the early 1980’s. He moved to California to attend high school in 1985.
Education
Due to his advanced reading abilities in nursery school, Feigenbaum began elementary school a year early and would remain a year ahead of his peers through high school.
Feigenbaum graduated from Beverly Hills High School, in Beverly Hills, California where he swam on the varsity team.
He then received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with emphasis in Accounting Theory and Practice at California State University, Northridge in 1989.
At age 18, Feigenbaum wrote the Certified Management Accounting examination, before receiving his Certified Public Accounting License from Illinois (and later DC) in 1995. He obtained his Ontario Chartered Accountant designation in 2008.
Since then, Feigenbaum continued with education on a full-time, part-time and by distance education throughout his career.
He obtained a Master of Arts in Education from Central Michigan University. Feigenbaum then attended the University of Toronto Faculty of Education (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) in its Ph.D. program. He studied the economics of education and specifically economic rationalizations for self funded graduate education under supervisors David Stager and Glen Jones.
From there, he obtained a law degree from Concord University and a Masters of Law (LL.M.) in entertainment and media law at Southwestern Law School. He completed his Doctor of Juridical Science (JSD) at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. His dissertation, titled “An analysis of Canada/US cross-border taxation as it applies to the sports and entertainment industry”, was supervised by Rodney Smith and Jason Fiske.
Feigenbaum attended the University of Buffalo and University of Waterloo for graduate classes in advanced taxation, estate planning, and intellectual property.
Feigenbaum also completed the Business of Entertainment and Sport program, run by Anita Elberse at Harvard Business School in Cambridge MA.
He also completed a certificate in entertainment and media law from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario. Feigenbaum is now scheduled to be a presenter in the program.
Bar Admissions
Feigenbaum passed the examination for the DC Bar on his first attempt and was admitted in 2005.
From there he was admitted to the US Tax Court, the US District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, Northern District of Florida, and District of Columbia - the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh, Eleventh, Federal, Armed Forces and Veterans Claims.
Feigenbaum has litigated extensively in the US Tax Court, the District Courts and acted pro bono for US Veterans in the US Court of Appeal for Veterans Claims.
He has argued in the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit before Judge Posner, Esterbrook and Wood in a published decision.
Currently Feigenbaum is completing the NCA process to obtain his Ontario Bar admission.
Career
He began working as an Internal Auditor on intern basis with Paramount Pictures in 1988. He had 1-2 year stints with Cara Operations and Tiffany & Co, before achieving the position of Senior Manager at KPMG in 1997 - a position he served in until 2002.
Beginning in 1996, Feigenbaum taught at the University of Toronto as both a teaching assistant and lecturer. He served as part-time faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University, concurrent to his position with KPMG.
Feigenbaum served as the Course Conductor for a US federal tax class at York University from 2000-2014 when the course was terminated.
He has spoken at numerous private, regional and national conferences as a keynote speaker and conducts many professional development courses for various organizations.
In 2003, Feigenbaum began his own practice, firm which specializes in accounting and US law. The firm serves an extensive list of high earning individuals and marquee clients in the sports and entertainment industry. He is highly sought after internationally for his expertise in Canada/US cross-border taxation. Feigenbaum consults other lawyers, accountants and various professionals regarding specific matters for their clients.
He provides consulting on tax matters particularly in relation to US taxation or Canada/US cross-border taxation and immigration visas primarily for actors, O-1B and EB-1 (visas for extraordinary ability).