Company: Axonify, Waterloo, On Canada
Company Description:Axonify is the next generation eLearning platform that combines game mechanics and brain science to truly increase employee knowledge retention.
Nomination Category:Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category:Management Team of the Year – More Than 10 Employees

Nomination Title: Axonify Management team

Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated management team since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

When CEO Carol Leaman bought Axonify in 2011, it had 1 real customer, 2 full-time employees and one part timer. Flash forward to early 2015 and her risk is paying off. Axonify is thriving. Axonify employs an award winning team of 50 software developers and learning specialists.

Axonify is the only web-based eLearning platform with the patent pending Axonify Learning Model – the perfect combination of brain science, adaptive learning technology and gamification – to build continuous personalized learning that multiplies for big company-wide impact..

The Axonify management team, with over 100 years of experience between them have contributed to the rapid growth of Axomify in the last few years. Axonify has experienced rapid adoption of its award-winning eLearning platform, across an increasing number of vertical industries. The velocity of customer adoption has enabled the company to triple its revenues year-over-year, each of the last two years. The company experienced 100% growth quarter over quarter in 2014. It increased by nearly 10 significant contracts per quarter.

In 2014, Axonify won awards from Deloitte, Gartner, Retail Touchpoints, Brandon Hall Group and Training Magazine for its innovation and customer acquisition

Management team:

Carol Leaman, President & CEO, is responsible for driving the overall strategic direction and Axonify’s commitment to revolutionizing employee awareness and corporate learning. Carol has a history of building start-ups into multi-million dollar successes.

Christine Tutssel, SVP of Strategic Initiatives, leads the process of evaluating prospective business and partnership targets, and manageslarge strategic accounts.

Laura Martin, Vice President of Marketing, is responsible for building and executing Axonify’s marketing strategy

Suzanne Hyatt, Vice President of Human Resources, develops leading practices in the attraction and retention of talent, the creation of total rewards strategies, and the management of organizational change.

Phil Menary, Vice President of Development, is responsible for the Axonify technology architecture, all aspects of product strategy and managing software development

John Astorino, Vice President of Product Management, is responsible for Axonify’s product roadmap and product direction.

William A. Vellante, Vice President of Sales, leads Axonify’s sales team, and is focused on the company’s license revenue objectives

Dave Pooley, Chief Financial Officer, works closely with the company’s investment groups, provides contract support to the sales team, manages the annual budget and pro-forma forecast, and oversees accounting and tax reporting requirements.

Satisfied Clients

Axonify has dozens of Fortune 1000 customers including Pep Boys, Toys "R" Us, General Electric, Bloomingdales, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson , Capital BlueCross as well as Walmart, Pfizer and Uni-Select. The company and expects to reach 100 clients this year.

• "Pep Boys saved $50 million on loss items like medical injuries and lost items in the store,
• “Axonify has amplified the effectiveness of our training programs,” said EVP of sales at Ceridian.
• “Axonify has been nothing short of transformative,” said a Bloomingdale’s VP

“Fortune 1000 businesses are actively seeking eLearning solutions that are innovative and compelling, and Axonify is perfectly positioned to cover those bases,” said Axonify CEO Carol Leaman. “We expect another 300% growth to meet increased demand in 2015,”

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the nominated management team (up to 125 words):

Carol Leaman, President & CEO, brings more than 20 years of leadership and technology executive experience to the company as she has a history of building start-ups into multi-million dollar successes.

Most recently, Carol sold PostRank to Google after growing the company from a cool, free web tool, to a unique, customer-centric social media play in 2011. Prior to PostRank, she helmed RSS Solutions (enterprise class manufacturing software), and Fakespace (a high-end virtual reality company). She took Fakespace from $3 million to $30 million in revenue before orchestrating its acquisition in 2003, and sold RSS Solutions in 2006.

Carol brings her experience and insight to numerous boards, is a much sought after keynote speaker.

Choose one (even if both apply):

The CEO (or other principal manager) of this company is a woman, and at least 40% of the management team is comprised of women.