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Our Journey
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![Rolling road with a yellow line down the middle disappearing into the distance]()
2003
founded
explorance is born. During this year we were a team of
3 who did it all. -
2004
first office
Our first office was two and a half rooms located at
1650 Maisonneuve.first customer
We landed our first Blue customer:
First Federal Savings Bank of Kentucky. -
![Graduates in hats and gowns]()
2008
focus on higher education
We fine-tuned our mission and shifted our focus to the
higher education market. -
![Image of Explorance building at 1470 peel street]()
2011
new offices
The official inauguration of explorance’s new offices
was in June of 2011. Since then we have
8x more space. -
![Hands at a laptop accessing Blue course evaluations]()
2012
100 customers
Blue went global with 100 customers using the
software to power their evaluations. -
![Pine trees growing on a rock inside a lake]()
2013
no policy
Implemented our “Zero” Policy based on a culture of
Free-will.10 year anniversary
We celebrated our 10th year with our employees,
families, and customers.first bluenotes conference
explorance supported the first Bluenotes Conference
that took place in Australia – a meet and greet event for Blue users. -
![One orange single chair and a green sofa]()
2014
open APAC offices
To increase our services in the APAC region we opened
an office in Melbourne Australia.10 million students
Our products have impacted the lives of 10 million
students across the globe. -
![The explorance team at the 2016 holiday party]()
2016
thoransoft
We acquired Thoransoft Inc., a developer of customized
business software applications.100 employees
We are 100 strong. 100 unique lovers of technology
and education. 100 eXplorers from all corners of the world. -
![Timelapse photo of a three lane highway in a city]()
2018
it's all happening here!
The future is now and we are just getting started!
About us
A band of misfits, we put the ‘human’ first in everything we do. We’re a different kind of company and we take pride in our authenticity, diversity, and culture of inclusion.
explorance
Explorance, a Learning Journey Analytics provider, supports organizations in making the right decisions with fact-based feedback data. Through its Blue suite of products, explorance is at the heart of the learning organization's continuous improvement strategies. By helping organizations assess needs, expectations, and competencies, they can analyze with the full picture in mind and monitor improvement over time.
Founded in 2003, explorance is a privately held corporation headquartered in Montreal, Canada with business units in Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Since 2014, explorance has been consecutively ranked as a top employer by the Great Places to Work Institute®. Explorance's clients include a wide variety of learning organizations from various segments including academia, consulting firms, government institutions, and corporations across the globe.
Organizations we work with
350 +
Year over year renewal
97%
Customer satisfaction
95%
Global coverage
26+ countries
Customer support
24/7
Innovations
4 + products
We are
100+ employees
We have
3 offices
Best workplace ranking
4th
We speak
27 languages
We’ve saved
10, 000+ trees
We impact the lives of
13 million students
Meet our
management team
It’s not unusual to see a member of our management team volunteering for a charity, supporting education through mentorship, or contributing to
the arts. Committed to the core values that make our culture truly special, each member of our management team leads by doing rather than saying.
Samer Saab
Founder & CEO
Chief executive officer
Samer is the founder and CEO of explorance with over 22 years of experience in the technology industry. Prior to founding explorance, Samer developed a wide perspective on business through a variety of roles in diverse organizations including Bombardier, Nortel, Sycamore Networks, and Nakisa. Samer participates in a wide range of philanthropic activities that focus on his two passions: entrepreneurship and learning. He provides grants, acts as a mentor, participates in the McGill Dobson Cup, and sits on the Foundation Montréal Inc. Board of Directors. Through speaking engagements, grants and endowments, and by participating in the Members of Technology and Innovation Management Expert Panel, Samer is able to share his dedication to lifelong learning. Samer holds a degree in Engineering and an MBA from McGill University.
Marc Lamy
CFO
Chief financial officer
Before joining explorance as Chief Financial Officer, Marc was president of his own consulting practice - MLC Finance. Prior to this Marc was CFO of iBwave Solutions, a software company that was acquired by Corning in 2015. Before iBwave Marc was part of the corporate finance group of Deloitte, working with clients to provide M&A, financing, and advisory services. He also served as CFO for technology companies, including Wysdom, Lyrtech, and Cognicase which he helped bring public on NASDAQ and the TSX in 1997 and where he supervised the acquisition of 18 companies. Throughout this period, he also served as a board member for Ixiasoft Inc., Micro-Intel, Accovia, Lyrtech, Mindready Solutions, Cognicase and most recently - Devolutions and explorance. Marc holds a Masters in Finance from HEC in Montreal, an Engineering degree from École Polytechnique de Montréal, and holds the CFA designation.
Charles Assaf
CRO
Chief revenue officer
As Chief Revenue Officer, Charles is responsible for running the global business operations of explorance. Charles has significant experience in scaling enterprise software businesses. He was previously the GM of ORSYP Canada, where he was responsible for establishing and leading the expansion of the business until its acquisition. While at Automic Software, Charles headed a worldwide synergy function enabling Automic to become a global pure-play leader in the business automation market until its acquisition by CA software. Charles holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill and a Masters of Engineering degree from MIT. He is involved in various charitable organizations and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Foundation of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.
Jonathan Lapierre
CTO
Chief technology officer
As the Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan oversee explorance’s overall product portfolio and leads the effort to develop a long-term technology strategy for the company. Jonathan has long been a respected leader at explorance and in High Tech roles with more than 18 years’ experience spanning software architecture, business intelligence, app creation, infrastructure improvements, and web applications. Prior to explorance, Jonathan was CTO and co-founder at Thoransoft. He has accumulated many years of experience in banking software and Business intelligence, working for companies like CGI, Cognicase, TechSolCom, CSSST, and Roy & Bourassa. Jonathan studied Computer Science and holds a Database Model Certification from the Computer Research Institute of Montreal.
Yeona Jang
EVP, CPEG
Executive vice president of community & strategic initiatives
Dr. Jang leads the Bluenotes user community, product expertise, and customer governance initiatives at explorance. She also leads explorance’s effort to advance interoperability standards for learning analytics in Higher-Education. Prior to explorance, Dr. Jang taught technology and innovation at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, where she still continues her research as an adjunct professor. She has also held executive positions at Samsung, Citibank and PSEG. She holds a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University and a MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT. She also earned a MS in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Jang currently volunteers to help provide access to education to girls in developing countries.
Samer Jaffar
Chief Customer Officer
Chief Customer Officer
As Executive Vice President of Customer Loyalty at explorance, Samer is responsible for all international business operations in the APAC, Europe, and MENA regions. Samer has been at explorance for over 10 years serving in various roles including business development, sales, and global customer loyalty. Prior to explorance, Samer worked in various roles at Matrox, Nortel, Cyrus, and Ciena. He holds an MBA from the Faculty of Commerce and Administration as well as a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Concordia University.
Shadi Khader
VP, Customer Support
Vice President of Customer Support
As the Vice President of Customer Support at explorance, Shadi uses his expertise to lead global support, deployment and integration services, hosting operations, product engagement, and education services. Before joining explorance in 2011, Shadi worked at several technology companies including Vantrix, Natural Convergence, Simpler Networks, Innovance, and more. Shadi began his career as a Systems Engineer with Nortel Networks and holds a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University. At explorance, Shadi is viewed as the ‘Thinker’.
Ian Haugh
VP, Business Development
Vice president of business development
Ian Haugh is the Vice President of Business Development at explorance. After helping build the reseller and sales channels at Lightspeed Point of Sale, Ian moved to the education technology industry in 2013 to make a greater social impact. His current projects include leading explorance’s world-wide partnership relationships as well as European market development. Ian completed his Honours Bachelor in Business Administration (HBBA) from Wilfrid Laurier University and his post graduate degree in Nice, France.
Miltiadis Vadrahanis
VP, Professional Services
Vice president of professional services
Miltiadis Vadrahanis is the Vice President of Professional Services at explorance. He has a 30 year background in leading high performance teams, 15 of which were in the software industry. Milt’s career is backed with a degree in Internet Programming/Systems Analysis from CDI College (Gold Achievement Award) and a BA in Economics from Concordia University, along with a certificate in International Leadership and Organizational Behaviour from Bocconi University and a certificate in Managing Social and Human Resources from Wharton School of Business.
Tim Brennan
GM, Asia-Pacific
General manager of Asia-Pacific
Tim Brennan is the General Manager of explorance, Asia-Pacific. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Tim is leading the rapid growth of Blue users and the explorance office in that region. Prior to joining explorance Tim was the Senior Manager of Survey Services Centre at RMIT University, Australia's largest tertiary institution where he was responsible for the administration and reporting of student feedback across all global locations. Tim has experience working in Government, Higher Education, and the Vocational Education sector with a background in statistics and strategic planning. Tim holds a Master’s degree in Applied Social Research from Monash University.
Community always comes first
We always strive to be the best company we can be for our people, our customers,
and the community. That’s why we take responsibility and try to be aware of the impact of our actions
– beyond the workplace.
We are fortunate to partner with higher education institutions, government organizations, and
corporations who share our concerns and values.
Get a sneak peek into who we are
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