By Tim Hill, President, Blackboard Professional Education Solutions

Welcome to the first edition of the ProEd Quarterly.

Blackboard formed the Professional Education Solutions team earlier this year (which we informally call “ProEd”) to commit our resources and creative talent to meeting the e-Learning needs of corporations, the U.S. government, associations and for-profit education providers.

The ProEd team is comprised of dedicated Client Support, Marketing, Sales and Consulting personnel—all focused on delivering the highest levels of innovation, value and service to you. As part of this focused commitment, we will publish a quarterly newsletter to inform you of the latest Blackboard news and successful ways organizations are leveraging technology to enhance learning and development.

We’ll also profile thought leaders within the learning industry and report success stories from within the Blackboard community of practice—how you and your peers are using Blackboard Professional Education Solutions to fully engage employees and develop talent across your organizations.

As president of ProEd, I am responsible for growing, retaining and servicing the Blackboard client base, and ensuring our team helps you achieve the goals your organization envisions for itself: Your success is our success.

I joined Blackboard in 2004, and previously served as senior vice president of Global Marketing. Prior to joining Blackboard, I served as principal of Hill Partners, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the development and implementation of corporate branding, identity, strategy, product marketing and international expansion. Before founding Hill Partners, I served as vice president of Worldwide Marketing and International Sales at SAGA Software (Software AG Americas). I bring to the Blackboard ProEd team more than two decades of experience in sales and marketing strategy development and execution.

Joining me in leading this group is the ProEd Management Team:

Paul Terry, Vice President of Operations and Strategy
Paul is charged with creating and executing the business plan and strategy for the ProEd team. Paul has been with Blackboard for six years and most recently served as vice president of Business Development, creating new partnerships to expand the Blackboard Academic Suite™. In that role he worked with many large technology partners, including Microsoft, Dell, Oracle and Intel. Prior to joining Blackboard, Paul worked as an attorney for nine years at the law firm currently named Pillsbury, Winthrop.

Michael Blinov, Senior Director of Consulting Services
Michael recently joined us and brings more than 11 years of consulting experience with “The Big Five” practices of Ernst & Young, KPMG and most recently BearingPoint. His clients have included organizations in both the commercial and public sectors. In his current role, Michael is responsible for delivering consulting services from strategy through implementation to ongoing maintenance. His Consulting team works to understand your needs and ensure you meet your overall business objectives.

Lisa Plaskow, Director of Marketing
Lisa recently joined us from Plateau Systems and brings more than a decade of experience in product management, marketing, and consulting in the commercial and federal sectors. In her current role, Lisa is responsible for identifying client and market requirements, setting product strategy and direction, and overseeing all outbound marketing efforts. 

Patrick Devlin, Vice President of Sales
Patrick and his Sales team are responsible for driving revenue growth within our area of the company. He has more than 10 years of experience working with commercial and federal clients in the learning and HR market, and over 20 years of experience in the software industry. I imagine many of you already know Patrick and have worked with him during his four-year tenure at Blackboard.

Todd Nelson, Director of Business Development
Todd is the newest member of the ProEd Management Team, having spent 12 years in product marketing and sales with such companies as United Parcel Service, Cargill, IBM and most recently Dell. While at Dell, Todd worked in the Public Division, which consists of Education, Government and Healthcare. He is responsible for developing new partnerships and alliances to enhance the Blackboard offering in the professional education market.

David Rosenbaum, Senior Solutions Engineer
David joined the ProEd Group this year after working for more than six years with WebCT as a solutions engineer and director of product management. He worked with many of WebCT’s largest Vista clients and was particularly active with early adopters. David brings more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, having worked with startups to large corporations. In his current role, he works with users to identify client needs and determine appropriate solutions to meet your organizational goals.

This first edition of the ProEd Quarterly newsletter contains several interesting articles:

• Q&A with leading industry analyst Josh Bersin, principle of Bersin & Associates
• Profile of manufacturer Artic Cat which has experienced a 300% increase in training certifications while using Blackboard^® software
• Best practices and creative tips to increase your user adoption from our professional education market-dedicated senior solutions engineer
• Previews of upcoming events such as ASTD’s 2007 International Conference & Exposition and BbWorld^® ’07, Blackboard’s annual global users conference (to be held this year in Boston from July 10–12)

On behalf of the Blackboard ProEd team, I’d like to thank you for partnering with us in your e-Learning endeavors. I look forward to personally meeting you during the coming year and discussing how Blackboard can best help you meet your business objectives. Our commitment to your success is stronger than ever.