JD Michael

Michael P. Scaduto

Managing Partner

Michael Scaduto is one of JD Michael’s founding partners, and today serves as the Managing Partner. After earning his MBA from the University of Illinois, Michael began his professional career at the Illinois Department of Revenue as an auditor, where he later served as the manager of the department’s Audit Bureau for many years. In addition to managing all phases of the audit operation during his career, Michael was responsible for legislative analysis and proposals, including rule making. He also served on the Informal Conference Board, which reviews disputed audits and recommends resolutions in lieu of a formal legal process. He provides JD Michael, LLC with expertise in auditing, legislative analysis, dispute resolution, and business planning.

John B. Franklin

Founding Partner

John, one of the founding partners, started his career as a field collection officer and was the Manager of the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Collection Bureau and the Taxpayer Services Bureau for many years after earning his MBA from the University of Illinois.

His area of expertise encompasses tax delinquencies, liens, levies, offsets, revocations, payment plans, dispute resolution, and business registration. John also has a background in legislative analysis and training and is knowledgeable about all services provided by the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service. While at JD Michael, John has created a proven track record of serving abatement of penalties and interest with the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Board of Appeals and has also been successful with abatement with the IRS’s Offer and Compromise Program.

John, who has been with JD Michael since 2003, provides expertise in handling tax delinquencies, legislative analysis, training, and dispute resolution.

Joseph F. Bartletti

Founding Partner

Joe Bartletti, one of the founding partners, began his career as an Illinois Department of Revenue auditor after earning his MBA from the University of Illinois.

While at the IDR, he served as manager of the Field Audit Division for many years and was involved in all phases of business audits. Joe has expertise in automated audit applications and computer assisted audit techniques and was the primary author of the department’s auditor manual. While at JD Michael, Joe has made numerous presentations at tax institutes and seminars attended by government and industry representatives. He has also been an expert witness for many clients involved in sales tax litigations. He provides JD Michael, LLC with expertise in audit techniques, dispute resolution, training presentations, tax planning, and tax research.

Patrick G. Strong

Partner

Patrick began his professional career as a revenue auditor and was the Illinois Department of Revenue’s manager of the Sales Tax Audit Division for several years, where he was responsible for 350 sales tax auditors. He also served as liaison between the Audit Division and Legal Services.

After retiring from the agency, he was a senior tax manager at DuCharme, McMillen and Associates in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Patrick graduated from Illinois College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Business Administration and brings 29 years of tax experience to the company.

With JD Michael since 2009, Patrick brings expertise in audit techniques, legislative analysis, training presentations, dispute resolutions, and technical tax knowledge.

Michael D. Klemens

Michael worked in the Director’s Office at the Illinois Department of Revenue for 20 years in an assortment of tax policy related roles, retiring as Manager of Policy and Communications in 2012.

With a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a Master’s degree from Sangamon State University, his areas of expertise include property tax, property and sales tax exemptions, and taxes that the state administers for local governments, together with a broad general knowledge of the 75+ taxes and programs administered by the department. He was also the Statehouse Bureau Chief for Illinois Issues magazine from 1986 to 1992.

Dr. Natalie A. Davila

Natalie worked as Research Director at the Illinois Department of Revenue for 10 years and has an extensive background in the formulation and execution of data-driven tax and economic development policies.

Prior to that, she was an economic consultant specializing in economic impact analysis, industry research, and policy evaluation and worked as the Director of Economic Evaluation and Market Research for the Chicago Manufacturing Center as well as the Director of Economic Research for the City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development. During that time, she was in charge of managing a research office specializing in economic development and urban policy issues.

She has also served as the Senior Revenue Analyst for the City of Chicago, Office of Budget and Management; the Assistant Economist for the Northern Ireland Economic Council; and has taught classes at Roosevelt University in Microeconomics, Statistics, Urban Economic Development, Public Sector Economics, and Econometrics, and at DePaul University teaching undergraduate Urban and Environmental Economics.

She has extensive experience in developing methodologies, gathering relevant data, analyzing and making recommendations on state tax issues. Natalie also has significant experience in the design, administration, and analysis of survey, case study, and focus group research.