Operations & Technology Management

Martin S. Foont
President & CEO

Martin S. Foont has served as the President and CEO of Globe Tax Services, Inc. since founding the company in 1992. As one of the foremost experts on withholding tax recovery, Mr. Foont has built GlobeTax into the preeminent provider of withholding tax recovery services. GlobeTax currently counts among its clients many of the world’s largest banks, brokers and investment firms.

Prior to founding GlobeTax, Mr. Foont held senior managerial positions with IBM, Citigroup and Bankers Trust. At the latter he was head of Global Securities Services and among other things had the responsibility for recovering withheld taxes on over US$30 billion of custodied assets. Mr. Foont has more than 35 years of managerial experience in improving, streamlining and enhancing financial service offerings.

Mr. Foont holds a Masters Degree in Industrial & Management Engineering from Columbia University, an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University, and a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering from New York University.

Len A. Lipton
Managing Director

Len Lipton manages the firm's sales and marketing activities for the Americas. These responsibilities encompass promotion of the company’s services to custodians and asset managers, including spearheading the firm’s business development activities to the hedge fund community. Mr. Lipton also leads the firm’s product development efforts so that GlobeTax can continue to provide the highest levels of service to its clients in the rapidly changing global tax landscape.

Prior to joining GlobeTax in 2004, Mr. Lipton focused on new business and relationship management with Elkins/McSherry, LLC (a State Street Company) as a Managing Director, assisting institutional investors in monitoring portfolio trading costs. Mr. Lipton's experience also includes investment consulting with Ladenburg Thalmann in that firm’s Middle Markets group.

Mr. Lipton holds a Bachelor’s Degree from The George Washington University. He also holds NASD Series 7 and 63 securities licenses.

William Treut is a member of GlobeTax’s Business Development Team focusing on the promotion of the company’s services with financial intermediaries in the United States, and he also coordinates the firm’s relationships with the financial institutions that issue depositary receipts.

Mr. Treut’s career focus has been in international financial services. Prior to joining GlobeTax in 2007, he spent 18 years at Citi Depositary Receipt Services, most recently as Director, Product Management and Business Planning & Analysis, and earlier as Regional Sales and Account Management Director for Latin America. His positions prior to joining Citi included General Manager for Italy, resident in Milan, and Regional Representative, Manila, Philippines, at Irving Trust Company, and Deputy General Manager of Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI), Lugano, Switzerland.

Mr. Treut holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from The University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s Degree in German from Duke University.

Harold Shapero’s roles within the Business Development Team at GlobeTax include relationship management with the depositary community, as well as guiding new revenue initiatives for the firm. For many years, he oversaw the growth of GlobeTax’s Depositary Services activity, providing tax recovery services on behalf of the depositary receipt issuing banks in favor of the holders of depositary receipts and similar instruments issued through or managed by them.

Prior to joining GlobeTax, Mr. Shapero held positions at Bankers Trust Company and CIGNA.

Mr. Shapero holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Hartford and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut.

Brian Sapadin is a member of GlobeTax's marketing and business development team concentrating on financial institutions and institutional investors in the United States. He maintains a strong focus on the hedge fund community.

Prior to joining GlobeTax, Mr. Sapadin held senior marketing and business development roles with international investor relations and financial communications firms. Previously, he served as an analyst and trader on Citi's Corporate Loan Syndications desk where he earned his Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Mr. Sapadin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in finance from The George Washington University.

Ross McGill manages the firm's sales and marketing activities outside of the Americas. These responsibilities encompass promotion of the company’s services to custodians and asset managers. Mr. McGill also participates in the firm’s product development efforts so that GlobeTax can continue to provide the highest levels of service to its clients in the rapidly changing global tax landscape.

Prior to joining GlobeTax in 2003, Mr. McGill spent five years as a group CEO in Europe developing solutions for withholding tax recovery.

Mr. McGill has co-chaired two international standards committees on withholding tax with SWIFT and the IRS.

Mr. McGill is also the author of numerous books on withholding tax best practice and international regulatory structures.

Mr. McGill holds an Honours Degree in Materials Science and a Certificate in Education from Bath University.

Carolyn Luke joined GlobeTax in 2009 as Executive Manager EMEA based in London concentrating on the Nordics countries and Western Europe. Prior to joining GlobeTax Carolyn worked with a London based company providing software solutions for withholding tax recovery.

Carolyn has over 20 years of experience working within the finance industry and holds a degree in Business and Finance from The Lisburn Institute.

Steve Farrage joined GlobeTax in 2009, and is responsible for Sales and Marketing throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Farrage is based in Sydney. Prior to GlobeTax, he spent 14 years at SWIFT, most recently as Head of Regional Sales for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Mr. Farrage also held positions in Hong Kong and Tokyo developing SWIFT's services with the custodial, brokerage and funds communities throughout Asia.

Mr. Farrage's previous experience includes 9 years with HSBC James Capel, in London and New York, developing and supporting their Eurobond operations and settlements. Mr. Farrage holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of London.

Charlotte Wu leads GlobeTax's business development efforts in Asia. Ms. Wu focuses on servicing financial institutions who are working to comply with U.S. withholding tax regulations as Qualified and Non-Qualified Intermediaries (QIs / NQIs). She also specializes in consulting with clients on implementation solutions for FATCA.

Prior to joining GlobeTax, Ms. Wu was Executive Manager of the International Division of Chien Tai Trading & Investment Corp., Taipei, Taiwan . Her previous experience also includes positions at UBS Singapore and Thomson Financial in Hong Kong. Ms. Wu, who is fluent in Taiwanese, Mandarin, Japanese and English, has extensive experience working with clients to help balance operational compliance and customer services across several major financial markets, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

Ms. Wu is the author of the book REITs for Taiwan and has been a Finance Lecturer at the National Taipei College of Business. She holds a Master's Degree in Applied Finance from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor's Degree from the Queensland University of Technology in International Business (Japanese and Asian Economies).

Jose Bisono joined GlobeTax in 1998. In his current position he has overall management responsibility for the company's operational activities, spanning Depositary Services, Reclaim Services, EDS Assist^®, Research and Client Services. Reporting to Mr. Bisono are the directors of each of the above areas, who are supported by teams of international tax recovery professionals. He is also responsible for the development, implementation and management of new operational procedures in support of the firm's ongoing process improvement and business expansion initiatives.

Mr. Bisono holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pace University in International Management with a minor in Spanish.

Robert Weiss is responsible for GlobeTax's IT infrastructure and the firm's application development programs. Mr. Weiss, who is CISSP certified, also has oversight of the firm's corporate security and in that role, coordinates all security audits including AUP, ISO 27001, penetration testing, client audits, and the firm's security training program. Mr. Weiss joined GlobeTax in 1994 and has managed the firm's technology group since 1996.

Mr. Weiss also acts as GlobeTax's Co-General Counsel, advising on key legal aspects of the firm's service offering.

Mr. Weiss holds a Juris Doctor degree from Touro Law School and is licensed to practice law in New York and New Jersey. He also holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Information Technology degree from the New York University Stern School of Business, a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from The Polytechnic Institute of New York University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Applied Math degree from Stony Brook University.

Akiva Distenfeld is GlobeTax's CFO and Treasurer. He is responsible for the firm's financial planning, accounting, cash management, foreign exchange and risk management activities.

Since joining GlobeTax in 1997, Mr. Distenfeld has worked in a variety of operational capacities and has been a key contributor to the design and implementation of new tax reclaim systems and processes. He has extensive expertise with the full life cycle of the operational tax reclaim processes and has worked with financial institutions and institutional investors across the firm's client base.

Mr. Distenfeld holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Yeshiva University.