Founders
Scott McFarlane
Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Avalara
Founder Scott McFarlane assumed the roles of president and chief executive officer of Avalara in 2006. Prior to joining Avalara, Scott spent six years with Check Point Software Technologies, Inc, where he was vice president of solutions and strategies. In this capacity, he oversaw business development, emerging markets, OPSEC partner alliances, product management and worldwide market segments.
Prior to holding that role at Check Point, Scott held a wide variety of other positions within the company from vice president, sales & strategic products to vice president of worldwide sales operations. He was involved in all areas of partner alliance, channel sales, product management and marketing. While at Check Point, the company grew from $100 million to almost $500 million in sales and 1,100 employees worldwide. In April of 1998, Check Point acquired MetaInfo, Inc., where Scott was one of its original employees.
During his time at MetaInfo, Scott was the chief operating officer and program manager at Community Sector Systems, where he was instrumental in restructuring the company in addition to delivering PsychAccess, an electronic patient record system for the mental health industry.
Before work at Meta Info, Scott held the role as vice president of development for AIRCOA, the largest independent hotel company in the U.S. In this role, Scott was responsible for projects worth more than $750 million. He also served as president of one of the AIRCO subsidiaries, where he created the tenth largest design and purchasing company in the U.S. During his tenure, AIRCOA grew from 25 to 250 people at a corporate level and 20,000 employees nationwide. Scott was also a key member of the company's successful IPO and financing strategy that raised more than $50 million.
Scott oversaw daily operations, development, and the worldwide sales operation at Meta IP Group. Under his direction and leadership, it grew from a staff of four to 70 and successfully released three award-winning products. Scott earned a degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College in southern California where he co-founded NAS Fitness with his roommate and introduced and distributed Lifecycle, the most popular computerized bike in history.
Scott is highly passionate about team building and the importance of core values throughout the organization. Today, Scott sits on several boards in a variety of fields.
Rory Rawlings
Founder and Chief Tax Automation Officer, Avalara
Rory Rawlings is the founder and chief tax automation officer of Avalara. Holder of four patents related to sales tax technology, Rory leads development efforts around accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of the company’s robust web-enabled sales tax compliance solution.
Prior to Avalara, Rory was a professional accountant, gaining extensive experience in financial planning, business planning, profit analysis, and tax research. Among his previous positions are Senior Manager of Packaged Solutions at BDO Seidman, where he was responsible for system selection and implementation, Director of IT at PhotoDisc (now Getty Images), where he spearheaded enterprise architecture, business planning and completed a customized ERP implementation, and Senior Software Developer and Director of Professional Services for The Boeing Company.
In addition to becoming a CPA, Rory is certified as a PowerBuilder Developer and Instructor in Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD). He has been an instrumental voice in the development and growth of the Streamlined Sales Tax initiative and was named Accounting Today’s 100 Most Influential list in 2008.
Jared Vogt
Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Technology Officer, Avalara
Founder Jared Vogt assumed the role of chairman of the board in 2007 and has been a pioneer in the technology industry for well over a decade. He re-assumed the hands-on role of Chief Technology Officer in late 2009.
Prior to Avalara, Jared founded Trillium Lane in an effort to be part of several technology start-ups in areas such as digital media production, audio software, and health care systems.
Jared co-founded MetaInfo, Inc. in 1994, a successful Seattle-based software developer. The MetaInfo products provided core networking functionality for Internet systems and grew on the functionality of the increasingly popular Microsoft Windows NT technology as well as the World Wide Web.
With his team, Jared grew the business to more than 20,000 customers worldwide, selling exclusively over the Internet. Although mainstream today, the "go to market" strategy was in its infancy in 1994. MetaInfo employed some of the brightest minds in the world for IP addressing, was profitable within one month of opening its doors, and was ultimately sold to Check Point Software. MetaInfo was pursued by many large companies such as Cisco, Nortel, and Lucent. However, Jared ultimately selected Check Point because he believed Internet security was the key enabler of the Internet itself.
Jack Osman
President of Avalara ISPI, Inc.
Jack Osman, President of Avalara/ISPI, Inc. began in May of 2008 when ISPI (Independent Solutions) was acquired by Avalara. As ISPI founder in 1992, Jack supported and developed software and databases for the sales tax and payroll tax markets in the United States and Canada. As president of ISPI, Jack has been a strategic resource for the merging of the two companies since ISPI’s tax databases, desktop and server calculation software and Laserbridge+ product further broaden Avalara’s solution offerings.
Prior to ISPI, Jack’s career in the IT and Tax arena included management positions at a variety of enterprise companies as well as a strategic consulting position with one of the top twelve accounting firms, McGladrey & Pullen.
Jack is originally from Miami, FL, but has spent the majority of his life in Chicago, Illinois. Father of four, Jack is also the proud grandfather of two children and lives in Elburn, Illinois with his wife of 25 years. When Jack isn’t busy working and spending time with his grandchildren, he enjoys golf, bicycle riding, boating and International travel with his family. Jack is a graduate of Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois and has his degree in Business Administration.
Robert Schulte
Vice President, Product Management and General Manager, Taxcient
Robert Schulte is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience creating innovative products and services that focus on delivering an exceptional user experience. Prior to Avalara, Robert was the chief strategy officer and founder of Taxcient, where he was responsible for the overall strategic vision of Taxcient and was the guiding force for developing innovative products that increase accuracy and efficiencies for sales and use tax compliance. Robert was a senior tax auditor for the State of California, responsible for conducting complex sales and use tax audits of the largest multinational corporations. Robert designed and implemented innovative electronic auditing techniques that significantly increased the accuracy and efficiency with which audits were conducted.
Robert graduated with honors in accountancy and business administration from the University of San Diego and holds an M.S. in business administration from San Diego State University.
Marc Staheli
Prior to Avalara, Marc was Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Taxcient and had responsibility for Taxcient's technology vision and product development. Prior to Taxcient, Mr. Staheli was responsible for designing and implementing large-scale information systems at San Diego State University. Before moving to the United States, Marc earned an accounting degree in Switzerland, where he worked with BDO Visura.
Marc graduated magna cum laude from San Diego State University with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Information Systems, holds a Master's of Science degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University, and is an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP).