GeoLearning Systems Inc., a 13-year-old West Des Moines learning and management system (LMS) company that has grown to become a market leader, has been acquired by SumTotal Systems Inc., the largest player in the LMS industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed by Gainesville, Fla.-based SumTotal, which is privately owned.

With the acquisition, GeoLearning will operate under the SumTotal brand as one of the company’s four “centers of excellence.” SumTotal has more than 2,300 customers and 39 million users worldwide.

GeoLearning founder Frank Russell has left the company, but SumTotal expects to retain many of its senior executives, said Christopher Faust, SumTotal’s vice president of global marketing.

The acquisition “really creates the largest and most complete provider out there,” Faust said. “The team (in West Des Moines) is really critical to our success.”

GeoLearning, which has received numerous awards for its learning software products, had 55 percent growth in revenues between 2006 and 2009, and the company has been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for seven consecutive years.

GeoLearning has 190 full-time employees at its West Des Moines office, according to the Business Record’s 2011 Book of Lists. Faust said it’s possible that employment there will increase as SumTotal grows.

SumTotal, which has annual sales of more than $150 million, “has a history of successful acquisitions, including Docent, Click2Learn, Pathlore, Mindsolve, Softscape and now GeoLearning,” said Josh Bersin president and CEO of Bersin & Associates, an analyst who follows the industry. SumTotal is owned by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm “with a real ‘Playbook’ for software company mergers,” Bersin wrote yesterday in his blog.

“With the acquisition of GeoLearning, SumTotal has snapped up one of the leading LMS players to even more firmly establish its No. 1 position in the learning market and strong position in integrated talent management systems,” Bersin said.