Leonard Fuld is Clinical Assistant Professor of Accounting, Tax and Entrepreneurial Business Management at the Sy Syms School of Business of Yeshiva University. He has lectured extensively on U.S. and International tax and business issues throughout the world. Prior to joining Yeshiva University, Professor Fuld was a highly rated adjunct professor for many years in the graduate schools of Baruch and Queens College.
In addition to his academic background, Professor Fuld’s business experience comprises over 38 years of accounting and tax practice, technical tax research, administration, and compliance, including more than seven years in the public accounting arena, in both audit and tax, with PricewaterhouseCoopers. His thirty plus years in industry led to ever increasing senior tax officer responsibilities, within major global businesses, including Schlumberger Ltd, Citigroup, and most recently with Griffon Corp, where he was the Vice President of Taxes of this $1.8 billion New York Stock Exchange multinational. He has been a member of the American Institute of CPAs, New York State Society of CPAs, International Tax Institute, and the Tax Executives Institute. Len has also served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations and is the Chairperson of his town’s Ethics Committee.
Len’s hands-on experience includes all types of business transactions, ethics, mergers and acquisitions, government lobbying, individual tax controversies, audit and U.S. tax legislation.
1. What is your favorite aspect of your job at YU?
I love teaching altogether, but having the opportunity to engage, advise, educate and wish a Good Shabbos to my students, with whom I relate to on such a connected basis, does make YU a special place for me.
2. Tell us a bit about the new MS in Taxation Program that you are running.
The Masters of Science in Taxation reflects the creative programming that Sy Syms is encouraging across the board in all business fields. We recognized that our students, as well as some of the more experienced working professionals, were interested in furthering their technical knowledge, skills and academic credentials in taxation and we strived to fulfill that need by creating an innovative, very economical Tax Masters that will be taught by extremely experienced, highly qualified professors in a one year program. The small classes will be taught at Beren, YU’s midtown campus, two evenings a week, so that students will have the ability to work or study for the CPA exam during the day, conveniently achieve the MS Tax in the evenings and still have time to enjoy life as it should be. Amongst the tax courses offered and taught by CPAs, JD/LLMs, and IRS agents, will be International Tax, Ethical Tax Practice & Procedures, State Tax, Contemporary Tax Issues, Estate Tax, Deferred Compensation, and Reorganization/Liquidations. It is an exciting program that employers are already interested in partnering with in order to get a first crack at our well educated future graduates. And there’s still some time left to apply.
3. What profession did you think you would one day hold when you were a child?
Given that my birthday is April 15th, I should have known early on that I’d be a CPA. As a child (which I still am) I was going to be a spy for the Mossad (still would like that), Chief Rabbi of Israel (definitely not these days), or Professor & Director of the Masters in Tax program at YU, so I worked real hard, brushed my teeth, said my prayers and lo and behold, my dream came true.
4. How do you stay connected with students once they graduate?
Email is the easiest and I continue to send out relevant, and that I think are, interesting tax articles but most enjoyably is running into them at various events or countries and catching up with what they’re up to, professionally and personally. I love hearing how they passed the CPA exam or accomplished some major technical hurdle and giving me credit for having made it possible. True or not, it always feels great.
5. What would your colleagues be surprised to learn about you?
I was a 9/11 1st responder.
I am a shochet (ritual slaughterer).
I am really a nice, quiet guy who is never critical or cynical- now that would really surprise everyone!
And the rest we’ll keep under wraps.
