The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) and SurveyMonkey Partner to Reinvent Workplace Performance and Engagement

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) (www.tmbc.com), a global provider of strengths-based performance tools and content, today announced a $5.0 million Series A equity investment by SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com).  In addition to the funding, TMBC is pleased to announce that Jason Averbook has joined TMBC in the role of Chief Executive Officer.  Averbook is a recognized HR and technology executive who served in leadership roles at Ceridian and PeopleSoft.  He founded his own global consultancy -- Knowledge Infusion -- which was acquired by Appirio, a global cloud consultancy harnessing the power of the world's top talent. Damon Cronkey, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy for SurveyMonkey, joins the TMBC Board.

TMBC will fix what is broken today -- how organizations measure and drive the performance and engagement of their workforce. TMBC's tools measure employee strengths, engagement and performance; and its content aims to help the team leader build each of these. At present, no other such tools -- designed explicitly for team leaders -- exist.  TMBC will use the funds provided by SurveyMonkey to accelerate its lead in serving this pivotal but unserved market.

TMBC Founder Marcus Buckingham said, "To work with SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, Senior VP Damon Cronkey and the entire SurveyMonkey leadership team is an extraordinary opportunity for us. SurveyMonkey has built a business that is utterly transforming the way in which companies gather and interpret data.  TMBC aims to do the same with employee performance and productivity. Faced with existing performance systems that everyone knows are broken, we know we will have to act quickly and intelligently. SurveyMonkey is the best possible partner to help us do this."

"SurveyMonkey is committed to supporting the ecosystem of companies aiming to use data and insights to move business.  TMBC's coaching content and proven delivery model is the best powerful solution for employees, teams and companies and one that we're excited to be a part of," said SurveyMonkey's Cronkey. 

In addition, SurveyMonkey and TMBC will begin exploring new ways to measure the pulse of workforces and deliver meaningful coaching and performance techniques to accelerate performance in any kind of organization.  

In his new role as CEO, Jason Averbook will bring his history of providing guidance and leadership to companies, combined with his vision for the future of work, to create an organization uniquely positioned to turn the world of talent and leadership inside out. 

"After years of working in the HR space on both the vendor and the consulting side, I understand the challenge that exists in obtaining the data that team leaders need to justify the right performance decisions," said Averbook.  "I feel a sense of urgency to act and I'm focusing on what I believe is the only solution: the creation of tools and content designed to be compelling for team leaders and team members to use. These willing users will create a tremendous amount of real-time, reliable and local data, which HR can aggregate, learn from and share within the company. This is the future of talent intelligence at work."

About The Marcus Buckingham Company
Founded in 2006, The Marcus Buckingham Company creates strengths-based leader development solutions to build winning workforces. The company delivers tools and training programs to help each person do more of his or her best work every day.

About SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is the world's leading online survey platform, with more than 2 million survey responses every day. SurveyMonkey has revolutionized the way people give and take feedback, making it accessible, easy and affordable for everyone. The company was founded in 1999 with a focus on helping people make better decisions, and has built technology based on over 10 years of experience in survey methodology and web development. Customers include 99% of the Fortune 500, academic institutions, organizations and neighborhood soccer leagues everywhere.  The company has over 450 employees globally, with headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, visit www.surveymonkey.com.

Additional Resources
Site: www.tmbc.com
StandOut: http://standout.tmbc.com

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SOURCE The Marcus Buckingham Company