Zig Serafin

Qualtrics Adds Microsoft Executive as COO to Continue Exponential Growth and Global Expansion Ahead of IPO SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualtrics, provider of the world's leading insight platform, today announced the appointment of veteran Microsoft executive Zig Serafin as the company's chief operating officer. Serafin will relocate from Washington to Utah, to lead operations during a time of rapid growth and international expansion for Qualtrics. "We are excited to bring an industry luminary of Zig's caliber on board as we continue growing aggressively," said Ryan Smith, co-founder and CEO of Qualtrics. "Qualtrics is scaling at an incredible rate and there's no better person to help us add a new level of operational efficiency than Zig. He brings a wealth of experience developing products, scaling complex organizations, and building amazing teams." "This has been a very long and selective search and Ryan and I feel we've found the perfect partner in Zig," said Jared Smith, co-founder and acting COO of Qualtrics. "Qualtrics is passing 1,200 employees, expanding product lines, and has started IPO planning. Zig is a phenomenal operator and will bring considerable experience leading cross-functional teams on a global scale. We couldn't be happier about having him join our team." Prior to joining Qualtrics, Serafin spent 17 years at Microsoft leading large teams and building multi-billion-dollar product lines. Most recently, Serafin was a corporate vice president with responsibility for Office 365 Skype for Business, which is used in 1.2 billion meetings per year in over 90 countries. Serafin also helped spearhead the development of Microsoft's artificial intelligence platform and personal assistant, Cortana, which today services more than 130 million monthly active users. Serafin previously served as general manager of Microsoft's Tellme Networks. "I'm thrilled to join one of the world's most promising SaaS companies at a very exciting time," Serafin said. "Few cloud companies make the leap to becoming a true enterprise platform, and Qualtrics has established itself as exactly that, growing at an extraordinary pace while remaining cash flow positive. I'm eager to bring my perspective and expertise to bear at Qualtrics and partner with Jared and Ryan." Qualtrics is experiencing dramatic growth and international expansion ahead of a planned IPO. In the past three years, the 14-year-old private company has opened U.S. offices in Dallas, Seattle, and Washington D.C., as well as international offices in Dublin, Ireland, London, U.K., and Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia. Last month, Qualtrics opened a new, 150,000-square-foot headquarters in Provo, Utah, which Forbes dubbed "tech's boldest new headquarters." Qualtrics also recently won a slew of high-profile accolades, including inclusion on the prestigious Forbes 2016 Cloud 100 list and CEO, Ryan Smith, was listed at #12 on Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40 list of "the most powerful, influential, and successful young people in business." About Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a rapidly growing software-as-a-service company and the leader in customer experience management. More than 8,500 enterprises worldwide, including two-thirds of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the top 100 business schools, rely on Qualtrics technology. Our solutions make it fast and easy to capture customer, employee, and market insights in one place. These insights help our clients make informed, data-driven business decisions. Global enterprises, academic institutions, and government agencies use Qualtrics to collect, analyze, and act on voice of the customer, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, 360-degree reviews, brand, market, product concept, and employee feedback. To learn more, and for a free account, please visit https://www.qualtrics.com/. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qualtrics-adds-microsoft-executive-as-coo-to-continue-exponential-growth-and-global-expansion-ahead-of-ipo-300346370.html