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Lauren Dahl

@laurendahl

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Director of Professional Services at Avalara who cut voluntary disclosure completion time from 20 months to 6–8 months.

United States

Message

At Avalara, I lead a professional services business supporting customers with sales tax voluntary disclosure and nexus study work. I reduced average voluntary disclosure time to completion from 20 months to 6–8 months through workflow, tooling, and staffing-model improvements.

I defined requirements for two workflow tools that automated compliance form preparation and customer status reporting. These improvements reduced data analysis and tax calculation completion time from 15 business days to 5–8.

Earlier at Bank of New York Mellon, I planned an asset migration across 97 clients and developed process improvement and automation milestones. I also created an implementation manager role and standard operating procedures to support consistent client conversions across locations.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Director, Professional Services

Current

Avalara

Jan 2023 - Present (3 years 9 months)

Lead a professional services business delivering $20M in revenue per year, supporting 600 customers annually. Reduced voluntary disclosure time to completion from 20 months to 6–8 months through workflow and tooling improvements.

Sales Tax Compliance Voluntary Disclosures Workflow Automation Product Requirements Team Leadership Process Improvement Certinia Smartsheet

Senior Manager, Professional Services

Avalara

Jan 2022 - Dec 2023 (1 year 11 months)

Increased average monthly team revenue by 50% from $800K to $1.2M within one year. Resolved customer escalations and managed scope and pricing for added project features.

Revenue Growth Escalation Management Scope Management Pricing team training Sales Tax Compliance Project Management

Manager, Professional Services

Avalara

Jan 2020 - Dec 2022 (2 years 11 months)

Grew the team from 4 to 12 project managers and doubled average monthly revenue from $400K to $800K in 18 months. Resolved customer escalations and implemented process improvements.

Team Building Revenue Growth Process Improvement Customer Escalation Sales Tax Compliance

Project Manager

Avalara

Jan 2019 - Dec 2020 (1 year 11 months)

Managed a portfolio of about 80 voluntary disclosure customers with an average backlog over $1MM. Presented project plans and status reports to executives at client organizations.

Project Management Client Communication Executive Reporting Voluntary Disclosures Process documentation

Vice President, Accounting Project Manager

Bank of New York Mellon

Jan 2018 - Dec 2019 (1 year 11 months)

Planned and tracked a migration of 5,000 assets across 97 clients over eight months, plus 35 client portfolios between locations. Developed milestones for process improvement and automation in the Private Equity Accounting team.

Project Management Asset Transfer Process Improvement Automation Private Equity Accounting

Senior Client Implementation Consultant

Bank of New York Mellon

Jan 2017 - Dec 2018 (1 year 11 months)

Documented requirements and milestones and maintained the action-item log for an 18-month, $7 billion new client conversion. Coordinated weekly and ad hoc meetings between clients and 15–40 internal team members across five simultaneous conversions.

Client Implementation Requirements Documentation Meeting Coordination Action Item Tracking Conversion Management

Implementation Manager

Bank of New York Mellon

Jan 2015 - Dec 2017 (2 years 11 months)

Created the implementation manager role and standard operating procedures to standardize conversions across locations. Defined metrics and built tracking tools that surfaced issues in financial procedures and projects.

Implementation Management Standard Operating Procedures Metric Definitions Tracking Tools Financial Procedures

Team Supervisor / Accounting Specialist

Bank of New York Mellon

Jan 2010 - Dec 2015 (5 years 11 months)

Led a team of 5; built tools that reconciled 200–300 accounts in minutes; repaired client relationships to retain millions of dollars in revenue. Converted three major clients of $200MM+ value to the bank without incident.

Team Leadership Account Reconciliation Customer Relationship Management Client Conversion