Louis Tetu, Executive Chairman
Prior to Coveo, Mr. Tetu co-founded Taleo Corporation [NASDAQ: TLEO], the leading international provider of on-demand Internet software for talent and human capital management, where he held the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors from the company inception in 1999 through 2007. In 2004, Taleo was recognized the 11th fastest growing technology company in the United States within the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.
Prior to Taleo, Mr. Tetu was President of Baan SCS, the supply-chain management solutions group of Baan, a global enterprise software company with more than 5,000 employees. This followed Baan's acquisition of Berclain Group inc., which Mr. Tetu co-founded in 1989 and where he served as president until 1996.
Mr. Tetu is an Engineering graduate from Laval University of Canada in 1985 and in 1997 was honored by Laval for his outstanding social contributions and business achievements. He also received the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year award in the Technology and Communication category.
Outside of his professional career, Mr. Tetu is a private equity investor involved in technology and infrastructure projects within emerging countries, as well as a commercially licensed helicopter pilot. He lives in Quebec with his wife and their three children, and he currently serves on the board of Entraide Mutual Life Insurance Company of Canada and Coveo.
Laurent Simoneau, President and CEO
Laurent Simoneau is President and Chief Executive Officer of Coveo, and is considered one of industry’s top enterprise search experts. In his role, Mr. Simoneau is responsible for leading Coveo’s day-to-day strategic operations and positioning the company for continued success.
Mr. Simoneau brings to this position a wealth of solid business and technical experience, stemming from his early years of developing and bringing to market some of the most innovative search products to date.
Prior to his leadership role at Coveo, Mr. Simoneau was Chief Operating Officer at Copernic, the industry’s leading desktop search technology company. Here, Mr. Simoneau successfully orchestrated the spin-off of the company’s enterprise search division in 2004 into what is now Coveo.
Mr. Simoneau also served as CTO of Copernic for six years, during which he effectively guided product strategy and directed the research and development of core technologies.
Mr. Simoneau is a graduate of Université du Quebec, where he holds an MBA degree. Professionally, he enjoys participating in discussions on ways to stimulate the unique value of technology startups in today’s business economy. He resides in Quebec City with his wife and children, with whom he enjoys playing hockey on the weekends.
Patrick O'Leary, Ex-VP, Business Strategy, Cognos
Patrick O’Leary possesses over thirty years’ experience in the computer software industry, particularly in the sectors of enterprise applications, business intelligence, enterprise search and relational database management systems (RDBMS). He was employed by Cognos—a leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions—for seventeen years and served as Vice President for Strategic Alliances for six years, up to his retirement in 2006. During this time, he managed strategic partnerships with key platform providers such as IBM, Oracle and SAP. Prior to working with Cognos, Mr. O’Leary was Vice President for Sales and Marketing at McLeod Bishop Systems—a division of SHL SystemHouse (acquired by EDS)—where he helped provide industry-specific software to the mid-market. Mr. O’Leary holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Western Ontario.
Benoit Hogue, Managing Partner, Propulsion Ventures
Benoit Hogue has accumulated 20 years of investment experience in the media and IT industries, and has been active in the areas of sell-side stock market analysis, private placement and venture capital. Prior to founding Propulsion Ventures, he spent 5 years at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada's largest pension fund manager. At the Caisse, Mr. Hogue managed a $80 million portfolio of communication and IT companies. He also helped define a risk analysis methodology and an investment strategy for the software industry. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hogue led the investment in or served on the boards of OMNI (acquired by Astral Media), NewEast Wireless Technologies Inc. (now public – Stratos Global), Groupe Image Buzz Inc., Presticom Inc. (acquired by Act Networks), MEI Inc., Interstar Technologies Inc. (acquired by Sagem), Giganet (acquired by Emulex), Silanis Technology Inc. (AIM-SNS), Solvision Inc. and Coveo Solutions Inc. Mr. Hogue holds a Bachelor of Finance from Université du Québec à Montréal. He is also a CFA and is a member of the CFA Institute.
Serge Michaud, Portfolio Manager, Information Technologies and Telecommunications, Solidarity Fund QFL
Serge Michaud has a wealth of experience in operating technology and finance organization. He served as Vice President for Finance and Technology in several technology companies and has been Senior Manager for the Treasury department of the Laurentian Bank of Canada. For the Solidarity Fund QFL, he is involved in the identification and evaluation of new investments, as well as the management of current portfolios.
Howard Gwin, Chairman of Longview Solutions Corporation and Marqui Corporation
Howard Gwin serves as Chairman of Longview Solutions Corporation and Marqui Corporation, and is a board member with Cirba, Inc., Kinaxis, Inc., MKS, Inc., Taleo Corporation, and Blast Radius, Inc.
Mr. Gwin has previous experience on the boards of seven private and publicly held companies in the high tech marketplace. He has served on both Audit and Compensation Committees for TSX and NASDAQ-listed companies, and is considered an expert in board governance and effectiveness.
Mr. Gwin was President of Solect Technology Group, (billing, customer care and service management software for the telecommunications industry), where he helped orchestrate the sale of the company to Amdocs Inc., a world leader in customer management billing systems. The transaction (US$1.2B) was the largest ever for a private Canadian software company.
Prior experience includes a variety of senior and global executive management positions at PeopleSoft, Inc., that included responsibility for all the company’s revenue streams. During his tenure, PeopleSoft revenue grew from <$100M to $1.3B. Prior to PeopleSoft, he held senior positions in sales, marketing and operations at IBM and Xerox.
J. Alberto Yépez, Venture Partner, Trident Capital
Alberto Yépez is a successful and experienced entrepreneur, senior executive, board member, and private equity investor. He is currently working as a Venture Partner and entrepreneur-in-residence with Trident Capital and is a senior advisor to several venture capital firms and their portfolio companies.
Prior to Trident Capital, Mr. Yépez was Vice President of Identity Management and Security at Oracle. He joined Oracle through the acquisition of Thor Technologies, where he served as chairman, president and CEO from the pre-revenue stage to rapid growth and global expansion.
Previously, Mr. Yépez was entrepreneur-in-residence at Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm. He was co-CEO and a member of the board of directors of Entrust, Inc. (information security solutions), after the successful merger of enCommerce, Inc. (web access management and portal infrastructure), a company he co-founded and served as chairman and CEO from its inception. In addition, he has held senior management positions at Apple Computer and several other Silicon Valley-based start-ups.
Mr. Yépez experience in corporate governance comes from sitting on the board of directors of U.S. public and privately held companies, as Chairman of the Board, Chair of Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, Chair of Special Committee, Chair of Compensation Committee, and member of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Yepez is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and holds a B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electronic Physics from the University of San Francisco. He attended the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima, Perú.