There is little chance of anyone in the corporate e-learning field ever being named in the New Year’s Honours List – at least not for their services to corporate e-learning – but, by way of small compensation, there is growing interest in the annual publication of the lists of corporate e-learning’s ‘top ten movers and shakers’. Last year saw the inauguration of the lists – so there is even more interest in this year’s list which not only ‘names names’ but also gives some indication of rising (and falling) reputations.

 

So, once again, here – based on nothing more than experience and prejudice – are the ‘Top Ten’ most influential people in the corporate e-learning sector. Please bear in mind that these lists are compiled on the basis of a person’s perceived influence on the e-learning industry – as a practitioner, commentator, facilitator and/or thought leader.

 

World List

  1. 1.    Elliott Masie. Among many other things, Elliott heads The MASIE Center, a Saratoga Springs, New York, think tank focused on how organisations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. He also leads the Learning CONSORTIUM, a coalition of 240 global organisations cooperating on the evolution of learning strategies. (Position last year: 1)
  2. 2.    Jo Aggarwal. On secondment from her role as Managing Director of Pearson Learning Solutions, Jo is currently working with Silatech, based in Qatar. Silatech’s mission is to connect young people, 18 to 30 years old, with employment and enterprise opportunities. (New entry for 2011)
  3. 3.    Fabrizio Cardinali. CEO of eXact learning solutions North America, chair of ELIG and a member of the board of directors for the IMS Global Learning Consortium. (Position last year: 2)
  4. 4.    Abdullah Al Mogheerah, Manager for Planning & PMO at Saudi Arabia’s National Center for eLearning (NCEL) which, in 2010, instituted the largest learning content digital marketplace implementation in the Arabic world. (New entry for 2011)
  5. 5.    Roger Schank, one of the influential early contributors to artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology in the 1970s and 1980s, is president and CEO of Socratic Arts. In conjunction with Barcelona’s La Salle University, Schank created the Institute for the Learning Sciences which, in a venture with the Business Engineering School, has online offerings for virtual MBAs in Business, eBusiness, and Learning Sciences. (New entry for 2011)
  6. 6.    Anne Forster (Forster and Gibson), one of Australia’s foremost independent e-learning consultants. Based in Sydney, her recent projects have not only included ones in Australia but also in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (New entry for 2011)
  7. 7.    Massood Zarrabian. CEO of Boston, MA, based LCMS providers OutStart. (Position last year: 7)
  8. 8.    Sanjaya Sharma. Head of Tata Interactive Systems, an e-learning content producer which is part of the Tata Group of Companies. (Position last year: 5)
  9. 9.    Jill Duffy, New York based senior editor at eLearn (http://www.elearnmag.org/index.cfm). (New entry for 2011)
  10. 10.  Muyiwa Bamgbose, the CEO of the Educational Advancement Center (EAC) in Nigeria, which is working with The University of Ibadan, one of Nigeria’s leading universities to deliver learning materials to students via their mobile phones – by-passing ‘traditional’ e-learning. (New entry for 2011)

 

‘Bubbling under’

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included:

  • Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of talent management specialists, Plateau Systems.
  • Catherine Upton, CEO of the US-based Elearning! Magazine.
  • Charles Jennings, the former CLO of Thomson Reuters, who is still much in demand as a conference speaker and thought leader. (Position last year: 4 in World, Europe and UK)
  • Pascal Debordes. E-learning director at Cegos, Europe’s leading player in professional training. (Position last year: 8)

 

Europe List

  1. 1.    Richard Straub. The Secretary of ELIG, overseeing ELIG’s role as advisor to the EU on all things to do with e-learning. (Position last year: 1)
  2. 2.    Fabrizio Cardinali. CEO of eXact learning solutions North America, chair of ELIG and a member of the board of directors for the IMS Global Learning Consortium. (Position last year: 2)
  3. 3.    Thea Payome. Editor of the Germany-based CheckPoint eLearning ezine and website (http://www.checkpoint-elearning.com/). (Position last year: 3)
  4. 4.    Dr Ladislava (‘Vlad’ka’) Knihova. A key champion and leading user of e-learning applications within the corporate and academic sectors in the Czech Republic. (Position last year: 7)
  5. 5.    Pascal Debordes. E-learning director at Cegos, Europe’s leading player in professional training. (Position last year: 6)
  6. 6.    Piers Lea. A member of ELIG and CEO of LINE Communications, a company which is one of the leading players in the UK e-learning market and, increasingly, is making inroads into the European market. (New entry for 2011)
  7. 7.    Carin Martell. A channel manager and business development manager at the LCMS and digital repository producer, eXact learning solutions, Carin was one of the keynote speakers at the 2010 European e-learning Summit. (New entry for 2011)
  8. 8.    Christophe Ferrandou, the Paris-based founder and CEO of goFluent, Europe’s leader in business English training. (New entry for 2011)
  9. 9.    Renate Halton. As Head of Halton International, she was the key researcher behind the 2010 Learning Light report on the e-learning sector which looked at the corporate e-learning markets not only in the UK but also in 19 European countries. (New entry for 2011)
  10. 10.  Dimitrios Tsamakos (of Asset Tec), an Athens-based vocational education specialist and pioneer in the application and use of e-learning technologies throughout Greece. (New entry for 2011)

 

‘Bubbling under’

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included:

  • Elmar Hussmann. An executive at IBM, Elmar is a special policy adviser to, and researcher for, ELIG.
  • Helge Scherlund, the Denmark-based writer and blogger on e-learning topics.

.

UK List

  1. 1.    Donald H Taylor. Not just the power behind the success of the Learning Technologies conference (identifying the ‘right’ topics and booking the ‘right’ speakers) but also the editor of Learning Technologies magazine. People tend to watch out for, and read, what he writes. (Position last year: 1)
  2. 2.    Piers Lea. A member of ELIG and CEO of LINE Communications, a company which is one of the leading players in the UK e-learning market and, increasingly, is making inroads into the European market. (Position last year: 8)
  3. 3.    Jane Hart. Founder and CEO of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies and Visiting Lecturer on the MSc in E-Learning at Oxford University, Jane now focuses on helping organisations understand how technologies can be used for collaborative learning and working.  (New entry for 2011)
  4. 4.    Laura Overton, who is Managing Director of Towards Maturity, a not-for-profit community interest company that provides research and online resources to help organisations deliver effective learning interventions at work. (New entry for 2011)
  5. 5.    Steve Rayson. A figurehead in Kineo, champions of open source among other things and now one of the UK’s largest companies in the e-learning sector. (Position last year: 9)
  6. 6.    Donald Clark. Opinionated and vocal, Donald is still in demand as a speaker and commentator. (Position last year: 6)
  7. 7.    Clive Shepherd. Mastermind behind the rise of the eLN CIC – providing valuable information and networking opportunities for everyone in the corporate e-learning sector. He’s also as shrewd a commentator on the e-learning scene as any. (Position last year: 7)
  8. 8.    Clive Snell. The publisher of E-Learning Age magazine and the man behind the highly successful E-Learning Awards. (Position last year: 2)
  9. 9.    Tracy Capaldi-Drewett. Now at REDTRAY, Tracy has worked, over many years, in senior roles with a number of e-learning companies – most recently Epic, under whose auspices he has organised two debates at the Oxford Union on e-learning topics. (New entry for 2011)
  10. 10.   [equal] Martin Baker. Formerly the youngest sales director of Xebec McGraw-Hill, Martin has spent over 20 years in the e-learning sector. He is the Managing Director of LMMatters as well as being the founder and Managing Director of the Charity Learning Consortium (CLC). The Consortium now has more than 78 membership organisations and currently supplies e-learning material for some 80,000 Third Sector staff (not including volunteers).

and Gillian Broadhead. A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Gillian has over 25 years experience of what is now the e-learning sector. Formerly with BT and the Royal Mail, Gillian is currently Director of Learning and Development at Learning Light – and has been instrumental in a number of initiatives there, including the authoritative Learning Light reports on the e-learning sector. (Both are new entries for 2011)

 

‘Bubbling under’

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included:

  • Charles Jennings, the former CLO of Thomson Reuters, who is still much in demand as a conference speaker and thought leader. (Position last year: 4 in UK, Europe and World)
  • Glynn Jung. Well travelled and well known in learning technology circles, Glynn is now an experienced consultant and researcher who has worked on recent Learning Light reports into the e-learning industry.
  • Lars Hyland. once of Epic, then of Brightwave and now of Epic again, Lars is one of the UK’s leading exponents of, and apologists for, high quality learning design.
  • Elizabeth Eyre, editor of Training Journal (http://www.trainingjournal.com)
  • David Wilson, the Managing Director of Elearnity and a well known market researcher, analyst and advisor.
  • John Helmer. A writer, blogger and marketing consultant who advises companies such as LINE Communications on their PR and marketing activities.

 

Of the 31 names on the three lists (19 men and ten women), only two names appear on more than one list: Fabrizio Cardinali and Piers Lea.

 

In terms of nationality, the USA has the largest representation on the ‘World’ list, closely followed by India; while Germany (with three representatives) is just ahead of France (two) in the ‘Europe’ list. Only one British name – Piers Lea’s – appears on the Europe list, suggesting that, although it provides the largest single market for corporate e-learning in Europe (£472m a year), Britain’s e-learning gurus don’t – as yet – ‘travel well’.

 

All three people who topped the lists in 2010 – Elliott Masie, Richard Straub and Donald H Taylor – have retained their position for 2011. The biggest rise in positioning comes from Jo Aggarwal (a new entry at number two in the World list). Piers Lea rises six places to occupy the runner-up spot in the UK list but third and fourth place on that list go to two ‘new entries’: Jane Hart and Laura Overton respectively.