Mission

Mission is a B2B global marketplace of senior software engineers supported by best in class engineering management practice via the Mission Platform.
Our 3000+ members are based in 40+ countries (350 when I started). We work with 40+ partners located mainly in LATAM, Africa, US and Asia.
Main achievements:
- Grew the network of senior Engineers by 400% in 18 months,
- Negotiated and signed 30+ partnerships in strategic markets globally,
- Built scalable processes in sourcing, vetting and matching candidates,
- Team management and leadership, starting from scratch, of exceptional people located in different continents,
- Collected data points at all steps of our processes giving us more visibility and predictability in our operations.

Vice President, Member Operations & Partnerships

Modern Canada

- Member of the leadership team (top 50 leader at GDI Integrated Facility Services),
- Built from scratch a new and innovative franchise model targeting secondary markets in Canada including the legal agreement, definition of the service offering, the creation of an operational manual, identification and design of territories, identification and selection of systems to use (CRM, pricing, e-commerce platform etc.), franchisee profiles, go-to-market strategy, sales & marketing strategies etc.,
- Defined the offer that includes janitorial services, specialty cleaning services and a store (online and retail) for cleaning supplies and equipment distribution,
- Identified opportunities to improve revenue growth,
- Opened and lead a pilot corporate unit located in Hamilton, On,
- Implementation of the first franchisees,
- P&L creation and ownership.

Director of Franchising

Encore Travel

Member of the Executive team. Mission: lead and scale operations.
Main tasks:
- Team management of travel agents, team leaders, project managers,
- Put in place and monitored customer service satisfaction and customer experience through SLAs and KPIs,
- Implemented, scaled and improved processes using agile and 6-Sigma methodologies: online booking tools, offline solutions, back office tools, email technology etc.,
- Defined the operational strategy and structure,
- Supported Sales & Account Management teams in pre-sales: worked on pricing and overall finance for new accounts,
- Supported Sales & Account Management teams with the implementation of new clients,
- Trained new clients: built documentation and provided online and in person trainings, 
- Managed P&L.

Director, Service Delivery

Areas of expertise : business development, marketing, international expansion, partnerships.

Strengths : entrepreneurship, ability to start from scratch, international experience and network, e-commerce, negotiation, help businesses scale and grow exponentially. 

Clients : LE CHEMISEUR® (fashion), Bungalo.com (holiday rental), Oyatis (hospitality), Simplenight (travel)

Start up Advisor

Egencia, an Expedia company

Expanding Egencia's online & offline presence in Europe, the Middle-East & Africa (EMEA) via the development of strategic partnerships : 
- Identify markets where a partner is needed,
- Build the business model,
- Identify, audit and negotiate a deal with local partners,
- Responsible for the partners'​ contracts and monthly financial flow, 
- Owner of the P&L, 
- Identify opportunities to improve revenue growth,
- Lead local account management and operations,
- Support global sales for the partners' markets,
- Responsible for the local service delivered: +80 employees,
- Business owner of the expansion project across the region.

Key achievement: In a couple of years, we built a scalable business model with a network in +25 countries across EMEA only (started from zero) and we significantly increased our global footprint and international competitiveness through the win of major global accounts representing more than 30% of the EMEA business volume.

Director, Global Partners Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)

Built scalable operations via strategic partnerships in 6 European countries (Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden). Responsible for the P&L, the client satisfaction, the customer service teams and the Egencia offer in those markets.

Operations Manager New Countries

Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Lead the implemention of global clients in several countries in Europe or globally.

- Supported Sales during the sales processes,
- Collected data and information once therom the Sales and Account Management teams once the agreement is signed,
- Built the team of people who will be involved in the implementation process including Country Leaders,
- Built the project plan with roles and responsibilities,
- Coordinated actions and timelines per market as per agreement,
- Sat weekly reviews with the Key Stakeholders: internally and on the client side.

International Project Manager

Managed the EMEA operations of global multinational clients, led a team of 40 persons. 3 direct reports: 1 project manager and 2 customer service supervisors.
Implemented the clients: conducted gap analysis in each market, identified requirements and specificities to make sure the Saas solution (online booking tool) meets the clients expectations and matches the contractual agreement.

eCenter Operations Manager Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)

With over 15 years of extensive experience in business development, negotiation, international expansion, strategic partnerships and leadership, I have honed my skills in customer service and business operations. Leveraging data and technology, I specialize in solving complex business challenges, designing impactful and scalable processes, and delivering key outcomes that drive growth and value.

Currently serving as the Vice President of Member Acquisition and Partnerships at Mission, a global market network of senior software engineers supported by best-in-class engineering management practices, I have achieved remarkable milestones. In my tenure, I propelled the network of senior engineers by an astounding 400% in just 18 months. I successfully negotiated and closed 30+ strategic partnerships in key markets worldwide. I established scalable processes for candidate sourcing, vetting, and matching, fostering efficient operations. Moreover, I led a geographically diverse team of exceptional individuals, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.

My expertise lies in scaling businesses from inception to generating revenue in the hundreds of millions. I prioritize customer-centric approaches in all aspects of my work, adeptly defining and executing ambitious plans even with limited resources. Data-driven decision-making is my forte, as I rely on analytics while also trusting my intuition.

I possess a unique ability to align, lead, and develop world-class teams, valuing team success over individual achievements. Transparency, meaningful communication, and the art of storytelling are integral to my leadership style, inspiring and motivating others. Continuous learning is my mantra, as I consistently strive to educate, improve, and motivate myself. I maintain composure in challenging situations and prioritize high-quality decision-making to drive organizational success. 

Let's connect and explore opportunities to collaborate and drive unparalleled growth together.

I find pleasure in meeting individuals and learning about their unique perspectives. If you're interested in discussing new business, scalability, or…. tennis and travels, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Stéphane Bâlon

Leading the comprehensive Data, Analytics & AI services, I oversee end-to-end responsibilities for business development, NCR strategy, partnerships, and client engagements. Collaborating closely with client executives, I instill a deep appreciation for data's value, harness AI potential, and enhance business outcomes.

Guiding initiatives from strategy to solution delivery, I spearhead innovations to optimize workflows, aligning with short to long-term strategic objectives, with Data & AI, including Generative AI, as foundational elements.

Accountable for leveraging reusable AI/ML and Analytics capabilities, I tailor them for high-value business cases and strategic verticals. Leading co-innovations in Applied AI through the CGI Innovation Centre and the Government of Canada Scale AI program, I am part of the Analytics Canada Council, overseeing CGI’s Centre of Excellence for Data & AI.

Establishing an innovative culture, I lead a high-performance team embracing exploration and continuous learning of technologies.

Cultivating a global AI community across the organization.

Key Achievements:
• Received the Business Impact Award from the CGI executive team.
• Drove substantial sales growth and cost savings for CGI's global clients, leveraging emerging technologies and digital solutions.
• Expanded on-shore and off-shore teams, implementing training programs, and partnering with leading Clouds, Data & AI vendors.
• Collaborated on the CGI Ambassador program, boosting CGI’s brand in Data, AI, and Digital.
• Industrialized applied AI solutions for Governmental, Transportation, Health, and Banking sectors.

Director, AI & Big Data

Senior Consultant

Groupe Dynamite

Recommendation Engine
Markdown Price Optimization
Amazon Web Service (AWS)
Demand Modeling

Senior Data Scientist

Encore Corporate Travel

Machine Learning, predictive analytics, airfare modeling, demand modeling, cloud computing (Python, Keras, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, spark, SPSS, Google Colab)
Business Intelligence (BI) products (IBM Cognos, SQL, Tableau)

Data Scientist (Machine Learning)

Predictive Analysis
Machine Learning
IBM SPSS, Statistics & Modeler
IBM Cognos
SPSS
Python
Customer Behavior Modelling
Quantitative Marketing

Data Scientist

Innovative Data Solutions

Freelance

AviaSent (startup)

•	Social media natural language processing (deep learning) 
•	Advanced statistics, data mining, machine learning (Python, SPSS, SAS)
•	Airline Marketing

Chief Intelligence Officer

Concordia University

Accomplishments 
• Project Management and Leadership: Supervising 6 analysts (5 projects)
• Aviation market: Customer analytics, data analysis, loyalty program, segmentation, business intelligence, marketing strategy, CRM. The product received much interest from airlines, including Air Canada, Air Transat, West Jet and Scandinavian Airline 
• Transportation and new technologies market: consumers preferences toward autonomous vehicles and Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicles.  
• Housing market: Analyzing and predicting consumer behavior, dealing with a large data-set, including information for 5 million Canadian households over 15 years. The final report received a great deal of provincial, national and international media attention when it was published in October of 2014, including 6 radio interview. 
• Mobile data collection: Using new technology for data gathering  
• Experimental Design, survey design, and data collection (3 projects) 
• Real estate: Visual survey on housing and neighborhood choice
• Data Mining & Exploration: Detecting inconsistencies in customer choice behavior. This project received interest from institutions at international level and resulted in working with Prof. Michel Bierlaire at EPFL (Switzerland), Prof. Ricardo Darienzo of Cornell University (US), Prof. Kay Axhausen of (Switzerland), Caspar Chorus of TU Delft (Netherland) and John Rose of the University of South Australia. 
 
Skills Used 
• Statistical and Econometric models: Logistic regression, linear regression, decision trees, time series analysis, ANOVA 
• Data mining and Machine learning: Clustering, dominance-based rough set approach, decision tree 
• Experimental Design: Design of choice experiments 
• Business intelligence 
• Visualization 
• Scripting and Programming: Python, Visual Basic, Pascal, and R 
• Statistical software: R, SAS, SPSS, STATA, LIMDEP, HQL/SQL

Data Scientist, Behavioral Analytics

The University of Sydney Business School

Responsibilities 
• Statistical analysis 
• Costumer behavior modelling 
• Estimating willingness to pay 
• Loyalty marketing 
 
Accomplishments 
• Estimating passengers' willingness to pay for enjoying better services 
• Making a better pricing strategy and revenue management policy in the airline industry. 
• Improving airlines loyalty program 
 
Skills Used 
• Survey design 
• Data analysis using statistical software: STATA, Nlogit, Limdep

Visiting Scholar (Statistician)

IranAir

Responsibilities 
• Airline Revenue Management 
• Flight/crew scheduling
• Fare optimization and pricing
• Business Intelligence 
• Quantitative Market Research 
• Interline Agreements 
• Survey Design & Data Collection 
• Network management 
 
Accomplishments 
• Supervising a group of 3 analysts 
• Improving pricing strategies 
• Teaching “Quantitative Marketing” Course 
• Survey Design & Data Collection at international airports 
 
Skills Used 
• Business Intelligence 
• Visualization 
• Advanced statistical & econometric methods 
• Statistical software: STATA, SPSS, Nlogit, Limdep

Commercial Analyst

PhD focusing on customer behavior modeling, Machine Learning (ML) and big data.
Over 10 years of data science experience in aviation, service, transportation industry and housing market
Over 60 articles, technical reports published in international journals focusing on data science
Team Motivation, Influencer Marketing, Strategic Leadership

•	Languages: English, French 


- Machine Learning                         - Advanced Statistics & Econometric                                       
- Big Data                                                              - Choice Behavioral Modeling
- Cloud computing                                      - Airline Revenue Management
- Pricing                                             - Customer Satisfaction
- Data Visualization

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Stéphane Bâlon

Ali Rezaei, PhD

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