Bio (Résumé)
Robert Atkins (Rob) Walker
Robert Atkins (Rob) Walker, CPA, MBA, PhD, began assisting university colleagues with international tax issues in the 1980s. It became apparent that there was a need for quality international tax consultation and return preparation. Dr. Walker entered full-time practice in 2002 and has had the privilege of serving clientele in academia, small business, oil exploration, engineering, venture capital, real estate development, and Christian missions in 50 countries across 6 continents. He periodically is called upon to amend tax returns of expatriate employees of multinational firms who are dissatisfied with the assembly-line-like tax preparation services of the large CPA firms. His articles have appeared in Tax Notes and Virginia Tax [Law] Review.
Dr. Walker graduated from Rice University in Houston, TX and passed the CPA exam in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970 while working with Arthur Andersen & Co. in audit and tax. He earned his CPA license in Houston in 1972 while in law school and graduated from Stanford Business School in 1975. He taught at the University of Minnesota in his birthplace, Duluth, MN, and received the Professor of the Year Award. He left academe to become CFO of a laser manufacturer in Sunnyvale, CA. He returned to teaching in 1991 and taught taxation at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, after earning his doctorate in taxation and finance at the University of Texas at Austin. He was awarded the Outstanding [National] Tax Dissertation Award by the American Accounting Association in 1992.
He is married to Janet Wayne Walker, has two children, Lydia and Sam, teaches Good News Club at Brentwood Elementary School, is active in Boy Scouts, plays tennis, is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Central Texas, and speaks some Spanish.
Click here to see Robert Atkins Walker’s full professional résumé
Liz Laurence
Liz is a native Austinite, returning to Austin in 2015 via Lubbock, Dallas, and Germany. She began her career at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell in Dallas (now KPMG), and has also had experience over the years in local CPA firms, investment firms, and small businesses. She received her master’s degree in special education and was a homebound teacher for seven years before becoming a “domestic engineer.” When she returned to full-time work, Liz worked as a CPA, school counselor and educational therapist. From 2012 to 2014 she worked at Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany, helping serve the needs of missionary and business families. Liz currently works remotely from Tyler, TX, and has two daughters, one who is a speech pathologist in Dallas, and another who works in Austin for Podium Education.
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Elliot Keenan
Elliot was born in Hong Kong and raised in Guangzhou, China by missionary parents from south-central Pennsylvania. Following college, he began his career at a public accounting firm in Guangzhou. His audit experience includes governmental agencies, bankruptcies, liquidating corporations, sources and uses of funds, and division of business assets in divorce proceedings.
After three years in public accounting in China, he joined Bell & Howell in Durham, NC, a $150 million manufacturing and service company in the mailing and packaging industry where he focused on cost and inventory accounting and fixed assets for 2.5 years. In 2024 he joined Robert Atkins Walker PC in international tax, and is in the process of obtaining his CPA certification.
Elliot is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. He enjoys listening to Baroque and classical music, taking walks, and bowling.