Why Tax Is Moving Upstream in Institutional Investing | Dave Sekula, CEO of GTM

Tax used to sit downstream from the investment process.

Today, it’s moving upstream.

In this episode of Dakota Live!, Robert Morier sits down with Dave Sekula, CEO of GTM (Global Tax Management), to discuss how tax strategy, technology, operational complexity, and institutional investing are becoming increasingly intertwined.

The conversation comes at a timely moment, following the SEC’s recent proposal to potentially shift public companies from quarterly to semiannual reporting.

While the headline sounds regulatory, the implications reach much further into how asset managers, allocators, OCIOs, RIAs, and corporate finance teams think about transparency, planning, investor communication, and long-term decision making.

Dave shares insights from leading one of the country’s largest independent corporate tax providers, including:

• Why tax is no longer just a compliance function
• How institutional investors are thinking differently about tax efficiency and portfolio construction
• The operational complexity behind global and multi-manager portfolios
• The growing role of AI and automation in corporate tax workflows
• Why firms are increasingly focused on tax-loss harvesting strategies and after-tax outcomes

The episode also explores leadership, servant leadership, scaling a national firm, and how technology continues to reshape one of the most human-capital-intensive industries in finance.

“Performance is one thing. What you keep, that’s the real scorecard.”