David DeStefano has announced his retirement as CEO and president of Pennsylvania-based tax technology solutions provider Vertex, effective 10 November 2025, with former Microsoft executive Christopher Young appointed as his successor.
DeStefano first joined Vertex in 1999 as chief financial officer, and went on to assume the CEO position in 2016. During his tenure, DeStefano oversaw the company’s initial public offering in 2020, expanded its cloud-native solutions, and completed several strategic acquisitions, including AI tax capabilities from Texas-based Ryan in 2024, and a 10% stake in SME compliance technology vendor Kintsugi for $15 million in May.
DeStefano will now transition to the role of non-executive chair, while incoming CEO Young will join Vertex’s nine-member board of directors, bringing more than three decades of technology leadership experience to the position.
Young had served as executive vice president of business development at Microsoft until March this year, through which he coordinated the tech giant’s business development, venture investing, and corporate strategy divisions, and is credited with shaping Microsoft’s investment strategy in AI and other emerging technologies.
Young’s career also includes serving as CEO of cybersecurity firm McAfee, where he led the company’s split from Intel in 2017. In addition, he also worked at AOL as vice president of safety and security premium services, and at Cisco has senior vice president. His board experience spans previous roles at Rapid7 and Snap, along with his current position on American Express’ board.
Addressing his appointment, Young highlights that with the “rapid rise of generative AI”, the company has an “extraordinary opportunity to innovate on how tax and compliance are managed – bringing together technology and human expertise to deliver even greater value and efficiency for customers globally”.
Source: https://www.fintechfutures.com/
