Meet Our Team

Michael (Mike) Cantrell, CMI is a Principal at Merit Advisors. As the sales and use tax practice leader for Merit’s Dallas/Fort Worth and Oklahoma City offices, Mike is responsible for business development, technical oversight, practice management, client service delivery to his clients in North Texas, Oklahoma and throughout the United States. Mike joined Merit in 2020. He is keenly focused on developing deep and lasting relationships with his clients through delivery of comprehensive, quality services, and this approach has remained a cornerstone for Mike over his nearly 30 years as a tax practitioner.

Previously, Mike was a Managing Director at Crowe LLP, serving as SALT Practice Lead for the Southwest Region. Prior to Crowe, Mike was a Director and the Dallas SALT Practice Leader at Hein & Associates. In both roles, Mike was primarily responsible for establishing the market presence for both firms in Texas and the Southwest region. Mike also worked for over 11 years as a Senior Manager in the SALT practices of both Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mike has presented on sales and use tax subjects on numerous occasions for continuing education, as well as to a variety of client and industry groups.

Mike holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Dallas Jindal Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from Texas Tech University. He is a Certified Member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (CMI), Sales/Use Tax Section.