Avalara has named Mehrdad Talaifar as VP of its EMEA operations. Talaifar, based in London, England, is another link in the sales and use tax company's plans for global expansion. Well, they have to spend that $100-million investment somewhere, don't they? Talaifar has strong credentials in the indirect tax area. He was principal of global tax technology services for Ryan from August 2013 until last month. Before that, he was senior director of strategic relations for EMEA for Thomson Reuters from January 2011 through August 2013.