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At Xref, we’re with you on your people journey

Xref is a global, best in class, HR and recruitment technology company that empowers organisations with people-focused feedback to make great decisions.

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Company history

Our journey so far

Since 2010, we have been on a mission to empower organisations to make confident people decisions...

We offer a new perspective on the talent journey by guiding organisational change with data-driven feedback. Xref is a solution that two frustrated recruitment and tech professionals came up with over a bottle of wine (or two) to tackle the painful challenges that HR and recruitment teams were facing daily.

Driven by ambition and a big heart we took our solution to the people and listed our home -grown company on the ASX.

We listed XF1 in 2016 and in that time have gone from strength to strength. Guided by our strong Board of Directors and Leadership team, we follow the market and make decisions that will service our shareholders best.

The HR challenges that fuelled our co-founders to start Xref are not limited to the Australian market...

With this in mind, we decided to go global. We have expanded our reach with users in 195 countries. With such a diverse, curious and ambitious team, we explored ways to set up offices in new markets that aligned with the needs of our users and the career growth needs of our people. We have offices in Australia, New Zealand, Canada (servicing the Americas), and the United Kingdom (servicing Europe). No matter where you are located, our customers can find support in their local geography.

We began as an automated reference checking solution...

Encouraging the HR and recruitment industry to transition away from phone-based checks to reduce time to hire and ensure compliance throughout the process. However, as talent acquisition increasingly becomes more remote and the online economy thrives, trust in people and the need to streamline processes grows in importance. Our next generation platform has been built to satisfy the demands of a rapidly-changing market and features solutions to satisfy all stages of the talent journey so you can make empowered people-focused decisions to recruit, retain and remember your people with ease.

Xref team
Xref team
Xref team
Xref team
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What's in a name

Why we're called Xref

Xref is a drafting term. On an engineering drawing, when two paths cross, this is known as an 'xref'.

When two career paths cross in a moment in time, we call that moment the 'xref'. Our platform gathers feedback from two or more individuals to create a record of that one point in historical time where two career paths crossed.

We've created a real and lasting impact

10
+

Years in business

195

Countries

35
+

Integration partners

1
M+

Users

Sustainability

Embodying sustainable practises for the future

Paperless automation
Reducing paper consumption by using digital files and cloud-based file-sharing for operational and financial efficiency, and environmental benefits.

AWS Microservices Infrastructure
Running all services via Amazon Web Services, with the lowest level of environmental impact possible, and passing on energy savings to customers.

Work From Home policy
Allowing all staff to work from home, resulting in a low global carbon footprint and truly paperless working environment.

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Our platform

The Xref product  methodology

With local developers using the latest technologies to build our platform, Xref's mission is to create a user-focused experience to streamline HR and recruitment processes. As a best-in-class HR software, we create efficiencies that lead to people-focused, actionable feedback and data-driven decision making. We readily welcome feedback from our users to improve our offering and maintain our position at the forefront of HR tech.

Our leadership

Careers

Let's make an impact together

With a passionate team behind everything that we do, Xref's vision is to change the way organisations collect and action feedback from their people. We're growing rapidly with plenty of exciting new developments and opportunities in play.

Xref team

Sharon Blesson

Chief Technology Officer

Recognised for her ability to bridge the gap between IT and business, Sharon has a rich history of program management in both delivery and operational environments. She has developed excellent leadership skills and expertise in managing diverse teams while providing motivation and strategic vision.

Prior to joining Xref, Sharon spent over a year as director of the project management office at the Ivy College in Sydney, earlier she was a major corporate client manager at Sqware Peg, and also a IT&T Project Manager for recruitment specialists Hays.

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James Solomons

Chief Financial Officer

James is a chartered accountant (FCA) with over 20 years of experience within the accounting & corporate finance industry.

He has held various roles within the sector and has positioned himself as a leader in the accounting technology space bringing with him to Xref over 4 years of experience as Xero Australia’s Head of Accounting.

A successful entrepreneur in his own right James has a deep understanding of the need to find a balance between investing for growth whilst maintaining strong corporate governance processes across the business.

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Dave Haines

GM RapidID

David Haines is the ultimate Xref brand ambassador, having taken up the first full-time role and been a central cog in the system since.

Joining Xref in 2013, with many years in recruitment and HR tech sales behind him, David oversaw the initial growth of the business and its subsequent ASX listing.

Xref’s global expansion dreams became a reality when David took the brand across the world in 2016 and launched Xref EMEA from London.

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Karina Guerra

Group GM - Customer Intelligence

Karina is recognised for her marketing prowess and understanding of technologies that empower organisations and consumers.
With more than 15 years’ experience across multiple industries, Karina has always adopted a hands-on approach to reaching audiences with meaningful messages.

She has also developed great analytical skills that have become key to her data-driven decision-making. Prior to joining Xref, Karina spent almost four years with Cochlear APAC where she led digital transformation marketing and analytics.

Karina holds an MBA (UTS) and most recently she completed a Business Analytics Diploma at The Wharton School.

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Sarah Mulvenna

Group GM - Revenue

Sarah began her career at Xref as Client Acquisition Director and in that time has developed and led the high-performing sales team.

Sarah is known for nurturing excellent team culture and strong relationships across all business verticals.

Sarah brings 12 years of experience to Xref from leadership roles in recruitment and sales, most recently working as a Partner at FutureYou.

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Thomas Stianos

Chairman

Mr Stianos is widely recognised as one of the most successful and experienced leaders in the IT industry. He is currently the Chairman of Empired Limited (ASX: EPD) and a non-executive director of Gale Pacific Limited. (ASX: GAP) and Chairman of Escient. Mr Stianos was also previously a non-executive director of Inabox Group Limited and the Managing Director of SMS Management & Technology Limited.

Mr Stianos has also previously held senior positions with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Justice, and Department of Treasury & Finance. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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Nigel Heap

Non Executive Director

Nigel has been a non executive director at Xref since 2016 and is Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee . He has 34 years experience in the recruitment industry and spent his career at Hays PLC, one of the world’s largest recruitment companies.

Nigel joined Hays UK in 1988 as a trainee consultant. By 1997, he was Managing Director of Hays Australia, and consequently expanded operations to New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. This led to his appointment as Managing Director of Asia Pacific.

In 2012 he was appointed UK & Ireland Managing Director and Chairman of the Asia Pacific business and in 2017 Nigel was appointed Managing Director of 12 countries in the EMEA region.

Nigel was also a member of the Management Board for many years until he left Hays in 2022.

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Robert Waring

Company Secretary

Robert has more than 40 years of experience in financial and corporate roles, including more than 30 years in company secretarial roles for ASX‑listed companies.

He is a director of Oakhill Hamilton Pty Ltd, a company that provides secretarial and corporate advisory services to a range of listed and unlisted companies.

He is also the Company Secretary of ASX‑listed companies Aeris Environmental Ltd (ASX:AEI) and Vectus Biosystems Limited (ASX:VBS).

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Peter Langford

General Manager - Xref Engage

Pete was the founder Voice Project, which was acquired by Xref in Jan 2023. He now heads the Engage division within Xref. His team has delivered industry-leading large-scale surveys to more than 4 million employees and customers.

In previous roles, Pete was the Director of the Organisational Psychology program at Macquarie University and earlier was a change management consultant at Accenture.

He holds a PhD and MBA from Macquarie University and a Masters in Clinical Psychology from UNSW. Career awards include a Macquarie University Innovation Award for commercial application of research, an Emerald Literati Award for his published research on leadership, and the Elton Mayo award for early career achievement from the College of Organisational Psychology.

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