Avalara promotes Meg Higgins to SVP of global partners

Seattle-based tax software company Avalara has promoted Meg Higgins to senior vice president of global partners.

Avalara announced Higgins' promotion on Monday, adding that she has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry. Higgins most recently was vice president of global partner business development and strategy, according to Avalara.

"Meg is critical to growing and scaling Avalara's worldwide partner program and has an outstanding track record at our company," Chief Revenue Officer Kimberly Deobald said in a news release.

Higgins has worked at Avalara for four years. Before joining the company she spent more than 13 years at the shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes, where, the release said, she founded its global e-commerce business unit.

An Avalara spokesperson said Higgins is the first person to hold this title in the company.

Avalara was founded in 2004. The company's technology helps with consumer use tax, sales and use tax, and international compliance. Avalara counts more than 30,000 clients, including Netflix, Zillow and Converse.

In January, multiple former employees took to LinkedIn to say they had been laid off. Avalara had 895 employees in Washington last year, according to Business Journal research, but now employs 700 in the state. The company has more than 4,300 employees listed on LinkedIn.

On Thursday, Avalara confirmed to the Business Journal it was shedding space at its headquarters, Hawk Tower in Pioneer Square. The company has been marketing four floors there since late last year.

Avalara went public in 2018 on the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, the company sold to Austin, Texas-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $8.4 billion, taking the company private.

In April, Avalara named Sean Flynn as senior vice president of global sales. Flynn, a former armor officer in the Army, had worked at IBM for about 15 years earlier in his career.