Nonprofit software vendor Abila has named Tad Druart as VP of marketing. He replaces Sandra Bucklin, who had taken over the job in May 2013 when Austin, Texas-based Abila was formed to sell the nonprofit products that had been purchased from Sage. Druart was previously director of marketing and communications of Compass Learning, also based in Austin, from October 2011 until he joined Abila. Before that he was director of corporate communications, marketing and investor Relations for Convio from February 2007 through October 2011.

A recent newsletter from the TIW Corp., which markets the Alere line, notes that a client/server version of Alere Manufacturing is in development.  I quickly checked the date to make sure I had not received an old email.  But the May 2014 edition notes that the new version should be available in “a few short months.” It will be shipped on a CD that also has the LAN version of the software so that users can choose their platform.

Sales tax software provider Avalara has entered what it calls a multidimensional partnership with Carolynn Iafrate Kranz, a nationally-recognized expert in sales and use tax matters focused on the high tech industry. The deal gives Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based Avalara access to Kranz' sales tax content for technology and digital products. Kranz is the founder of Industry Sales Tax Solutions.

mSilverSun Technologies, parent of Sage reseller SWK Technologies, says it plans to grow from nearly $18 million in annual revenue to $50 million over the next 18 months. A letter from Jeff Roth, CEO of Livingston, N.J.-based SWK says his company no longer believes growth will come from the purchase of other Sage resellers. "At this time, SilverSun doesn't envision its growth coming from Sage partner acquisitions and is focused on potential transactions outside of the channel," Roth wrote.