FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 25, 2011

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Douglas A. Ewald, Tax Commissioner
(402) 471-5604

LEN SLOUP OF THE NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OR REVENUE
WINS FTA LEADERSHIP AWARD

LINCOLN – The Federation of Tax Administrators announced today that Len Sloup of the Nebraska Department of Revenue is the recipient of the 2011 FTA Award for Leadership and Service. The award is presented each year to an individual who has demonstrated sustained and significant service in the administration of state taxes. Judging is performed by the Executive Committee of the FTA Board of Trustees.

Presentation of the award will take place during the FTA Annual Meeting’s Awards Luncheon, June 13 in Omaha.
Sloup is the Director of Operations and Administrative Services for the Nebraska Department of Revenue. Judges noted the complex leadership skills Sloup was asked to display when the agency was restructured and streamlined, with a goal toward pushing accountability down into the staff level.

He joined the agency as a part-time clerk in 1969 shortly after the state implemented its first income and sales taxes. He has worked in administrative services, revenue operations (including taxpayer assistance and collections), field services, tax policy and information technology, giving him a broad exposure throughout the agency.

Sloup used that exposure to become the go-to mentor for a large number of workers who themselves have advanced through the ranks to become agency leaders. He took the lead in forming the agency’s Tax Discovery Section, and his vision for a paperless environment has influenced both staff and taxpayers. One coworker called Len “the person you go to with the difficult questions and problems.”

Judges noted in particular his consistent “search for efficiencies because streamlining is an edict to all of us and he presents the type of leadership we are looking for right now.”

FTA is a nonprofit organization composed of taxation and revenue departments of the 50 states, District of Columbia, and New York City. Its mission is to improve the standards and methods of tax administration.

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APPROVED:
Douglas A. Ewald
Tax Commissioner