Avalara has scheduled its first-ever conference, Crush 2016. The event will be held from May 10-11 at the Royal Sonesta New Orleans Hotel on Bourbon Street. The Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based sales-and-use-tax specialist says the conference is designed for customers and partners. There will be one-on-one training for CPE credits and industry-specific panels led by experts. CEO Scott McFarlane will also address the group. Other events include an executive golf tournament at TPC Louisiana, a Welcome Happy Hour Technology Showcase cocktail reception and dinner parties at two of New Orleans' finest restaurants.

Blackbaud plans to start a Value-added Reseller program in 2016. The information was given at this week's Investors Day. Unfortunately, I missed the webcast and no replay is yet available. The slides associated with the announcement say partners will manage client relationships and every relationship will be supported by a dedicated Blackbaud relationship manager. The nonprofit software company also pointed to success in its Partner program that was started this year.

Sage has named Peter Biber as global VP of customer experience for its developing Customer Business Centers. Biber, based in Orange County, Calif., has been with Sage since December 2013. His prior job at Sage was as VP of customer experience operations, which he held for a year. From July through October, he was interim VP of the CBC in Atlanta (Lawrenceville, Ga.) In his LinkedIn profile, Biber noted "I will be responsible for growth of the CBCs.