Vertex Expands Executive Leadership Team

August 23, 2019

King of Prussia, PA

Vertex, Inc., a leading provider of tax technology and services, announces the appointment of three executives across customer experience, product management and sales to strengthen its leadership, support global growth initiatives and enhance customer focus. The company has appointed Kate Shields as chief customer officer, Paul Guyer as European general manager and Uwe Sydon as global head of product management.

"The appointment of these experienced leaders enables us to continue to execute on an accelerated growth strategy and customer-first approach, fulfilling a commitment to the long-term strategic development of our team,” said David DeStefano, president and CEO at Vertex Inc. “These individuals bring the expertise necessary to bring our leading indirect tax software to a larger audience while keeping our customers at the heart of everything we do.”

Shields has been promoted to chief customer officer, leading the Vertex Customer Center of Excellence where she will drive enterprise wide customer experience programs and processes, and lead customer success, support, knowledge management, and education. She previously led the cloud business unit achieving 250+% growth, and also served as head of commercial marketing. She earned her MBA and B.S. in management information systems from Saint Joseph’s University.

Expanding the company’s regional presence overseas, Guyer will be based in the company’s London office and manage go-to-market strategy and operations to drive European growth. He brings more than 20 years of experience in B2B technology sales, with more than 15 of those in fintech and eight in tax technology. Guyer’s most recent experience includes leading highly successful sales organizations in the EMEA region for both a multi-billion-dollar global organization and a private equity backed company, up to and through their IPO. He is a graduate of South East Essex College and holds a professional certificate in management from Open University.

As global head of product management, Sydon drives the product vision for the company and is responsible for leading and developing a strategic product portfolio that delivers a competitive advantage for customers around the globe. Previously, he was senior vice president and chief innovation officer at Checkpoint Systems, Inc. and also held leadership roles in product management at Blackberry, Nokia Siemens Networks and Siemens AG, Mobile Devices. Uwe holds over 30 patents and has more than 25 years of experience in product development and management. He received his Diplom Ingenieur at the University of Wuppertal, Germany in electrical and electronics engineering.

About Vertex

Vertex, Inc. is a leading tax software and services provider that empowers global commerce. Vertex connects customers and partners across all industries to deliver the world’s most trusted tax solutions for businesses to grow with confidence. Vertex provides cloud-based and on-premise solutions that can be tailored to specific industries for every major line of indirect tax, including sales and consumer use, value-added and payroll. Headquartered in Pennsylvania, and with offices worldwide, Vertex is a privately held company that employs over 1,000 professionals and serves companies across the globe.

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