Jean-François Dumas, founder and president of Influence Communication, is a 20-year professional in the field of communications. A public relations and journalism graduate, Mr. Dumas has taught at several Canadian universities including ENAP (École nationale d’administration publique) in Ottawa as well as Université de Montréal, Université du Québec and l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Montreal).

In 1994, Mr. Dumas developed the first electronic news monitoring system for the government of Canada. In 2002, he co-authored "Les relations publiques dans une société en mouvance" (Public relations in a shifting society).

In addition to his pioneering efforts in digitally-based global news monitoring, aggregation and analysis at Influence Communication, he remains a much sought after communications advisor to several large Canadian companies.