Presenter Biographies

Friday, October 2, 2026

Judge Neely currently serves as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Administrative Hearings Unit of the Illinois Department of Revenue.  In this role, Judge Neely oversees and directly manages the operations and personnel of the Administrative Hearings Unit.  This oversight includes the management of the case docketing operations, budget, and direct supervision of four Administrative Law Judges and administrative support staff in the Springfield and Chicago offices to ensure its docket of over 500 Illinois tax cases are scheduled and resolved fairly, equitably and efficiently in accordance with the applicable state tax and administrative law.  In her role, Judge Neely is vested with the sole discretion to issue written decisions on requests for late discretionary hearing before the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Independent Tax Tribunal.  In her tenure, Judge Neely is most proud of her ability to close a significant back log of late discretionary hearing requests and implement remote hearings from the headquarters in Springfield, thereby reducing the associated costs to the taxpayers.

Judge Neely graduated with honors from Howard University in Washington, DC, and received her law degree from IIT-Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, IL.  Before her appointment as Chief Administrative Law Judge, Judge Neely served the people of Cook County as an Attorney and Guardian ad litem with the Cook County Public Guardian’s Office, and most recently the City of Chicago as a Supervising Assistant Corporation Counsel with the City of Chicago Law Department. Judge Neely has also worked as a Cook County Arbitrator and has coached trial teams with John Marshall Law School, as well as judged mock trial and negotiation competitions for Loyola Law School and University of Chicago.

Ms. Rebecca L. Kulekowskis currently serves as the Chairwoman of the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Board of Appeals, which resolves tax matters based on a showing of inability to pay or reasonable cause.  Rebeca is also currently a board member of the Informal Conference Board. Prior to becoming Chairwoman, she served as Deputy General Counsel, Income Tax Litigation, for the Illinois Department of Revenue.  She managed in-house income tax litigation conducted in the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal, the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Administrative Hearings Division, consulted with the Attorney General’s Office on income tax litigation pending in circuit court, advised the Audit Bureau personnel on various issues, and assisted with a variety of policy matters, including promulgating regulations.  Prior to becoming Deputy General Counsel, Ms. Kulekowskis worked as a Special Assistant Attorney General in Illinois Department of Revenue’s Income Tax Litigation Division in Chicago, where she represented the Illinois Department of Revenue in corporate, individual, and a variety of other tax cases.  For the last ten years she has been an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law, teaching a Masters in Tax Level State and Local Tax Course.  She participates in the Illinois State Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Section Council, and the Chicago Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Committee.  She received her B.A. in Business from St. Norbert University and her J.D. and LL.M. in Corporate Taxation from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law.

Michael Sanchez serves as Collections Technical Advisor at the Illinois Department of Revenue. In this role, he analyzes inventory and production data to monitor program health and provides insights that help inform decisions. Michael has been with the Illinois Department of Revenue for ten years, all in Collection. He began as a Tax Specialist in the Collections call center and then served as Assistant Division Manager over in-house enforcement before starting his current role in 2023.

Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics from Illinois State University in Normal, IL and a bachelor’s in mathematics education from Augustana Collection in Rock Island, IL. Prior to starting a career in tax administration, Michael taught high school mathematics for 11 years.