Our Team
Enhancing human capacity to create personal and organizational growth
Improving people & organizations
At Impro, our purpose is to empower your employees at every level of your organization to build powerful new habits designed to equip them with all the tools they need to learn, grow, and unlock their full potential.
With our game-changing AI-augmented performance coaching, mentoring, and consulting, we help companies manage with more clarity, and thus, accelerate their and their employees’ growth.
We lead and live by one basic principle:
T E A C H
Living by these values is a team effort. Much of Impro’s strength lies in the shared values of our people - from leadership to coaches to participants - as they are the foundation for continuous growth and lasting success.
Our leadership
Josh Blair
Co-Founder & CEO
Josh knows that technology is most powerful when combined with human ingenuity to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Impro hits the sweet spot in this regard for Josh and leverages his business experience as well as his HR background.
His other endeavours currently include serving as the Vice Chair of TELUS International (NYSE: TIXT), the NGC Chair of Neighbourly Pharmacies (TSX: NBLY) and being a Partner at Esplanade Ventures.
Prior to 2020, Josh worked at TELUS for a quarter of a century, most recently as Group President but of note to Impro, he also spent 12 years as the company’s chief learning officer and subsequently its chief human resources officer. During this time, TELUS became the most prolific winner globally of the Association for Talent Development’s BEST award (14 wins through 2019) and in 2005, Josh was named the global learning leader of the year by Thomson NETg (now part of Skillsoft).
In 2021, Josh received an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria (he is an alumnus, with a Bachelor’s of Engineering) in recognition of his professional achievements and community contributions. Josh is also a graduate of the Smith School of Business’ Executive Program at Queen’s University.
Opher Brayer
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Opher possesses a wealth of experience in education, business coaching, and consulting with a wide range of methodologies to his credit, as well as being a C-level executive coach, a systems thinker, and an ex-jazz musician. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Impro.AI and also founded Stages Academy Global.
Opher has extensive experience in the fields of Systems Theory, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Game Theory. His coaching career spans over 30 years. During this time, he has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs and executives who have sought to maximize their personal and professional potential. He received the Tribeca Disruptive Innovator Award in 2018 for his pioneering work in developing thinking algorithms that help youth and adults alike to elevate their thinking and performance. His company, Impro.AI, is on the list of the 200 most disruptive companies in North America. The company has conducted more than 50,000 coaching sessions in less than 18 months, providing services like coaching, mentoring, training, consulting, and risk management to start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, as well as individual clients.
Maya Liberman
Co-Founder & COO
Maya Liberman is the COO and Co-Founder of Impro.AI, a Canadian startup that helps companies manage with clarity. Impro.AI is the first company in the AI augmented coaching, consulting, and mentoring space.
Starting in 2019, Maya began to invest most of her time developing proficiency in software engineering. While doing so, she founded a junior developers community in Israel to help young developers hone their technological abilities. The community currently houses more than 2500 young, enthusiastic developers.
In 2017, Mrs. Liberman managed the non-profit learning organization, Stages. Stages is a Czech Republic based organization that enables young children to become polymath thinkers. The Stages method has enabled over 10,000 children to shift their academic trajectory from average to gifted.
In 2012, Maya joined the Brayergroup company as a project manager. While there, she helped establish the companies’ digital presence and managed it’s various consulting projects. Ms. Liberman was a distinguished cello player and musicologist for many years. She played in The Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel, and was an assistant lecturer at Tel Aviv University.
While playing in the orchestra, she devoted most of her time to develop the musical awareness of children, playing and teaching about music infront of thoustands of children every year. She won many awards and scholarships during her studies such as: Alfried Krupp, Gideon Tamir, Wolf Foundation and the Tel Aviv University Dean’s Honor.
Alex Pshul
Chief Architect
Alex is a software architect, consultant, speaker, and a tech freak with proficient knowledge in different technological stacks. Alex is a leading expert on Microsoft technologies and different Azure services with great passion for software architecture.
In March 2021, Alex was recognized by Microsoft as a most valuable professional on Azure technologies for his contributions to the Azure community.
Although computers were always a passion and a hobby, Alex officially started his career in the IAF as a software developer in one of the largest systems that were ever developed in the forces. After demobilization, Alex worked as a lead software developer in a security company and later, moved to be an architect and a consultant in one of the leading software consulting companies in Israel.
In parallel, Alex developed his own app on the Windows Store, traveled the world with technological lectures, taught a couple of courses in the Tel Aviv University and co-created his own meetup group for technological enthusiast in the north of Israel. Alex is an active community member in different technological groups and usually spends his free time in front of the computer screen.
Leigh Gauthier
Director, Consulting & Micro-Coaching
Leigh has had the privilege of working with some of the world’s best and brightest talent in global organizations such as Accenture, STS Capital Partners, and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, through her Strategy, People Development, Learning, and Career Counseling roles.
Leigh’s passion for learning and personal growth inspires her coaching, to which she brings a number of tools, models, and frameworks to support her work with clients. These include the Coaches Training Institute’s (CTI) Certified Coach designation, the International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) PCC designation, Psychometrics Canada’s MBTI Accreditation, The Academies’ Certified Career Management Coach (CCMC), and, most recently, MindValley’s 10x Certified Health Coach.
Leigh holds a BA in Linguistics and English from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at U of T’s Rotman School of Management.
Joel Pineda
Customer Success Manager
Vic Menon
Coaching Training Lead | Impro Master Coach
After receiving his Bachelor of Science from Stanford University and MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Vic went on to a winding career which combined his passions, skill sets, and education.
As someone with a clear interest in both biology AND the business world, Vic has held various high-ranking marketing positions in multiple life sciences companies.
After almost 2 decades working with startups and life sciences companies, Vic shifted his career path in order to focus on giving back. For the last 15 years, Vic has been diligently helping to grow the Career Management Center (CMC) at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. During Vic’s tenure, the CMC more than doubled in size. As the CMC’s program manager, Vic had numerous high-level responsibilities, yet he always found the time to assist individual students, because that is where he felt he could make the greatest impact. Vic brings that same philosophy to Impro: as a Master Coach, he is responsible for programming and refining our methodology. Yet Vic still cares deeply about every participant he works with on a daily basis.
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