Taiwo Ogundele, CMI, Senior Director of US Operations Tax, at The Coca Cola Company. He is a dynamic Tax Executive with over 20 years of proven success in the Indirect Tax domain across diverse industries and tax functions. Recognized for building and leading high-performing tax teams while mentoring future leaders, his expertise includes Tax Controversy, Audit Management, Tax Technology and Systems and Compliance. He recently expanded focus to include Property Tax, R&D and Credits & Incentives. He is a former Tax Auditor for the State of New York with broad industry experience spanning Telecom, Retail, Manufacturing, Construction, E-commerce, Leasing and Consumer Products. He is committed to driving strategic tax solutions that optimize compliance and deliver measurable business value. Taiwo enjoys serving his local church community and playing soccer.
After three upward career moves across very different industries, I’ve learned that the most valuable asset a tax leader brings to the table isn’t just technical depth—it’s adaptability. Each transition forced me to relearn the business, recalibrate my leadership style and rethink how Indirect Tax can drive strategic outcomes. What began as a desire to stretch myself professionally evolved into a leadership philosophy shaped by diverse challenges, cultures and expectations. And today, in financial services—where regulation, risk and digital transformation intersect—those lessons feel more relevant than ever.
Move #1: Learning Agility as a Leadership Superpower
My first transition, first as a people leader, dropped me into Retail sector from Telecom, an unfamiliar sector with different tax nuances. A shift from dealing with 911 Fees, Telecom Excise Taxes, Utility surcharges and USF, to dealing with Tax Holidays, Energy Star appliances and Hurricane preparedness holidays, supply chains and operational rhythms. I quickly realized that agility and curiosity accelerate impact faster than encyclopedic knowledge.
The lesson was simple: you don’t have to know everything on day one, but you must build systems to learn fast, listen deeply to those in the know and develop that strategic partnership across the business. That mindset led me to prioritize onboarding rituals that go beyond tax technical, to shadowing operation’s team, embedding myself in IT and Technology teams standup meetings, mapping data flows and understanding Indirect tax impact every aspect of the organization. It also shaped how I develop teams: hire for learning speed, not just credentials and create safe spaces where intellectual curiosity is seen as asset and questions are encouraged, not penalized.
Move #2: Elevating Influence—from Technical Expert to Business Partner
In my second move, managing indirect tax systems and technology, the business tied tax decisions directly to cash flow, risk management and customer experience. I saw how indirect tax can either quietly leak value or actively enable it. The pivot was to earn a true seat at the table—translating tax into the language of business outcomes. That meant framing issues not as “rates and rules,” but as margin, risk and growth. It changed my communication style and stakeholder engagement: lead with both qualitative and quantitative business impact, quantify trade-offs and architect solutions with cross-functional partners. I learned that trust is built when tax leaders can clarify complexity without drama and propose options without surprises.
"I learned that trust is built when tax leaders can clarify complexity without drama and propose options without surprises."
Move #3: Leading Transformation— Building Future Ready Tax Teams
My most senior transition came with both responsibility and freedom to transform. I inherited a team facing retirement cliffs, shifting regulatory expectations and rising demands for digital fluency. Transformation wasn’t optional; it was existential. For this new challenge, I am focusing on four pillars:
• Digital fluency: Automate repeatable, standardize data and design controls that scale.
• Talent strategy: Build succession plans, rotate high-potential talent through critical experiences and invest in leadership skills, not just technical courses.
• Proactive risk management: Move from reactive compliance to early warning systems—monitoring process health, data integrity and policy changes before they become issues.
• Strategic alignment: Tie tax objectives to enterprise goals—growth initiatives, cost optimization and asset efficiency—so the function becomes a provable value driver.
This approach reframed Indirect Tax from a cost center into an operating capability that protects value and unlocks it.
The Philosophy These Moves Revealed
Across these experiences, four principles emerged:
1. Adaptability wins. Industry changes shorten learning curves and expose blind spots—embrace them.
2. Speak business. Influence grows when you connect tax work to margin, resilience and customer impact.
3. Build pipelines. Future ready teams require intentional succession, rotational assignments and leadership development inside technical functions
4. Operational excellence is strategic. Strong processes, data governance and automation aren’t back-office, they’re core competitive advantages if properly executed.
Why This Matters Now for Financial Services
Financial services leaders face intensifying regulation, razor-thin margins and complex data ecosystems. Indirect Tax sits at the crossroads of compliance and operations, with outsized influence on cost, risk and reputational resilience. Cross industry insights help FS organizations modernize how they manage tax data, embed controls and partner across finance, risk, technology and the business. If we build adaptable teams and tax-aware processes, we can turn compliance into a platform for efficiency and strategic decision-making.
A Call to Action
Career mobility builds resilient leaders; cross-functional collaboration builds resilient organizations. If you’re leading an Indirect Tax function today, invest in learning agility, elevate your business voice and architect talent systems that outlast any single person. And if you’re an enterprise leader, bring tax into strategic conversations early—because the best time to design value-creating controls is before the decision is made, not after the audit arrives.
In my journey, the moves changed the titles—but more importantly, they changed the mindset. That’s the difference between managing compliance and leading transformation.
