29 Years Strong: With Gratitude for the Past and Looking Forward to 30!
When we opened our doors 29 years ago, “compliance” meant paper files, color-coded folders, and a lot of overnight envelopes. The tax landscape was complex—but slower. Research relied on physical books or CD-ROMs loaded with all the states resources. Since then, the world has sped up. E-commerce erased borders, states rewrote the rules, and “digital” went from novelty to necessity. Along the way, we’ve learned that staying relevant isn’t about predicting every change; it’s about building the muscle to adapt to any change.
Our journey has been defined by that rhythm: listen, learn, lead. We’ve listened to clients as their businesses moved online and across both state lines and around the globe. We’ve learned alongside them—translating new rules into practical steps. And we’ve led when it mattered—sharing guidance, building processes, speaking up on behalf of our clients and students and investing in tools that make complying clearer, faster, and more reliable.
Most of all, the last 29 years have reinforced a simple truth: relationships outlast regulations. Laws evolve; trust endures. As we close year 29, we’re grateful for the clients, colleagues, and partners who have grown with us—and we’re energized about what comes next.
Team holiday celebration in 2009
Looking back on some of our first supporters at our Sales Tax Institute classes, there aren’t many that we still see and hear from. After all, 29 years is often the length of someone’s career. But, there are a few.
Heidi Thomas, currently with Early Warning, was at our very first Basics of Sales Tax class in Phoenix, Arizona. At that time, she was with MicroAge – a computer company. Not only was she in our first Basics of Sales Tax class but she was also our first consulting client! She has been with a few different companies over the last three decades but hasn’t lost touch with us. She’s looked to us for guidance on occasion and also has been a great supporter of other organizations like IPT and the Arizona Tax Conference where she has invited me as a speaker. It has been wonderful to see her career progression!
“From the bottom of my sales tax nerd heart, congratulations to Yetter Consulting on 29 years! I recall you coming out to MicroAge very early in my career and thinking to myself that I wanted to be the kind of knowledgeable professional that you were. Your class provided me with the fundamentals I needed at a crucial point and was instrumental in my decision to commit to a career in sales taxes. I am about to celebrate my 30th anniversary as a tax professional in December and you have been my role model throughout my career. I have always relied on Yetter Consulting for current information about nexus and other emerging sales tax issues, have admired your dedication to the sales tax profession, and appreciated your advocacy for fairness in interstate nexus issues.”
Heidi R. Thomas, CMI | Senior Director, Tax, Early Warning
Brenda Cassas has been a longtime supporter of both our education and consulting businesses. She first joined us at our December 1999 Advanced Workshop when she was with Michael’s. Over the years we’ve spent time together at Vertex Exchange, finding time to sneak away for some good old girlfriend time! And as she has progressed in her career and changed businesses, she has brought us along with her. Not only has she sent her staff to our schools, but she has also called on us to help with some of her challenging technology and taxability issues.
“I have known and worked with Diane for 25 years. Its been a valuable relationship from sending my team to her training classes to partnering with her on projects to enhance processes and resolve taxability and audit issues. She has proved to be an invaluable resource and friend. Congratulations on your 29th anniversary Diane!”
Brenda Cassas, Interpublic Group
Our journey over the years has always stayed true to sales tax, it is what we know and where our passion lives. The players, particularly in the technology space, have grown and changed. Back in 1996, there were two sales tax systems – Vertex and Taxware (today known as Sovos). Today there are so many to consider with different niches and approaches to best match a solution to a client’s needs. I’ve witnessed these legacy companies grow and adapt to new technologies and the ever-evolving complexities introduced by the states.
Today, I am considered a “Tax Technologist,” but that title didn’t exist when I started down this path. In fact, in 2010 when we rebranded our consulting business, our tag line was “Tax meets Technology” to explain what we did because even then, there weren’t many of us doing this type of work.
We started our consulting business helping some of the largest companies in the country implement a tax solution.
I will be forever grateful to Vertex for their trust in me and the support they offered. I started my business as a contract trainer for Vertex and without that, I don’t know if we would be where we are today. It was in this role that I met the sales tax professionals in those companies that hired me to help them figure out how to automate not just sales tax but also consumer’s use tax. The opportunities provided to my tiny company by these businesses granted not only the revenue to grow but the confidence and experience to keep it going.
I also recognized the challenges of doing business in a multi-state environment and the need to have a network and friends in both state government and other consultants. I was active with a group of professionals tackling some of the early issues of moving businesses into a digital world. Through these projects, I was lucky to meet COST and have been blessed to be in this circle of true SALT geeks. Being asked to speak at not just their Sales Tax Conferences but then their Annual Meeting gave me credibility and exposure. They were never threatened by Sales Tax Institute but embraced my experience in developing and delivering sales tax education, calling on me to help develop their SALT Basics Sales Tax module over 20 years ago. I’m just now transitioning the teaching of this to others on my team.
I think many of you know just how invested I am in trying to help as many people as I can learn and understand sales tax. Part of my original business plan was starting Sales Tax Institute. Back in the 1990’s there was very limited sales tax training, and I saw this as a huge gap. My focus was to bring as many resources and education to not only those that did sales tax day in and out but also those that had to struggle to get the sales tax returns out on time as a small part of their job. Think back to 1996 and how you were able to get information – it wasn’t easy! We launched our website in late 1996 and one of the first things we included was our News & Tips page, which is still active today! It even still has tips from all the way back then – check out this tip from August 1998 talking about an issue we are still debating today – do software licenses establish nexus in Texas? Our team monitors all the states for legislative changes, administrative bulletins, and court decisions to distill these critical items to practical updates that can help anyone understand how it applies to their business.
There have been many milestones over these 29 years in the tax world that shaped what we do. On June 21, 2018, in the middle of our Basics of Sales Tax class, the sales tax world changed in a way we hadn’t seen before. The U.S. Supreme Court announced their decision in South Dakota v Wayfair. I was in DC for the oral arguments, and we were preparing to respond to the decision. We held true to our promise to do a Facebook Live event talking about the decision even with it happening in the middle of the class.
It was this milestone that led us to create our Sales Tax Jumpstart class – we knew so many people needed to learn about sales tax and quickly. States were setting effective dates as early as one week after the decision! Our first session of a multi-week online class was held in the fall of 2018 and continues twice a year. It has become one of our most requested and attended courses.
Team office warming party in 2003
With all of these new sales tax professionals, we looked for ways to build a community to help them all create the relationships that were critical to our success and my personal career growth. In doing research about how people learned about sales tax, we heard a few things loud and clear. These professionals were very proud of the value they brought to their companies, were very smart, but were also often a department of one and frequently undervalued. This spoke to us in such a way that we knew we needed a way to recognize these amazing people. In 2019, we awarded our very first Sales Tax Nerd of the Year award to Cherie Julius. Joining her in this recognition are Kelly Smith, Iryna Soares, Nancy Steele, Al Paulsen and Heidi Diegelman.
To bring all of these “Sales Tax Nerds” together, we put together a plan to launch our Sales Tax Nerd Community in the fall of 2020 during “conference” season. Well, we all know what happened in March of 2020! Our response was not to delay but to accelerate our launch as we realized more than ever, this community needed a place to gather and share information. July of 2020 saw almost 50 members join us and we’ve been going strong ever since!
Maybe one of the things that has surprised me the most in these 29 years is how I have impacted so many of our followers. I certainly never went into this journey thinking I could become a role model and mentor to many or to have a voice that influences what happens in the sales tax world. I am touched that so many of you have introduced yourselves over the years to me and shared your own path to success in the sales tax field. I am honored that I’ve been able to represent taxpayers before governmental agencies and even the U.S. Senate in an attempt to make complying with sales tax just a little bit easier and fairer.
I did not get here alone – the community is large. From our first part time employees in 1997 to our current team of 14 people, we’ve had 81 team members! And after me, our longest tenured employee – John Londay, will celebrate his 17th anniversary next month! He has been our office administrator, bookkeeper, webmaster, marketing specialist, technical writer and is now an Experienced Tax Consultant. He has been a steady presence in the company!
Team and friends celebrating our 25th anniversary!
Outside of our employees, there have been faculty members like B.J. Pritchett who was at our first class, and we miss her dearly now that she is retired. We’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of the best-in-class sales tax providers to help us support our clients. Kim Rice and R&M Consulting have been long time partners. And of course, there have been advisors that have helped me develop my leadership skills as well as provide expertise. Clay Hamlin of Kaizen CPAs has been there since day one, I’m sure much to his dad’s surprise! Brad Farris of Anchor Advisors has been with us in different roles since 2007. He was instrumental in many of our changes and still helps us find the best team members today.
Diane Yetter and faculty member B.J. Pritchett in 2004
This milestone isn’t a finish line; it’s a springboard. Over the next twelve months, we’re treating our thirtieth year as a countdown—thirty small, meaningful improvements that add up to a stronger, smarter client and student experience. We’ve got some amazing things in the works on both the consulting and training side. Some of the things I can hint at are new tools and resources, a book, new places to find us out preaching sales tax and some fun things too! I can’t wait for you all to see what is coming. We’ll update you throughout the year on our progress and yes there will be a celebration and I’m sure a few tears! And of course, if there are things you have on your wish list that would make your life easier in the coming year, we want to hear from you! Just drop us a note with your ideas. We are getting from year 29 to year 30 with clarity and purpose.
29 years have taught us that progress is rarely loud. It’s the steady, simple improvements that compound—one clarified rule, one streamlined process, one problem solved. Thank you for trusting us to do that work with you. Here’s to the year ahead and to turning thirty with even more clarity, momentum, and impact.