To accelerate growth and serve the fast-growing demand in the North American markets, Valo established Valo North American Headquarters in Montréal, Canada in February 2018.
Valo has already gained a solid customer-base to North America, having dozens of Valo Partners and customers. As the demand is growing constantly, it was time to take the next step and take the business to a whole new level because, pourquoi pas?
As this is a whole new chapter for Valo, let’s dive a bit deeper than that and ask all of our Montreal HQ set-uppers their thoughts about this exciting times.
The North American Valo Team, s’il vous plaît!
To start with, Valo will have 5 members in the Valo North American Team. From Finland, three key persons from Valo will move to Montreal.
Juha Koivula will take the lead, jumping from the Product Manager’s boots to North American Business Director. Tiina Manninen will continue as Valo’s Chief Marketing Officer, and Solutions Architect Antti Koskela will be responsible for the Partner Support.
From the existing North American team, the power duo, MVPs and Product Evangelists Sébastien Levert and Vlad Catrinescu, will continue, with the support of the aforementioned Finnish expats.
In the next three years, the subsidiary is expected to employ up to 30 professionals to support Product Development, Marketing activities, Sales and Partner Support.
What does our Valo Team think about the new Valo HQ?
Naturally, the whole Valo Team is excited about the new location and the countless new possibilities it will bring. What do the expats moving from Finland all across the globe think about taking the big leap? Let’s start with the North American Business Director, Juha.
“The timing is perfect; We have more than 30 existing customers in North America. As our product development team is always shifting gears up and innovating more, I’m extremely happy to be in the front line, getting the word out and working more closely with the North American partners and customers.
At last, we will be able to provide solid technical support in the Americas time zones. And we will be able to do more product webinars locally, attend tons of events, and meet partners and customers one-to-one.
Our dream team in Montréal will include top North American experts and key people from Valo in Europe. The winners of this move will be our North American partners and customers” highlights Juha.
“I jumped on board 2,5 years ago and it has been a tremendous world domination journey so far! We are growing fast and have a lot of excitement and buzz among the people working with Valo from all over the world. We see huge growth opportunities in the North American markets. And personally, this is a great chance to broaden my global experience.
I love working in the tech field with fellow creatives and a continuous flow of ideas. We have an outstanding and ambitious team where everyone shares the same spirit and the same mission – to provide the best digital workplace experience with an award-winning intranet that employees will love.
I am sure we’ll have a shiny future with our killer roadmap of products that put the users first”, tells Tiina Manninen, Chief Marketing Officer.
We like to work hard and make a difference. Let’s look forward to big new things each day. No mountain is too high!
Antti is not a newbie in the North American markets with Valo. “I’m extremely happy to return to North America. Having spent the first half of 2017 in the USA supporting the Valo deployments there, this is a logical next step for me, and quite a leap for our team! But thanks to our evangelist action hero team there, Valo already has a strong foothold in Montréal.
All in all, it’s been fun working with this skilled team and with our awesome partners, and I really look forward to participating more in the North American SharePoint community!”, says Antti Koskela who will take care of the Partner Support in North America.
“Not only the new Office of Valo in Montreal will help with our operations in North America, but it is also the opportunity to grow the team in a way that we were dreaming about! We can’t wait to bring even more #ValoLove on this side of the world!”, tells Sébastien Levert who has been working for North American partners and customers since early 2017.
The news about establishing North American office was exposed late October 2017 and has created a lot of enthusiasm and interest from Valo partners and other co-operators. Let the new chapter begin!
Get ready! A new North American headquarter will expand Valo’s presence in the U.S. and Canadian markets. https://t.co/k1EJrTDRBc #growth pic.twitter.com/OCi6AexxWy
— Valo Intranet (@valointranet) October 25, 2017
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To familiarize yourself more with the awesome Valo Team, take a look what we are all about and up-to next! For more information about the new Valo North American Headquarters, read the official press release by Montréal International.
