National and State Advocacy and Legislative Update

Rachel Dresen is a Director of Congressional and Political Affairs at the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), a position she has held since 2013. In this role, she is responsible for advocating on behalf of the accounting profession before Congress and the Administration.

Prior to joining the AICPA, Rachel worked for Members in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly ten years. In that capacity, she served as the Legislative Director to Congressman Ron DeSantis (FL-06) and to Congressman Ben Quayle (AZ-03). In these positions she managed all legislative issues and oversaw legislative staff. She has also worked on legislative issues for Representatives Jeff Flake (AZ-06) and Chris Cannon (UT-03). In addition to working on Capitol Hill, Rachel worked in the Independent Expenditures division at the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, DC, during the 2010 election cycle.

Rachel is originally from Rexburg, Idaho and a graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

James M. Cox is the associate director of state regulation and legislation at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In this role, he assists state CPA societies and state boards of accountancy on state-level policy issues impacting the accounting profession.

Prior to joining the AICPA, Cox served as the director of state and local affairs for BOMA International, a commercial real estate trade association whose members own or manage over nine billion square feet of real estate in the United States. Cox also launched the state government affairs program for Goodwill Industries International, tracked state tobacco policy for the National Conference of State Legislatures, and started his career as a policy analyst for the Florida House of Representatives. Cox received his Bachelor's degree in history and political science from Florida State University and holds a Master's of Jurisprudence from Seton Hall Law School.