Experience

Community of Christ

• United States
• Religious Institutions
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Legal Counsel - Office of General Counsel

  • Jul 2014 - Present

  Community of Christ is an international religious organization headquartered in Independence, Missouri, with 250,000 members located in more than 60 nations around the world. The Office of General Counsel supports the legal initiatives of corporate officers, headquarters operations, and local leaders and personnel worldwide.• Provided legal expertise and support involving litigation management, dispute resolution, drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts and leases, trusts and estates, domestic and international tax issues, corporate registration, risk management, intellectual property, sales, and acquisitions of real estate.• Assisted with the development of template agreements, forms, practices, policies, and procedures.• Provided guidance for domestic and international human resources requirements, including drafting employment agreements and policy, responding to discrimination and unemployment complaints, benefits compliance under the Affordable Care Act.• Managed the legal transition from a legacy defined benefit retirement plan to a deferred compensation 403(b) plan for all organization employees, including international participants, and provided continued legal support and guidance for both plans.• Developed and implemented organization response plan for European Union General Data Protection Regulation and acted as the organization's Data Protection Officer.• Provided expertise in risk management and insurance claims, including managing all claims from initial reporting to final settlement.



H&R Block

• United States
• Retail
• 700 & Above Employee

• Tax Research Associate - Tax Research Center

  • Jan 2014 - Apr 2020

  H&R Block is a global tax research and preparation corporation headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The Tax Research Center is a business unit that specializes in tax research and consumer and tax office support throughout the U.S. tax season.• Responsible for assisting customers and professional tax preparers with preparing tax returns in an online chat setting.• Received training in tax preparation, including advanced 1040 and associated schedules for individual returns for both citizen and resident alien filings.• Researched tax issues and cases using Checkpoint, Tax Research Center articles, and tax treaty databases.• Advised customers in all states and territories on United States tax code and IRS policy applicable to their unique tax situation.



Missouri State Public Defender

• United States
• Legal Services
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Assistant Public Defender - Trial Division

  • Jan 2007 - Jul 2014

  The Missouri State Public Defender is a state agency headquartered in Columbia, Missouri responsible for providing legal representation to indigent defendants accused of crimes in the circuit courts of the State of Missouri.• Responsible for initial contact and guideline-based intake approval for new clients and case preparation from initial arraignment through trial and post-trial litigation.• Managed an average individual caseload of over 150 open cases per month.• Received training in caseload and time management, time tracking, DWI defense issues, motions practice, and trial litigation and preparation.• Extensive discovery analysis, motion hearing, bench trial, and first chair felony jury trial experience, including non-capital first degree murder.



Sprint

• United States
• Telecommunications
• 700 & Above Employee

• Business Systems Analyst II - Finance and Accounting

  • May 2001 - Aug 2002

  Sprint was a publicly-traded mobile, local, and long-distance telephone and data provider headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, providing services to millions of customers, businesses, and government entities in the United States.Responsible for documentation and QA testing of upgrades to the company's legacy project accounting and cost system. This position required extensive knowledge of SQL and database administration and debugging using TSO in a mainframe environment. Sprint was a publicly-traded mobile, local, and long-distance telephone and data provider headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, providing services to millions of customers, businesses, and government entities in the United States.Responsible for documentation and QA testing of upgrades to the company's legacy project accounting and cost system. This position required extensive knowledge of SQL and database administration and debugging using TSO in a mainframe environment.



Union Pacific Railroad

• United States
• Rail Transportation
• 700 & Above Employee

• Information Technology Summer Intern - Headquarters Operations

  • May 2000 - Aug 2000

  Union Pacific Railroad is one of the largest and most-storied railroad companies in U.S. history. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Union Pacific's roots were established in the 19th century through the construction of the first transcontinental railroad and continue into the 21st century by fulfilling transportation of goods from a global economy.Worked with IT department staff in creating a browser-based system for tracking train crew training and functionality over routes in the Union Pacific system. This system allowed crew dispatchers to match and contact crew members without needing to consult multiple systems on multiple terminals, saving valuable human resources and maintaining safety and quality in the railroad system. At the time this system was introduced, browser-based systems were just beginning to emerge as an alternative to legacy "green-screen" terminal-based systems. The end goals were to reduce training time and costs for crew dispatchers by using a common web browser to access the system, and reduce the time needed to call out crews and verify functionality over a given route. I received extensive training in web application design and merging data from several independent systems to a common access point.