Welcome Tim Martin,
ODE has a new CEO, Tim Martin. Tim is from Chicago, Illinois. He brings 20 years of experience in business and a ton of positive thinking to ODE. I can speak from meetings with Tim that he’s excited about the future of ODE and ready to do what it takes to improve the website, the quality of the lessons, and customer service. The reason that Tim was brought on to the team (aside from his general excellence) was that the other owners of On Demand Training (ODE’s parent company) Ken Carroll, Steve Williams, and Brian McCloskey, wanted to take a step back and focus on other projects. They knew that ODE deserved the attention of someone with great business knowledge and personal character - thus they searched for and found Tim.
ODE’s definitely in good hands. Good luck Tim,
Kris
Greetings all,
Over the next month or so, Englishpod will publish fewer new lessons.
How many? ODE will publish just 2 lessons for the next 2 weeks (the same amount as this week) and then just one lesson/week for the 3 or 4 weeks after that. I know this sounds like very few lessons, but wait - there is a positive side. ODE currently has 107 lessons on the website - this is a chance for everyone to review the lessons and practice what you’ve learned. I know from previous experience it’s good to take breaks and re-energize whatever you’re learning.
Why? There are several reasons for the slowdown. On reason is the Holiday season. As you may know, people in many countries celebrate Christmas, and they take holidays to visit family and loved ones. All business in Western countries slows down a bit at Christmas (with the exception of retail because of Christmas gift shopping).
Another reason is that I am leaving the company to pursue other career options. ODE is going to find the right person to continue on with the podcasting, blogging, and other tasks I do, but it takes time. The good part is that they’ll be a new voice - variety in the voices you hear can really help build listening skills. Plus, I’m confident ODE will find someone with more business knowledge than myself.
In addition, everyone at ODE thinks this is a good moment to re-think the podcasts and see if there are some improvements we can make in them. Sometimes the staff here spend so much time and energy on production, and we don’t take a step back and look critically at the lessons. So this is a good opportunity to re-tool and improve the podcasts. It will also give our tech team a chance to grow and make improvements to the website.
It was great being a part of Englishpod and helping so many great students. I wish all the people behind ODE the best - I know they will do well, and of course, to the students, I hope every one of you can reach your goals and become confident speaking professional English.
Best Regards,
Kris Fedorak
