LearnPro Group announces new CEO

  

LearnPro Group announces new CEO

7 September 2022 - Delft, The Netherlands; Farnborough, England and Edinburgh, Scotland: LearnPro Group, the global leader in virtual reality and e-learning solutions for the health, fire, police and other emergency services is pleased to announce the appointment of Costi Karayannis as CEO, effective 3 October 2022.

Karayannis joins from Capita PLC, where he led Capita Learning and he has held leadership roles in the learning and training divisions of V-Ships and Babcock International, bringing extensive experience in learning and training solutions for private and public sector organisations.

As part of a planned transition, Christine Blaydon and Stewart Walters, co-founders of learnPro LMS and pdrPro, will be retiring from their current roles. Joost Beerthuis will move from CEO to become Senior Advisor, supporting Karayannis with strategic initiatives.

Commenting on his appointment, Karayannis highlighted “With over 400 customers in 50 countries and more than 400,000 emergency service and health care staff using our software, our solution is critical to the safety and training of healthcare and emergency service staff who make a real difference to the communities they work in”

Beerthuis added “The combination of XVR, learnPro LMS and pdrPro to form LearnPro Group created an exciting platform to provide a range of critical solutions to first responders and incident commanders across the globe. Costi’s background and experience will help deliver our growth plans”

LearnPro Group was formed in 2021 through the combination of XVR, learnPro LMS and pdrPro, supported with investment from Apiary Capital.

About LearnPro Group

LearnPro Group is the global leader in virtual reality and e-learning solutions for the health, fire, police and other emergency services. The combined software suite made up of learnPro, pdrPro and XVR provides a platform for learning management, authoring, competency reporting and training, including an immersive virtual reality simulation training platform. The suite of products is used by leading public sector institutions to train and manage over 400,000 emergency service and health care staff each year.

With offices in England, Scotland and the Netherlands, LearnPro Group has 400+ clients across 50 countries.

About Apiary Capital LLP

Apiary Capital is a UK private equity firm investing in the education, healthcare, financial, business and technology services sectors. The firm seeks to back platform companies in attractive market segments and supports management teams to accelerate growth through roll-ups, roll-outs, and strategic acquisitions. Apiary Capital closed its first fund at £200 million in June 2018 and typically invests in businesses valued between £10 million and £75 million.





Press Release - Introducing the LearnPro Group




XVR Simulation and LearnPro eFireService merge to create a global leader in virtual reality training  and e-learning for the health and emergency services.

24 August 2021 - Delft, The Netherlands; Farnborough, England and Edinburgh, Scotland:  

XVR Simulation and LearnPro eFireService have merged to create a global leader in virtual reality and  e-learning solutions for the health, fire, police and other emergency services. The combined software  suite provides a platform for e-learning management, an authoring tool, competency reporting and  training, including an immersive virtual reality simulation training platform. 

The combined business has a focus on public sector organisations where training is essential to  maintain and improve skill and knowledge, and together they will have over 450 fire, police and health  customers in more than 50 countries. The suite of products are used by leading public sector  institutions to train over 300,000 emergency service and health care staff each year. 

The newly formed group will be led by Joost Beerthuis, CEO of XVR Simulation, supported by the  founders of LearnPro eFireService, Christine Blaydon, Stewart Walters and Neil Colling

Commenting of the merger, Joost Beerthuis, CEO XVR Simulation, stated: 

“Merging XVR Simulation and LearnPro eFireService is an exciting opportunity that brings together  expertise in training both front line staff and incident response/managers. XVR Simulation is the market leader in virtual reality training for emergency services and combining with LearnPro  eFireService’s expertise in learning management and competency training and reporting will make us  a global leader in virtual reality training and e-learning for the health and emergency services.” 

Christine Blaydon, MD and founder of LearnPro eFireService, added: 

“At LearnPro eFireService, we have developed a platform that includes a vast library of content  created with our customers in the NHS as well as within the fire service, all delivered on a user led,  multi-platform basis. Adding the immersive capabilities of XVR Simulation will be exciting for our staff  and customers.” 

Neil Colling, MD and founder of LearnPro eFireService, noted: 

“We are excited about the shared heritage and focus on fire and rescue customers, with the combined  business having unique ability to deliver training, competence management and e-learning capabilities from incident commanders through to the station and front line staff. There is a wide  range of customers associated with emergency response and public infrastructure that we are able to  support.” 

Looking ahead, Beerthuis added: 

“The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with training face to face or in a group significantly  restricted, have reinforced to our customers the value of technology driven training, delivered in a  flexible manner. The combined business is well placed to invest in new products to support our  customers as we launch new products such as XVR Expo and WorkforcePro.” 

End of press release


About XVR Simulation 

XVR Simulation believes in enhancing the competence and expertise of all emergency responders through simulation. We do this by creating versatile programs in which learning is key and the  instructor is in control. Every program offers an immersive learning environment for all levels of  incident command, to be used in both single- and multi-agency exercises. 

XVR Simulation is the world’s leading developer of simulation technology with over 300 training organisations in more than 50 countries worldwide using XVR to train 150,000 incident responders every year. XVR boasts over 30 international partners providing users with local support. 



About LearnPro eFireService 

LearnPro eFireService provides compliance based e-learning, competency management and training solutions for public sector organisations across the UK. These solutions are delivered through two core platforms; LearnPro and eFireService. 

LearnPro, with over 500,000 registered users, is used by over 100 customers across the public sector in the UK and in most hospitals within the NHS. 

LearnPro manages over 100,000 users each month accessing over half a million assessments and modules ensuring compliance across the public sector covering the NHS, Community Health Care Sector and Councils and Fire Service 


eFireService is the UK’s market leading platform for the provision of competence management and e-learning solutions for Fire and Rescue Services. It is the only solution that integrates training, incident recording, e-learning, development pathways and equipment testing in one system. 

Over 50,000 operational Fire and Rescue staff across the UK access the eFireService platform for all their competence, learning and development needs. 

Media enquiries

UK contact 

Emma Colling  / Tel: +44 (0) 7889724593  / emma@efireservice.com

International contact

Ferry Pak  / Tel: +31 (0)15 212 52 76  / pak@xvrsim.com