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Milestone Moments: Celebrating 40 years of Success
Raising the Siemens Bar: Employee Excellence
At Siemens GBS, we believe that our success is deeply rooted in the relationships we build for our customers and employees. Welcoming the month of May with his 40th anniversary at Siemens, Jeff Vanslette reflects his time throughout the company and the importance of our customers in shaping our journey of growth and achievement.
Now a days, having 40 years of service with the same company can be perceived as a bit unambitious… For me, the truth could not be further than that. I have always believed that at the end of every day, what I am doing and what I have accomplished makes a difference and is a value to my customers and Siemens.
I have enjoyed working for many different Siemens companies, from installing the first digital phone system in the US, managing a national customer support center with 300 agents, a training instructor, being a finance and contracts manager, and finally joining Shared Services when it first formed in 2001. That path took me from South Florida to California, then Chicago and ultimately back to Florida.
Each role was a complete change in my career path requiring me to learn, adapt, and evolve. Overcoming challenges and obstacles in such a dynamic work environment has truly contributed to my growth and success. My knowledge and history with Siemens has helped maintain stability, promote continuity, and ensure smooth transitions during periods of significant change.
My latest and last career change was in 2015 when I was approached to join the GBS Tax team. I told the manager I knew nothing about taxes, why would you want to hire me? Her response was "I can teach you taxes, I can't teach you Siemens!"
Since then, I have learned much about taxes, and even more about our Tax Technologies. Our primary tax tool is the Vertex Tax Engine. The Vertex application manages all the tax calculations for over 50,000 taxing Jurisdictions in the US and Canada. Becoming Certified on Vertex ensures our customers they have best qualified personnel supporting their tax needs and reduces the costs and burden of having to customize tax logic in their ERP systems. What was once a complex, lengthy and costly process to make even the most minor changes in tax logic, is now completely managed by GBS, in real time by the team that understands their tax needs and requirements the best.
I love the opportunity to share my wealth of Siemens knowledge and insights with others and enjoy helping others grow their knowledge and their careers with Siemens.
Congratulations Jeff and thank you for all that you do! Your outstanding contribution and dedication to customers have played an integral role in shaping GBS’ success story.