Meet our Enrolled Agent Instructors

Charlene Rhinehart, CPA

• Founder of Chicago Southsider
• Served as Chair of the Illinois CPA Society Individual Tax Committee
• On the Financial Review Board for Investopedia
• Has written for publications all over the web, including Accounting Today, AICPA, National Association of Black Accountants, the Motley Fool, HuffPost and Black Enterprise.
• Author of “Dividends Are a Queen’s Best Friend: a Beginner’s Guide to Dividend Investing”

Natasha Johnson, EA, MTax

• NAEA instructor of the Surgent EA Exam Review at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania
• BA degree in Accounting (Pace University) and an MS in Taxation (Widener University)
• Began career as an individual and small business taxation accountant with a New York City Enrolled Agent firm in 1998
• Worked as a Tax Associate for KPMG, LLP
• Member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents
• Currently serves as First Vice President of the Pennsylvania Society of Enrolled Agents

Loredana Scarlat, CPA, MsA

• Over 14 years of experience in public accounting, providing tax services ranging from small and mid-size companies to high-net-worth individuals, trust, estate and gift tax matters and international tax services for individuals
• BA degree in Accounting and Computer Management Systems (Ovidius University, Romania, 2006) and an MS in Accounting, from Baruch College, 2013 (City University of New York City)
• Co-authored internal presentations on introductory courses to 1040, GILTI tax and U.S. tax treatment of international pensions
• Published in the Tax Adviser “Foreign Pension Plans and the U.S.–U.K. tax treaty”

Anthony Curatola, PhD

• Dr. Curatola is the Joseph F. Ford Professor of Accounting at Drexel University. 
• BS degree in Accounting (1975), MBA degree in Finance (1977) from Drexel University, an MA degree in Accounting (1979) from the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD degree in Accounting (1981) from Texas A&M University
• Area of research interest is the taxation of employee benefits.
• Authored over 90 articles in his field that have appeared in journals such as the Tax Adviser; TAXES; Oil, Gas, and Energy Quarterly; Benefits Quarterly; Canadian Accounting Perspectives; Journal of Pension Planning and Compliance; Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research; and Tax Notes.
• Dr. Curatola’s findings have appeared in media such as Forbes, the Washington Post, Money magazine, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times
• Currently the Editor of the Tax Column for Strategic Finance, an author of several MicroMash interactive education courses in the area of retirement taxation
• Dr. Curatola has chaired and served on the Tax Policy Research Oversight Committee for the American Taxation Association, and more recently as a Trustee.
• In the IMA, he has served in various offices at the local and national levels, including National Vice President of Area C. Currently he serves on the Foundation of Academic Research. Most recently, he was awarded the R. Lee Brummet Award in Academic Excellence from the IMA.

Ellen Rackas, MBA, CPA

• More than 25 years of accounting, auditing, and tax-related industry experience
• Ten years as an accounting professor at Delaware Valley University, currently teaches accounting and tax-related clues at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania
• Career began in Washington, DC, as a staff accountant for Raffa & Associates. 
• Ellen has held roles as a finance manager, audit manager, controller and CFO.
• 14 years’ independent consulting experience; has assisted more than 40 corporate clients and 100 individual clients with financial statement preparation, tax return preparation and other accounting functions
• BS degree in accounting from American University in Washington, DC, MBA from the University of Maryland
• Ellen holds CPA designations in both Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

LuSundra Everett

• Owner of Everett Tax Solutions and ETS Tax Relief – both virtual firms, and affectionately known as The Home Biz Tax Lady on social media
• Member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents
• Serves on the Leadership Development Committee for NAEA; awarded the Emerging Leader award for 2021
• Currently serving as the 20th President of Virginia Society of Enrolled Agents
• Serves as a Fellow of National Tax Practice Institute
• She loves learning and teaching tax to other professionals!

Ty Gaines

• Ty is a National Tax Practice Institute (NTPI) fellow and graduate of the National Association of Enrolled Agent’s (NAEA) Schuldiner-Smollan Leadership Academy
• Received the 2015 “EA of the year” award from the Virginia Society of Enrolled Agents (VASEA) and serves as a past VASEA President
• Current director for NAEA and chairs the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee
• In 2022, received the “Mentor of the year” award from NAEA
• Teaching experience includes tax courses for NAEA and their state affiliates, Northern Virginia Community College and the Virginia Tech Income Tax School
• Ty’s niche tax practice areas are military taxpayers and cryptocurrency

Hannah Smith, PhD, CPA

• Assistant professor in the Crews School of Accountancy at the University of Memphis
• Earned her doctorate and master’s degrees at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia
• Before joining academia, she worked at PwC in their tax practice in Atlanta
• Specializes in taxation research and teaching with some work in the financial accounting area
• Research has been published in the Journal of the American Taxation Association.