Now in its sixth year, the latest annual lists of the ‘Top Ten’ most influential people in the corporate e-learning sector – in the World, North America, Europe, the UK and Asia-Pacific – contain the names of 38 people. Of these, 24 are men and 14 are women.

 

This year, the top spot on three of the lists has changed hands – for the first time since 2010 for the ‘North America’ and ‘World’ lists, with Elliott Masie now slipping one place to second. Each list sees movement in positional terms but last year’s leaders in Europe and the UK retain their positions.

 

Those whose influence in this field appears to have grown most during 2014 include:

  • Craig Weiss, who has taken over top spot in the World and North America lists
  • Christopher Pappas, rising to number three in both the World and Europe lists
  • Laura Overton, who not only consolidated her position at the top of the UK list but also makes her debut in the Europe and World lists

 

All the lists have three new entries this year, reflecting changing attitudes among the lists’ judges – drawn from around the world – towards what now constitutes an ‘influencer’. The current key determining factors for being an influencer in the corporate e-learning field are said to be:

  • Willingness to share knowledge (peer-to-peer learning) – not just opinions or selling products – typically via social media, especially LinkedIn and Twitter
  • Publishing case studies and research on how to achieve improved outcomes
  • Innovation

 

According to the judges focusing on the Asia-Pacific sector, talking about ‘typical e-learning’ is no longer good enough. Practitioners are looking for information on innovation, new ways and new technologies in considered, cost-effective, meaningful implementations.

 

This could manifest itself, throughout 2015 and beyond, via increasingly closer relationships between HR/ learning & development and Internal Communications departments, as more organisations make greater use of enterprise social networks (ESNs) for informal learning.

 

These ‘movers and shakers’ lists are compiled from a corporate online learning perspective, on the basis of a person’s perceived current influence on the online learning industry – as a practitioner, commentator, facilitator and/or thought leader. In such a subjective area, opinions will always differ – and its guaranteed that the judges’ decisions will not meet with universal acclaim – but these lists represent the views of a number of key people about the personalities who lead the corporate online learning world.

 

The 2015 lists are:

 

World List

 

1.     Craig Weiss – an e-learning analyst, expert, author, speaker and thought leader who is CEO of E-Learning 24/7. (Position last year: 2)
2.     Elliott Masie – head of The MASIE Center, a New York think-tank focused on how organisations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. (Position last year: 1)
3.     Christopher Pappas – Greece-based founder and CEO of the eLearning Industry’s Network elearningindustry.com (Position last year: 8 )
4.     Tom Kuhlmann – one of the world’s best known e-learning designers. (Position last year: 3)
5.     Laura Overton – a speaker; member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity, a not-for-profit company that provides research and online resources to help organisations deliver effective learning interventions at work.
6.     Harold Jarche – the Canada-based ‘thought catalyst’, writer and blogger who is also chairman of the Internet Time Alliance. (Position last year: 5)
7.     Patti Shank – founder of Learning Peaks, and an internationally recognised expert on, and advocate for, the pragmatics of the design of information and instruction to help people do what they need to do. (Position last year: 6)
8.     Rebecca Stromeyer – owner of ICWE, which runs Online Educa as well as E-Learning Africa (Position last year: 7)
9.     Sahana Chattopadhyay – Consultant and Deputy Head at Tata Interactive Systems and writer of the ID and Other Reflections blog.
10.  Sunder Ramachandran – blogger and also head of sales training at Pfizer in Mumbai, with over 11 years’ enterprise learning space experience.

‘Bubbling under’

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

  • Jay Cross – a writer, commentator and speaker. (Position last year: 10)
  • Clark Quinn – learning technology consultant, writer and blogger based in California.
  • Donald H Taylor – speaker and online technologies pundit.
  • Ryan Tracey – E-Learning Manager at AMP and writer of the E-Learning Provocateur blog.
  • Nicolas Hellers – the Latin America-based author of books on e-learning, editor and publisher of America Learning Media.
  • Charles Jennings – a speaker, thought leader and ‘70-20-10’ proponent.

North America list

 1.     Craig Weiss – an e-learning analyst, expert, author, speaker and thought leader who is CEO of E-Learning 24/7. (Position last year: 2)

2.     Elliott Masie – head of The MASIE Center, a New York think-tank focused on how organisations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. (Position last year: 1)
3.     Tom Kuhlmann – one of the world’s best known e-learning designers. (Position last year: 3)
4.     Harold Jarche – the Canada-based ‘thought catalyst’, writer and blogger. (Position last year: 5)
5.     Patti Shank – founder of Learning Peaks, and an internationally recognised expert on, and advocate for, the pragmatics of the design of information and instruction to help people do what they need to do. (Position last year: 6)
6.     Aaron Silvers, a designer, technologist and strategist responsible for helping to bring into being learning technologies – notably SCORM and Experience API (otherwise known as ‘Tin Can’). He leads the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee charged with the international industry standardisation of Tin Can.
7.     Debbie Richards – Texas-based President of Creative Interactive Ideas, designing, developing and delivering adult learning programs with measureable impact.
8.     Cathy Moore – e-learning blogger. (Position last year: 4)
9.     Tony Karrer – CEO and consulting CTO of TechEmpower, based in California, USA.
10.  Jay Cross – a writer, commentator and speaker. (Position last year: 7)

‘Bubbling under’

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

  • Connie Malamed – consultant, writer and speaker in the fields of online learning, visual communication, and information design. She publishes The eLearning Coach website. (Position last year: 8 )
  • Cammy Bean – an e-learning instructional designer and vice president of learning design for Kineo US. (Position last year: 9)
  • Roger Schank – president and CEO of Socratic Arts and a long-established thought leader in this sector.
  • Clark Quinn – learning technology consultant, writer and blogger based in California.
  • Jane Bozarth – a speaker and author.
  • John Leh, the CEO and lead analyst at Talented Learning, a Pennsylvania-based news, research and consulting firm specialising in extended enterprise learning technology.
  • Jerry Roche – editorial director, Elearning! and Government Elearning! magazines.

 Europe List

 1.     Rebecca Stromeyer – owner of ICWE, which runs Online Educa as well as E-Learning Africa (Position last year: 1)

2.     Richard Straub – the secretary general of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG), an advisor to the EU on all things to do with e-learning. (Position last year: 2)
3.     Christopher Pappas – Greece-based founder and CEO of the eLearning Industry Network

4.     Helge Scherlund – the Denmark-based writer and blogger on e-learning topics. (Position last year: 3)
5.     Armin Hopp – founder and president of Speexx and a member of ELIG. (Position last year: 4)
6.     Laura Overton – a speaker; member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity

7.     Thea Payome – editor of the Germany-based CheckPoint eLearning ezine and website. (Position last year: 5)
8.     Iva Matasić – CEO at Consulio, Inc – a Croatia-based consultancy, specialising in online learning technologies, connecting EU experts with EU research funds. (Position last year: 9)
9.     Dr Ladislava (‘Vlad’ka’) Knihova – a key champion, user and publisher of e-learning applications within the corporate and academic sectors in the Czech Republic. (Position last year: 8 )
10.  Donald H Taylor – speaker, blogger and online technologies pundit.

‘Bubbling under’

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

  • Sally Ann Moore – an events management and online learning consultancy specialist, based in Switzerland, who organises a number of online learning events around Europe and the rest of the world. (Position last year: 7)
  • Elmar Husmann – deputy secretary general of, and public policy advisor to, ELIG
  • Serge Ravet – of the France-based ePortfolio and Open Badges specialist, ADPIOS.
  • Jane Hart – a workplace learning and collaboration advisor, writer and international speaker. Founder of C4LPT which shares information on new learning trends, technologies and tools.
  • Petros Roumeliotis – of E.VI.A, an Athens-based e-learning company supplying the Greek corporate sector.
  • Charles Jennings – writer, speaker and 70-20-10 proponent.

 UK List

 1.     Laura Overton – a speaker; member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity, a not-for-profit company that provides research and online resources to help organisations deliver effective learning interventions at work. (Position last year: 1)

2.     Jane Hart – a workplace learning and collaboration advisor, writer and international speaker who’s active on social media. Founder of C4LPT which shares information on new learning trends, technologies and tools. (Position last year: 5)
3.     Donald H Taylor – chairman of the annual Learning Technologies conference and chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute. (Position last year: 2)
4.     Gillian Broadhead – social media activist and a director of market analysts Learning Light and the E-Learning Centre.
5.     Martin Baker – CEO of the Charity Learning Consortium (CLC). (Position last year: 6)
6.     Clive Shepherd – a writer and commentator on the online learning scene. (Position last year: 3)
7.     David Wilson – managing director of elearnity and a long-time commentator on the learning technologies sector.
8.     Ben Betts – CEO of HT2 and a specialist in collaborative and game-based learning principles, focusing on engaging learners in online collaborative learning.
9.     Charles Jennings – a speaker and thought leader. (Position last year: 8  )

10.  Julie Wedgwood– director of Productive Ltd, which provides consultancy on the use of learning technology. (Position last year: 9)

‘Bubbling under’

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

  • Piers Lea – a member of the ELIG board and chief strategy officer at Leo and Learning Technologies Group. (Position last year: 7)
  • Donald Clark – a long-established speaker and commentator on e-learning.
  • Vaughan Waller, a writer and commentator who is also senior learning architect for Deloitte Learning Technologies.
  • Nick Shackleton-Jones – group head of online and informal learning at BP, as well as a writer and speaker.
  • Rob Clarke – owner of Training Press Releases.
  • David Patterson – a director of market analysts Learning Light and the E-Learning Centre
  • Asi DeGani– the head of digital learning at Telefónica UK.
    • Colin Steed – a writer, editor and long-time chief executive at the Learning & Performance Institute.
    • Graeme Coomber – CEO of EdTrIn, the publicly listed delivery and marketing platform for demand side education, training and innovation development.

 Asia-Pacific list

 1.     Sahana Chattopadhyay – Consultant and Deputy Head at Tata Interactive Systems and writer of the ID and Other Reflections blog. (Position last year: 7)

2.     Sunder Ramachandran – blogger and also head of sales training at Pfizer in Mumbai, with over 11 years’ enterprise learning space experience.
3.     Ryan Tracey – e-learning manager at AMP, Advisory Board member at eLearn Magazine, reviewer at the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, author of magazine articles and writer of the E-Learning Provocateur blog. (Position last year: 6)
4.     Anne Bartlett-Bragg – managing director Asia-Pacific of the Ripple Effect Group, executive director of the Learning Technologies User Group and contributor to the Ripple Effect Group blog. (Position last year: 5)
5.     Abhijit Bhaduri – author and also chief learning officer of Wipro. Based in Bangalore, India.
6.     Amit Garg – co-founder of Upside Learning, m-learning evangelist, international speaker and contributor to the Upside Learning Blog. (Position last year: 1)
7.     Manish Gupta – CEO of G-Cube Solutions, an e-learning products and services company; director of Vivo Collaboration and speaker on performance support, experiential learning, gamification and just-in-time learning. (Position last year: 8 )
8.     Joyce Seitzinger – author of the Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers, an international speaker and writer of the Cat’s Pyjamas blog. (Position last year: 4)
9.     Manish Mohan – senior vice president at NIIT, a mentor at e3cube and writer of the Learn and Lead blog. (Position last year: 2)
10.  Michelle Ockers– Sydney based organisational learning practitioner, currently working for Coca-Cola Amatil.

‘Bubbling under’

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

  • Zaid Ali Alsagoff – e-learning manager at the International Medical University, avid tweeter and writer of several blogs including ZaidLearn and e-Learning In Malaysia. (Position last year: 10)
  • Abtar Kaur – professor of education and languages at Open University Malaysia; an international speaker and consultant. (Position last year: 3)
  • Sumeet Moghe – training manager at Thoughtworks; tweeter and writer of the The Learning Generalist blog. (Position last year: 9)
  • Jeevan Joshi – principal consultant & founder of KnowledgeWorking; speaker; author of the ‘KnowledgeWorking’ blog, and co-author of ‘The Learning Cafe’ blog.
  • Kavi Arasu – Mumbai-based blogger and member of the corporate learning and development team at Asian Paints.
  • Matt Guyan – Newcastle, New South Wales-based instructional designer, writer and blogger.
  • Tanya Lau – a blogger and e-learning instructional designer from Sydney, working with Transport for New South Wales.