Paul Arens is a former Big-Four tax professional with 22 years of recruiting experience. He grew up in the San Joaquin Valley of California, where he enjoyed weekends at Lake Tahoe and San Francisco. After college, he joined Ernst & Young where he worked on the audit team for Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” where stealth fighter planes were built, and audited the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee.
Transferring from auditing to tax, Paul prepared tax returns for Kenny Rogers Productions, when Kenny was the highest-earning entertainer in the country, and for Kenny’s proteges Lionel Richie and Kim Carnes.
Paul moved to Atlanta in 1996, enjoying his second Olympic Games as a spectator. He found his career passion in 2000 when he joined a publicly-traded recruiting firm. He has specialized in tax recruiting since 2008, and expanded his market beyond Atlanta to serve the entire Southeast Region when he founded Southeast TAX Connection in 2013.
Paul has led his team in recruiting tax professionals for major clients in the Southeast Region, including—Altisource; APR Energy; Arby’s/Inspire Brands; Asahi Glass; Asbury Automotive; Atlanta Gas Light (AGL Resources); BCD Travel; BrandSafway Energy; Caraustar; Chart Industries; CIT Group; Coca-Cola; Columbian Chemicals/Birla Carbon; Exide Technologies; Flowers Foods; Focus Brands; Georgia-Pacific; Home Depot; HD Supply; Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)/NYSE; Interface Carpet; Intown Suites; JAS Forwarding; Kemira Chemicals; Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp); Mauser Packaging; McLaren’s Insurance; Mohawk Industries; National Fleet Services; NCR Corporation; NN, Inc.; Oldcastle/CRH; Pathstone Family Office; PDI Software; PGA TOUR; Premier Healthcare; Premiere Global Services; RaceTrac Petroleum; Rheem; RockTenn/Westrock; Southern Company/Georgia Power; SWM/Neenah Paper; Sykes Enterprises; Syniverse Technologies; Tapestry (Coach and Kate Spade stores); Titan America Concrete; TSYS/Global Payments; U.S. Security Associates; and World Triathlon Corporation (Ironman).