Avalara announced the appointment of Michael Turner as the cloud-based tax compliance solution provider’s first chief marketing officer.
Most recently serving as CEO and president of 1-800-DENTIST, Turner has also held executive positions at LegalZoom and Teleflora. His experience in strategy and analytics comes from working at a range of direct marketing and internet businesses, and years of supervising international trading at Cargill developed his global perspective.
Avalara adds a CMO after last year’s appointment of Pascal Van Dooren, then EVP of sales and marketing, to chief revenue officer. The position was created to focus executive leadership on the marketing function.
“Mike has significant expertise helping companies like Avalara successfully scale their business using a powerful blend of traditional, digital, and Internet-based channels,” stated Avalara founder and CEO Scott McFarlane. “Our team has done a great job getting us to where we are today, and we look forward to leveraging Mike’s skills and experience to catapult us to the next level.”
Turner’s appointment marks the latest milestone in Avalara’s recent growth, including the $42 million investment from Technology Crossover Ventures and Warburg Pincus, the promotion of Patrick Falle to North American channel chief, and acquisitions of tax solutions providers and resources. Avalara will open new facilities in Seattle and Durham, N.C., in the next few months to accommodate the company’s growing sales teams.
“Avalara is at the forefront of U.S and international approaches to sales tax, VAT and transactional tax compliance,” stated Turner. “Virtually all businesses are or will be affected by this. Avalara is strategically positioned as it continues to broaden and deepen its reach, combining powerful technology with deep content to provide businesses with a single user-friendly place to manage key compliance obligations.”
