VP Tax at Dell on Reputation, Risk, and Real Leadership (Lionel Nobre)
Lionel Nobre, VP Tax Latin America at Dell Technologies, joins the Tax Leaders Unplugged podcast to explore what in-house tax leadership looks like in practice. After nearly two decades at Dell and deep involvement with TEI and academic programs across the Americas, Lionel brings a clear message: being technically strong is no longer enough. In this episode, he shares:
• How he built a 100-hour international tax management program focused on leadership, stakeholder communication, and operational readiness.
• Why the tax team at Dell tracks the number of “surprises” as a KPI, and how this drives trust with business stakeholders.
• What it means to position tax as a function that enables growth, not just manages compliance.
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Where to find Lionel Nobre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionelnobre/
Where to find Stevi Frooninckx: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevifrooninckx
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In this episode, we cover:
(0:01) Intro and Lionel’s background in tax and tech
(1:02) Early career: Oracle, Arthur Andersen, BDO, Grant Thornton
(2:21) 18+ years at Dell and evolution of his role
(3:00) TEI involvement and Latin America’s growing voice
(4:59) Why TEI matters for in-house tax professionals
(8:09) Dell’s approach to tax as a business partner
(10:48) Building trust and internal tax reputation
(14:55) Launching the International Tax Management Program
(18:18) Who the program is for and what it teaches
(22:10) Curriculum: leadership, ops, communication, tech
(23:10) Tax KPIs and team performance evaluation
(24:00) The “surprise” KPI and why it matters
(26:28) Why even good surprises are a problem
(28:22) ETR impact: linking C-suite access to outcomes
(30:54) Teaching change management in tax teams
(33:40) Partnering with CIAT to teach cooperative compliance
(35:07) Risk dashboards used by tax authorities
(38:39) AI, data quality, and audit exposure
(42:52) Global expansion of the training program
(44:50) Future skillset: 50% tech, 30% business, 20% tax
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Referenced:
• TEI – Tax Executive Institute: https://www.tei.org/
• International Tax Management Program – launched in 2023, hosted by universities in Brazil (Insper) and Argentina (UTDT)
• Thomson Reuters Book – “Gestão Tributária no Brasil” co-edited by Lionel Nobre
• Texas A&M University – where Lionel lectures on tax leadership• CIAT (Centro Interamericano de Administraciones Tributarias) – partner on cooperative compliance module
