John O. Ridley
President

Mr. Ridley is President and Founder of Dryden Group (Dryden). Dryden is a professional consultancy that provides strategic direction and customized programs to help major corporations, government agencies, and other large organizations control costs.

Over the last 10 years, Mr. Ridley has developed innovative approaches used by Dryden to reduce basic expenditures producing savings of over $200 million for its clients.

Prior to co-founding Dryden, Mr. Ridley was the former sales tax technical director for Chartwell Advisory Group, Ltd., a sales and use tax consulting firm. At Chartwell, Mr. Ridley’s responsibilities included generating sales tax refunds and reducing sales tax audits for companies across numerous industries. Specifically, Mr. Ridley’s responsibilities included coordination of sales tax reverse audits, audit defense/abatement, and sales tax planning.

Mr. Ridley served as a sales and use tax auditor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Revenue for twenty years. In addition to the audits of thousands of large and medium-sized companies, Mr. Ridley supervised the audits of Fortune 500 companies located throughout the United States.

Stephen Brandt
Director of Taxes, Harrisburg, PA

• Graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelors Degree, and holds an Associates Degree in Accounting from Harrisburg Area Community College
• More than 10 years experience with Sales/Use Tax, Audit Defense, and compliance on a multistate basis
• Former Tax Examiner with Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
• Member IPT

Bryan Bass
Director of Taxes, Virginia Beach, VA

• More than 20 years experience with the State of Virginia’s Department of Taxation
• Graduate William and Mary with a Bachelor of Business Administration
• Graduate Old Dominion University with Master of Arts with concentration on Tax Policy
• Vice President Arts Counsel of Currituck County, North Carolina

Bryan Boyle
Vice President of Sales and Marketing

• Graduated Temple University with Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration
• 14 years of tax and technology expertise
• Former VP of Sales and Client Services with Meridian VAT
• Member IPT, AMA & IAPP

John Koagel
Director

• More than 40 years experience with the New York Department of Taxation including Audit, Collections, and Appeals
• Graduate of Powelson Business Institute with an Associates Degree in Accounting
• Possessed the titles of Director of Income Franchise Desk Audit Bureau, and Director of Income Tax Audit Bureau
• He held the titles of District Audit Manager for both the Syracuse (1986-89) and Capitol Region (1994-97) Districts