Weaver Welcomes Dawn Rhea as a Tax Partner

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 27, 2023) – National accounting and advisory firm Weaver has added Dawn Rhea to the Austin office to serve as a partner on the firmwide tax quality and risk management team. 

With more than 15 years of experience as an attorney and CPA, Dawn’s experience includes advising companies and equity holders on the legal, financial and federal income tax considerations of mergers and acquisitions, taxable stock/asset sales, tax-free stock acquisitions and divestitures. She has represented clients before the IRS and state taxing authorities, drafted Private Letter Rulings and sought 9100 (and other) relief for clients.

“Dawn’s ability to solve complex tax challenges in various areas makes her a valuable addition to Weaver’s tax quality and risk management team,” said Sean Muller, National Practice Leader for Tax Services. “She combines impressive credentials and technical knowledge with a focus on the client experience, which is key to Weaver’s service approach.”

For eight years, Dawn served as the National Tax Director of Mergers and Acquisitions and Tax Controversy at a national accounting firm. In this role, she worked on mergers and acquisitions with deal sizes ranging from $50 million to $700 million for corporations, S corporations and partnerships. She was instrumental in leading transaction cost, golden parachute (Section 280G) and qualified small business stock (Section 1202) engagements. Additionally, she co-led the firm’s tax controversy group representing clients before the IRS. Prior to joining Weaver, Dawn served as Chief Legal Counsel for a private lender within the real estate industry where she advised executives on financial and legal matters related to investment opportunities and the overall ecosystem of intended acquisitions, investments and newly formed entities.

“Weaver has an exceptional tax team that will be enhanced by Dawn’s substantial knowledge and experience,” said Managing Partner and CEO, John Mackel. “Her familiarity with a wide variety of tax and M&A challenges enable us to better serve our clients in these areas.”

Dawn earned a J.D. from Loyola University, an LLM in taxation from the New York University School of Law, and her master and bachelor degrees in accounting from Tulane University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in Louisiana and Texas.