2015 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award

Lisa C. Germano, CPA, CGMA, received the 2015 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest award given by the accounting profession in the area of taxation. The award, bestowed by the AICPA Tax Division, was presented Nov. 4 at the AICPA fall Tax Division Meeting in Washington, by Eddie Adkins, a partner at Grant Thornton.

Germano is president and general counsel of Actuarial Benefits & Design Co., which she co-founded in 1989. She is a nationally recognized expert on pensions and other employee benefits, was appointed to the IRS Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee by then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, and has written numerous retirement planning articles relating to pension law and its administration. She received the Hammer Award from then-Vice President Al Gore for her outstanding regulatory work with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Germano’s dedicated volunteer service to the AICPA spans more than 25 years. She has served as a member of the AICPA governing Council, on the AICPA board of directors, Tax Executive Committee, Financial Literacy Commission, and multiple task forces and committees, including the 401(k) Practice Guides Task Force and the Comparability Cross-Testing Task Force. Notably, she has chaired the AICPA Member Retirement Committee and the Institute’s Employee Benefits Taxation Committee and then its Technical Resource Panel, the Mandatory Withholding Rules Practice Guide Task Force, and the Employee Benefits Taxation Practice Guide Task Force. She has co-chaired and been a faculty member of the AICPA National Employee Benefit Plans Conference Committee for many years.

Germano chairs the board of the Virginia Society of CPAs and has served multiple years on the society’s board of directors and Educational Foundation, as well as on other committees and task forces, including the Nominations Committee and the Employee Benefits Conference and Financial Fitness task forces.