Learning Management Systems - LMS - Meridian

As managing partner of Meridian Knowledge Solutions, Paul Somerville directs strategy and operations for the Chantilly, Va.-based learning-technology software maker. Paul co-founded Meridian in 1997. Under Paul's leadership, Meridian has gone from a self-funded start-up to a fast-growing company earning kudos from INC. Magazine as a "growth company" and Gartner, Inc. as a "visionary" provider of learning management systems. Meridian has consistently netted double-digit growth and earnings for each of the past 10 years, unprecedented in the learning management industry.

With more than 20 years of experience, Paul is one of the training-technology industry's pioneers. In 1995, Paul played a key role in designing one of the first large-scale, Web-based software systems for training, leveraging his behind-the-scenes work with learning's bits and bytes. At that time, Paul lead the Training Division at Universal Systems, Inc., a Xerox Corporation-backed software company specializing in content management software.

Paul began his career in learning technology while serving as a commissioned officer with the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command. This assignment included early work with interactive multi-media, simulations and command decision support systems. Prior to that assignment, Paul served with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and several other airborne units.

Paul graduated with a bachelor's in business administration from Niagara University.

In 2006, Meridian became a wholly owned subsidiary of Visionary Integration Professionals (VIP). In addition to his role as managing partner of Meridian, Paul is currently VIP's chief learning officer.

Elizabeth Harris spearheads business development and orchestrates alliances between Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC and its partners. She is the senior-executive liaison for customer advocacy. In this role, she not only monitors the successful implementation of the company's software but also solicits customer feedback for building a better product. Elizabeth co-founded Meridian in 1997.

As a result of Elizabeth's contributions, Meridian's customer base has grown from a handful of clients to more than four million users spread over 200 public- and private-sector employers. Elizabeth's experience includes more than fifteen years of work with human and instructional performance systems, program management, and learning and organizational development. Because of her sharp industry perspective, Elizabeth can quickly help her customers discern fad from fact and trend from anomaly.

Prior to founding Meridian, Elizabeth held various management positions at Universal Systems Inc., where she provided distance learning solutions to her customers. While there, she managed successful projects for the U.S. General Services Administration, U.S. Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration. She has also worked as an industrial engineer for the U.S. Air Force.

Elizabeth received her bachelor of science from Virginia Tech and her masters of science from The Johns Hopkins University. She is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a member of the American Society for Training & Development.

Malcolm Patel is a founder and principal partner with Meridian Knowledge Solutions, a leader in the enterprise learning management industry. Prior to the acquisition of the company by Visionary Integration Professionals in 2006, Malcolm served as vice president and CFO of Meridian. Since Meridian's founding in 1997, the company has consistently achieved double-digit profitability and growth every year. While CFO, Malcolm provided primary oversight of the company's financial operations and led a team responsible for 50 percent of the company's sales and support operations.

At present, Malcolm leads Meridian's Enterprise Solutions Group, a dedicated team of professionals who are responsible for supporting Meridian customers throughout the implementation lifecycle of the Meridian product line. The group is responsible for software integration, modification, installation, help desk support, follow-on sales and managing the overall customer relationship.

Prior to founding Meridian, Malcolm served in various management positions at Universal Systems, Inc., a consulting and systems integration firm. Mr. Patel began his professional career as a U.S. Army officer, and served with distinction prior to his transition to the corporate world.

David DeVaux directs the design and evolution of Meridian's software. As Meridian's top technology executive, David also oversees the software's architecture, guides research and development and supervises technology services such as hosting. He co-founded Meridian in 1997.

David's 14 years of experience in the training industry have given him a keen perspective on how best to engineer learning management systems (LMS). David took this technical know-how, coupled with more than 20 years of experience developing software, and created an LMS that may arguably be the training industry's easiest product to upgrade.

Before joining Meridian, David served as the technical director for the Training Division at Universal Systems, Inc. While there, he was the technical lead for developing Web- and CD-ROM-based courseware. David also played an instrumental role in designing and putting into service one of the world's first, large-scale Web-based software systems for delivering learning.

In 1994, David began his career in learning technology as the senior developer for a multimedia company. His charge was to focus on the design and development of leading-edge multimedia CD-ROMs, which, ultimately, resulted in the distribution of over 500,000 units.

David holds a master's and bachelor's degree in computer science from Virginia Tech.

Roy Haythorn leads sales and marketing for Meridian Knowledge Solutions, which makes software for delivering learning and distributing knowledge via the Internet. Roy joined Meridian in 2002, bringing more than 30 years of technology experience.

Before Meridian, Roy spent almost five years as vice president of worldwide sales at Click2learn, now SumTotal Systems. While at Click2learn, Roy oversaw a global sales force responsible for selling learning management systems to customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

In 1996, Roy entered the training industry when he accepted the role of chief operating officer at Meliora Systems, a pioneer in developing software for assessing skills and augmenting instructor-led training. At Meliora, Roy contributed to the development of Ingenium, one of the training industry's first learning management systems. Two years later, Roy and his business partner successfully orchestrated the sale of Meliora to Asymetrix Learning Systems, Inc.

Prior to Meliora Systems, Roy was chairman and chief executive officer of Microlytics/Selectronics, a Xerox Corporation-backed software maker specializing in delivering computer-aided thesauruses and dictionaries.

Before that, Roy had a 29-year career with Xerox Corporation. At Xerox, Roy enjoyed successive promotions from entry level sales and operations roles to vice president and general manager of Eastern Operations, where he managed more than 1,500 employees and $1.5 billion in sales.

Roy graduated with a bachelor's degree from Tufts University and holds a master's in business administration from Monmouth College.