Tax Automation business Avalara recruits new Head of Sales for EMEA

Avalara, Inc. (NYSE: AVLR), a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, has announced the appointment of Simon Kelly as its new vice president of sales for its EMEA business, based in the United Kingdom. Kelly will be responsible for accelerating Avalara’s growth in EMEA, working towards helping the company reach its goal of $1 billion in global revenues on its mission to be part of every tax transaction in the world.

Kelly brings more than two decades of sales and management experience to Avalara. He has led the growth of sales teams at some of the world’s most high-profile businesses, including Vodafone, Microsoft, and LinkedIn.

In his role as a sales leader at LinkedIn, Kelly set up the company’s Talent Solutions business from scratch in Europe and saw European revenues grow rapidly before the company floated for $7 billion. During his eight years at the company, Kelly’s focus was on hiring exceptional talent to disrupt the recruitment industry across Europe and Asia.

“I see enormous market opportunities ahead for Avalara,” said Kelly. “What excites me most about joining the EMEA team is that I will be part of helping remove a real business pain for clients and have the opportunity to help governments use technology to become more efficient.”

“Simon brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of scaling SaaS sales organisations across EMEA,” said Steve Lomax, managing director, EMEA at Avalara. “We look forward to benefiting from his experience as well as his passion for developing and nurturing his teams as we continue to rapidly grow across the region.”