Qualtrics adds Microsoft Executive as COO to continue exponential growth and global expansion ahead of IPO

Qualtrics, provider of the world’s leading insight platform, has 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 organisations, 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.