The Academy was founded in 1999 by Bryan and Jean Gates, who believed that advanced professional education could continuously enhance the ability of practitioners to represent their clients. Bryan was the initiator of the National Tax Practice Institute (NTPI) in 1986 and its first director. During his tenure, nearly a thousand individuals completed the program. In the mid 1990’s, while continuing as a core NTPI instructor, Bryan became convinced that individuals who had completed the basic program were not being sufficiently challenged by so called graduate courses. Accordingly, he and Jean, an NTPI Fellow who had been an NTPI discussion leader, departed to start the American Academy of Tax Practice. For 25 years an annual conference for advanced taxpayer representatives was “must do”  CPE for hundreds of practitioners.  Although the annual conferences ended, Bryan and Jean still believe that taxpayer representatives should have a variety of practice publications with information that will greatly assist them to represent their clients with advanced competence. Producing these cutting-edge publications is the main business of the Academy today.