KU School of Business to honor 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business will recognize Diane Yetter with its 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Yetter, a leader in the field of sales and use tax, will receive the award for her dedication to business excellence, community service and commitment to KU on April 10 during a private reception.

Yetter, a certified public accountant (CPA), is the president and founder of YETTER Tax, a sales tax consulting and tax technology firm based in Chicago. She also is the founder of The Sales Tax Institute, which provides sales and use tax training for accounting and finance professionals and business owners. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from KU in 1985 and her master’s degree in taxation from DePaul University in 1994.

In her role, Yetter works with clients across industries to provide sales tax services ranging from tax technology to tax policy, planning and training. She also serves as a strategist, adviser, speaker and author in her field and frequently presents to industry groups. Yetter was invited twice to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and Subcommittee regarding the impact of the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision on small businesses and remote sellers. She has written articles about sales and use tax issues and has served as an expert witness in legal matters and litigations.

Before founding her company in 1996, Yetter was a state and local tax manager in the Chicago office of Arthur Andersen LLP, the sales and use tax director for the Quaker Oats Co., and a sales and use tax auditor for the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Yetter has served as a member of the KU School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board since 2006, including as chair from 2015 to 2017. She was elected as a trustee of the KU Endowment board in 2015 and is a life member of the KU Alumni Association. Professionally, she is a member of numerous accounting and tax associations and is a board member and secretary of the Business Advisory Council of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. She also participates in accounting thought-leadership discussions as part of sales tax software company Avalara’s Accounting Meta Influencers.

She has received numerous professional awards, including the Illinois CPA Society’s 2024 Women to Watch Experienced Leader Award and WomELLE’s 2024 Female Voice Award. She was named among MYCPE ONE’s Top Movers and Shakers of the Accounting Industry in 2024 and among Accounting Today’s 100 Most Influential People in Accounting eight times between 2011 and 2022. The Chicago chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners recognized her as the 2020 Woman Business Owner of the Year and a 2024 Corporate Woman of Achievement. The Sales Tax Institute was honored in 2024 by MYCPE ONE as a Next Generation Accounting Firm of the Year in its Growth Pioneer category and a Best in Class Accounting Firm in its Learning and Development category. 

The School of Business established the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998 to honor outstanding graduates and supporters. Award recipients are chosen from the nominations of other alumni and the Dean’s Advisory Board. Candidates are selected based on their business success and service to their communities and to KU. 

To date, 68 people have received the award. Previous recipients include investor and philanthropist David Booth, Kansas City business leaders Peter and Veronica Mallouk, entrepreneur and investor Tim Barton and Cerner Corp. co-founder Cliff Illig.