Zensai Appoints Microsoft Veteran David Willis as Chairman of the Board of Directors
Zensai, the only AI-powered learning, employee engagement, and performance management platform built onto Azure and integrated into Microsoft 365 and Teams, announced that Microsoft Veteran, David Willis, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. With nearly 3 decades of experience at Microsoft, David will oversee Zensai’s rapid-growth trajectory as the company continues to scale its Human Success platform and strengthens its category-leading ambitions to revolutionize Human Resources as we know it today.
“Since joining the Board of Directors just one year ago, Zensai is exceeding its operating results and outpacing the industry with its Human Success platform that was thoughtfully built on Microsoft for Microsoft customers,” said David Willis, Zensai’s Chairman of the Board. “As organizations are looking for a usable AI-powered learning, engagement and productivity platform, Zensai is on its way to creating an entirely new product category that reimagines traditional HR into a movement around empowering people to be their best.”
David brings a wealth of knowledge from his tenure at Microsoft where he held executive roles with a primary focus on SMB, Partners, Channels, and enterprise applications. He played a pivotal role in overseeing the exponential growth of the North American SMB business from $4 billion to $8 billon in 4 years, while spearheading Microsoft’s transition from on-premise to cloud-based solutions. Willis was instrumental in building a partner co-selling engine, enabling Microsoft partners to co-sell with Microsoft sellers leading to tens of thousands of co-sell deals.
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David takes the helm from Lars Damsgaard, who has served as chairman of Zensai for seven years through a period of growth, transformation, and internationalization, drawing on his experience from Navision that was sold to Microsoft in 2002 for $1.3bn. Lars said, “The story of Zensai clearly exceeds what I imagined when I signed up for the chairman position, and now I feel like my stint at Zensai has come full circle. Navision ended up under David Willis in Microsoft and now I am handing the next Danish unicorn over to the safe hands of David. It really could not be a better final chapter for me or Zensai.”
Solidifying Zensai’s ethos of making life simpler, better and more productive for HR professionals, L&D managers and employees alike, the company continues to innovate, delivering over 15+ new AI-powered capabilities in the last year alone. AI guided coaching for managers, AI assisted writing for employee check-ins, AI powered course and quiz creation, AI discovery of courses customized for different learning styles, and AI summaries for managers are just a few features helping HR professionals and employees of all backgrounds become the best version of themselves today.
The company recently appointed Kathleen Lord as its new Chief Revenue Officer to help scale its revenue engine across the U.S. and global markets as the demand for Learn365, Perform365, and Engage365 accelerates. With its strengthened leadership team, Zensai has already taken on Lattice and CultureAmp, and continues to win over customers of all sizes, such as Dazn, the largest sports streaming network in the world.
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