Francois Rainville

President & CEO at Averna

Greater Montreal Metropolitan Area

About

As a software company entrepreneur, François is a pragmatic leader whose key strength is his ability to articulate a clear vision enabling him to successfully motivate highly competent resources towards ambitious business objectives. In 2012, Francois joined Averna, a worldwide leader in Test Solutions for the Automotive, Consumers electronics, Medical Devices and Mil/Aero market segments. He initially was appointed as VP Sales & Marketing, became COO in 2017 and is now President & CEO. During that period, Averna has grown sales from 25M$USD to +150M$USD with global customers such as Oculus, Dexcom, Medtronic, Veoneer, Google, Microsoft to name just a few. Averna expanded from 4 to 20 offices in 11 countries and executed/integrated successfully 6 international acquisitions in that short period of time. From 2007 to 2011, François was the CEO of Eloda, a software company providing Web-based productivity tools to Advertising agencies and large advertisers. Eloda has been providing its solutions in the North American market. Eloda was acquired by a large communication group's subsidiary in 2011. Prior to Eloda, François was the founder of PRIMA (subsequently Elix), a North American leader in software solutions for the rapidly evolving Contact Center market. PRIMA was a flagship of its industry. In 2007, the company was acquired by Canadian telecom leader Bell Canada and became BCE Elix. François has received numerous awards, including: "Top 40 Under 40", "IT Personality of the Month in Quebec", "Personality of the Week from LaPresse", "Canadian CTI Most Influential people" and "Young Businessman of the Year", awarded by the Montreal Junior Chamber of Commerce. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science (1984), and an honorary degree from the Department of Computing and Operational Research of the University of Montreal (2005).

Experience

  • Averna (13 yrs 11 mos)
    • President & CEO
      Jun 2019 - Present · 7 yrs 2 mos

    • Chief Operations Officer
      Mar 2017 - May 2019 · 2 yrs 3 mos

    • VP Sales and Marketing
      Sep 2012 - Feb 2017 · 4 yrs 6 mos

  • Independent Board member at Keatext
    Jun 2018 - Mar 2024 · 5 yrs 10 mos

  • Member of the Board at Notarius Solutions
    Oct 2012 - Jun 2022 · 9 yrs 9 mos

    Acquisition de Notarius par Portage.

  • Board Member at Ni2
    Apr 2019 - Mar 2021 · 2 yrs

  • Chairman of the Board at Cognibox
    Sep 2012 - May 2019 · 6 yrs 9 mos