Chris S.

About Chris S.

I work with family offices, founders, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals to design and…

Experience

1. Partner

   Goodspeed Merrill

   Jan 2026 — Present

   As Partner at Goodspeed Merrill, I lead the Business Tax Strategies practice and co-lead the Family Office practice — two deeply interconnected disciplines that serve the same core client: the UHNW individual, business owner, or family whose legal and tax complexity has outgrown generalist advice.On the business side, my practice focuses on income tax architecture, entity structuring, Section 1202 QSBS planning, and tax strategy for privately held businesses and their owners. On the family office side, I advise single-family offices, multi-family offices, and virtual family offices on structure design, governance, SEC exemption compliance, and generational transition planning — typically for families with $50M to $500M+ in investable assets.What makes this practice distinct is the integration. Most UHNW clients need both: a business tax strategy that connects seamlessly to a family office structure that protects and compounds what the business creates. I sit at that intersection — and I bring both a JD and an LLM in Taxation from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law to bear on every engagement.I also serve as a collaborative partner for RIAs, wealth managers, and CPAs whose clients need integrated legal and tax strategy at the family office level. I work alongside advisory teams — not around them.

Education

• Brigham Young University - Idaho

  BS, Business Finance

  2001 — 2005

• The University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law

  JD, Law

  2011 — 2014

• Colorado State University

  MS, Construction Management

  2006 — 2008

• University of Florida - Fredric G. Levin College of Law

  Master of Laws - LLM, Taxation

  2017 — 2018