Core Values and Passion for People is what this Key Contributor Award Winner is all about

When people trust you, they do business with you. Our newest Key Contributor Award Winner (okay, she has actually received this award before) exemplifies that tenfold.

That is why I am thrilled to announce Melanie Benitez as our 2021 2nd Quarter Key Contributor Award winner! This past year, like many other years, Melanie has won the trust of not only her team members but also our clients.

Melanie has been at the forefront of Managing Customer Success for Know Your Talents, the Corporate Division of LearnKey. Here is what her team members said during the nomination “Melanie epitomizes our core values: Ease, Value, and Trust. She has done a fabulous job at creating our ‘stickiness’ with our Enterprise Development Solution clients. As a result they are becoming smarter, successful with PDP, and more educated than ever before due to the process and solutions Melanie and her team are providing for them. ”

Melanie and her team are now providing continuous webinars, Mentor Certifications, and 1-1 coaching to the tune of 100s of hours with leaders within our customer base. This has driven much more growth to the business and she has been responsible for ensuring the renewals and exceeding customer expectations for our valued clients, naming a few that include HPone, Pioneer Title, and Creative Testing Solutions.

One quality Melanie possesses above and beyond is her ability to gain tremendous client loyalty. This comes from who she is, which is an amazing team member and someone we are so grateful to have on our team.

Please join me in congratulating Melanie — once again!

Newest Key Contributor Award winners a true story in teamwork

This year has been filled with new acquisitions like Know Your Talents and most recently the addition of Brighton College. With these exciting additions to the LearnKey family it takes a tremendous amount of work to ensure a smooth transition for our employees, their benefits, and ensuring a smooth onboarding to LearnKey. Then you have the accounting, reporting, IT systems, work, and process flows that need to be integrated; oh, plus you have to continue to run the business. Additionally, since the pandemic LearnKey has been in a growth mode, so there has been new hire on-boarding which is so different in today’s world.

This is where Chad Stocks and Wendi Magnum, two 20-year-plus employees of LearnKey have stepped up big time and earned the Key Contributor Award Winners for the first quarter of 2021!

While things are hectic, exciting, and growing, you need those cool, calm, and collective a.k.a. high pace, high conformance (that’s KYT talk) team members who consistently keep things moving smoothly in the background. And they did that 10 times over for us.

“Chad and Wendi not only welcomed in our newest team members they also rolled out a new benefits plan at the end of last year without a glitch.” said one of the nominating managers. “Wendi came to work every day during the pandemic these past 13 months and never once complained about it.” said another team member.

These two also demonstrate LearnKey’s core values through doing. They are both extremely easy to work with, employees trust them, confide in them, and look to them for guidance all the time. The value they have brought to LearnKey over the last 20+ years is something we will always be grateful for as it is their way of demonstrating our “why” – Improving Employability Every Day!

Once again congratulations on a job well done.

Newest winner delivers LearnKey an awesome makeover!

By the end of last year we successfully rolled out a new LearnKey.com website and we have our newest Key Contributor Award Winner Brad Washburn to thank for that. We call Brad our “utility player”, due to the roles he can perform at LearnKey. This project was something Brad worked on for months at the end of last year and required a lot of collaboration with not only internal LearnKey team members, but also external web developers. The new site features storefront functionality, new messaging, and layout that is much more clear and understandable than the previous website.

Brad truly demonstrated our core values Ease, Value, and Trust. He was easy to work with throughout the project, his contributions were of significant value, and all team members on the project could trust that the work would be done, and done right.

Here is what Beau Shakespear, who nominated Brad had to say “Brad went through every single page of the old website (hundreds of pages) and updated, redirected, or deleted pages. He was patient when Kim and I would ask him to make edits live then change our minds and have him change it back. Brad is always great to work with and always did what he said he was going to do.” He also met every single deadline to ensure this was done by year end. It has been over ten (10) years that we had such an improvement to our website.

We were excited to share Brad’s receipt of this award during our monthly all hands video conference call last week. We feel so fortunate to have team members like Brad and also other 2020 Key Contributor award winners like Jade Brown, Jeff Martin, Annalise Sluder, and Susan Somerville. They all made major contributions to our 2020 success.

Incredible attitude & impeccable kindness describes key contributor award winner

One of the greatest assets LearnKey has is our people who drive a great culture. Years of reinforcing our core values, Ease, Value, & Trust, the dividends continue to pay to this day. We know we are fortunate to have awesome team members, especially during these times. Which is why it is so important to celebrate and recognize individuals and teams for their accomplishments.

Our newest quarterly Key Contributor Award Winner Annalise Sluder, LearnKey’s lead writer, is a perfect example. We were pretty excited about launching a new course earlier this year (non IT) covering Communication Skills for Business (CSB), one of the first communication skills certification courses of its kind.

Annalise took extra steps to ensure it was a success. Her manager Marion had this to say: “Always a ‘can do’ attitude and what really stuck out is since taking the lead writing position she has stepped up to better the writing process, trained other team members in Natasha, and M’lissa, then got certified in the CSB course to make sure the workbook and tests were the best they could be. She truly lives our core values, ease, value and trust.”

LearnKey’s Senior Instructor, Jason Manibog had this to say: “We put Annalise in the Lead Writer role and man, has she taken on the lead, with an emphasis on lead. She has steered the writing in a perfect direction, organized all the standards, communicates and adjusts perfectly to our standards and the needs for each course, and she has put anyone who touches writing tasks in the best position to succeed. I know I’ve had to worry far less about how tests/workbooks are as we the authors give her the ‘look’ needed for a course and she takes it from there.”

Our Chief Employability Officer, Beth Ciaramello said something that was so sweet after everyone else chimed in. She said, “Plus, Annalise has an incredible attitude and treats everyone with impeccable kindness.”

That said it all and we sure did enjoy celebrating your award during our all-hands company meeting this past Wednesday, April 29th, 2020!

Bravo Annalise congratulations we are blessed to have you on our team. Every quarter this award gets harder and harder to award as there are so many of our team members who are always going above and beyond to reinforce our “Why”: Improving Employability Every Day.

Key Contributor Award Recipient: Leverages his creativity for LearnKey!

Designers are so cool and we have an awesome team of them (Bill, Chris and JJ). They make our courses “pop,” hold attention, depict a learning scenario, and many more types of themes. It’s not always easy to be creative on demand which is why the way they work together is amazing.

Our key contributor award is given quarterly to an individual or team that goes above and beyond in demonstrating our “why” – Improving Employability Every Day – or core values: ease, value, and trust.

It gives me great pleasure to announce our latest Key Contributor Award recipient, Bill Wilhelm, based in our Cedar City, UT, office. The last five (5) years Bill has been “steady Eddie” when it comes to consistency in being a great team player, can-do attitude, and one to display our core values when interacting with other LearnKey team members. Jason Manibog, LearnKey’s Senior Instructor had this to say about Bill:

“I can always count on him to do great work and do it on time. If I need something last-minute, such as a flyer or brochure or other graphics piece, he is always there, willing to help out. His work on our courses channels our want to improve employability everyday. He is an absolute pleasure to work with.” Another member of the leadership team, Beth Ciaramello, raves about his can-do attitude. “Bill has helped the job ready team without hesitation! His ideas are creative and innovative but keeps our input in mind AND hits deadlines with accuracy. He also has an amazing sense of humor!”

Sheena Chamberlain, our Quality Control and Content Publishing Manager, sees someone who is not afraid to help out other team members any way possible. “Bill is one that I can count on for anything, and I know he will never hesitate or say no to helping out with any project (even if it’s loading up boxes or rearranging the storage room). He is a wonderful designer, a human version of Google, and consistently amazing at everything he does.”

This past week I had the honor to present Bill this award in person and it was the best part of my week. Thank you Bill for all your contributions to LearnKey as we truly feel so fortunate to have you on our team!

Best Regards,

Jeff

Newest Key Contributor Award Winner Chip Ehlers

Today I am pleased to announce the newest recipient of our Key Contributor Award, Chip Ehlers. This award is really about who in our companies embraces our core values, Ease, Value and Trust, and make key contributions so we can fulfill our “Why,” which is improving employability every day.

Chip, a 16-year LearnKey team member never shies away from any task that he is asked to do. From order entry and fulfillment to printing and shipping catalogs, Chip never says ‘it can’t be done.’ Of course he is most famous in the St. George office for serenading his coworkers when a catchy song comes on the radio. Here are some things that his nominating coworkers said about Chip:

Jared: Chip is the ultimate team player and does whatever is needed to help the team win. He isn’t above anything that he is asked. He rolls up his sleeves and figures out a way to get the job done. You can ALWAYS count on Chip.

Kim: When I think of Chip- he is always cool, calm, and collected. If deadlines change and he has to adjust his schedule – it’s always “no problem.”

Chad: Chip goes above and beyond in everything that he’s asked to do.

One of our programs has had strong growth over 30% the last two years. That means Chip’s workload has grown by that and never once has he asked for relief or additional help. His ability to handle multiple projects and tasks with critical deadlines is second to none. Most recently while in St. George I mentioned that we should probably look to clean up some of our storage areas by the end of the year, but when I came back two weeks ago Chip had it done. Did not have to ask twice, he took care of it. Again, way to go Chip!

Please join me in congratulating Chip on receiving this award and for sticking to our core values: Ease, Value, and Trust, but most importantly, he truly helps LearnKey Improve Employability Every Day!

Key Contributor Award Winner: All About Improving Employability Every Day!

In January, Better Learning Systems announced our 2016 4^th quarter Key Contributor Award winner, and not only was this person well deserving but she also is about our true “Why,” which is Improving Employability Every Day!

It gives me great pleasure to announce Ms. Jessica Staples as our most recent Key Contributor award winner, someone who is quite familiar with being awesome! She is in good company as previous winners include: Jason Manibog, Kim Johnson & Wyett Ihler, Sarah Blik & Melanie Benitez and of course the rockstar LearnKey Technical Support team!

Jessica is a key member of our LearnKey Veteran Services team, making it through some major transitions over the past few years to help streamline and improve the program. She is also celebrating three (3) years with LearnKey this month. She is a true team player who constantly demonstrates our core values: Ease, Value, and Trust every day!

During the 4^th Quarter, Jessica was an enormous help with training and mentoring our newest VSR, Nina Sepulveda. With her extensive knowledge of the program and eagerness to help, she made the onboarding of Nina an easy process. We can’t thank her enough for her contribution as a team player. When things didn’t work perfectly or go according to plan, she made it work for her students and for LearnKey. She is extremely detailed and every one of her students has nothing but great things to say about her. When she takes on a task we can trust she will get it done, and with all of the I’s dotted and T’s crossed.

In 2016 our LearnKey Veteran Services Team assisted students in achieving over 285 certifications, with Jessica directly supporting 128 of those certifications! Her dedication to helping our students achieve their goals is a true example of value.

Again, please join me in congratulating Jessica for her spirited team work, “can do attitude,” and overwhelming positive and motivational support she provides our student base. She is a great reflection of what it means to be “Improving Employability Every Day”.

Kind Regards,

Jeff Coruccini

Leaders Making Contributions That Make a Difference!

Leadership sometimes requires people to get out of their comfort zones and when you ask them to do that, it’s really sometimes asking them to take a leap of faith. They have to trust you, they have to take on additional responsibilities, they have to look past the short-term benefits and make sacrifices for the good of the company and believe in the long-term value. Just over a year ago, I asked two people in our Better Learning Systems/LearnKey organization to take that leap of faith with me to believe in something that had never been done and to trust the people and process we were about to embrace, and I can honestly say that the successful partnership LearnKey has recently solidified with GMetrix and Certiport it has allot to do with key contributions from Kim Johnson and Wyett Ihler.

So it gives me great pleasure to announce that both Kim and Wyett are the recipients of our 2016 Key Contributor award voted by their peers! They have truly displayed our core values Ease, Value and Trust throughout this entire project that has required 100% of their efforts for the past twelve (12) months.

In addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, both of them have worked together in tandem to not only successfully roll out our new product, but do it in a way that is good for the company. The work required migrating our certification courseware through an entire reformatting process, quality control testing, sales re-training, and learning a new delivery system. They did it with passion and a “can-do attitude.” They had a lot of help from other LearnKey team members and that required getting those team members to buy into the same leap of faith, that this partnership is going to benefit students, teachers, and learners through providing the ultimate learning experience.

Congratulations to both of them for their commitment to our core values!

LearnKey Announces First Key Contributor Award

At LearnKey, the 2016 year is starting off great as we get to recognize one of our people who lives and breathes our core values of Ease, Value and Trust. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jason Manibog is the first recipient of LearnKey’s Key Contributor award!

Jason joined LearnKey last June as our Senior IT Instructor and has not only improved the quality of our courses but won over all of our production team members with his “can do” attitude, willingness to help anyone out, and, most of all, working endlessly to improve the learning experience for our students and teachers. At LearnKey, we have been fortunate to keep our core employees; therefore, when someone comes on board they are always welcomed with open arms and set up for success. Jason was so impressed by that he went the extra mile to “seek first to understand, before trying to be understood.” This was most impressive when he traveled to meet each team and member (i.e. in Sales, QC, Writing, and the Design teams) in St. George and Cedar City, UT, to make sure he learned existing processes and then presented ways to improve them that reduced a lot of re-work and down time. Marian Eckley, our Video Production Manager, had this to say about Jason: “a tireless worker, he always gives 110%. The guy is a work horse and will never say no to anyone when they ask for help. Jason always outputs more work than asked for.”

Once again let me congratulate Jason on being our first recipient of this award. We promise to keep him really busy as we have a full plate of courses to be released this year that started with MTA Mobility and Device Fundamentals in January. Now we are focused on A+ 220-901 and 902 exam courses, with Adobe CC soon to follow.

Here’s to a great start for 2016!

Sincerely,

Jeff Coruccini

Happy Veterans Day!

Today is Veterans Day and I want to start off by saying THANK YOU to all of the brave men and women who have served or are currently serving our country. At LearnKey we are proud to have both Veterans and active duty military on our team. On this day I want to recognize and thank them for their service. THANK YOU to Michael Watson, Kelly Woods, Aaron Colborn, Jessica Staples, Tristan Roberts, David Lindenmuth, Ed Ohrablo, and Beth Ciaramello. We are grateful for your service and proud to have you all on the LearnKey team. I asked Michael, Kelly, Aaron, Jessica, Tristan, David, Ed, and Beth to share a little bit about their experiences. I hope everyone enjoys reading about their experiences as much as I did.

Michael Watson – Has worked at LearnKey for for 16 years. But Scott Walker was here a year before me. =)

What branch of the military did you serve in? U.S. Navy
How many years did you serve? 4 years
What were you trained in? Communication Technician Radioman & Yeoman
Reflections on your service: I was stationed on the island of Ohau, Hawaii. Based in Pearl Harbor and worked for CINCPAC (a joint command in the mountains overlooking the island) for three years. Not the typical sailor’s tour of duty, but I had it made for my entire four years including one at sea on an attack carrier. I would never trade those four years.

Kelly Woods – Has worked at LearnKey for 3 years

What branch of the military did you serve in? Currently serving in the Army Reserve
How many years did you serve? I have currently been serving for 3 1/2 years
What were you trained in? My MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) is a 68J/Medical logistics Specialist
Reflections of your service: It has been very rewarding to go into the service at an older age. I was 39 when I went through basic training and I learned how old I was then! =) However, through perseverance and dedication I was able to grow tremendously. I find that I love the freedoms that we have in this country and I am proud to be one of the soldiers who defend those freedoms!

Aaron Colborn – Has worked at LearnKey for 2 years

Aaron

What branch of the military did you serve in? Air Force
How many years did you serve? 6 years in England, Italy, Spain, and Kuwait.
What were you trained in? I was trained to work on the LANTIRN system (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra Red for Night). Basically, radar navigation and laser bomb targeting for F-15’s and F-16’s.
I personally had a very good experience, it taught me how to be responsible for myself and others as well as giving me the tools to work as part of a team, something that has been very helpful in the rest of my life. It also put me through school. I used the GI Bill to follow my dream of going to film school. Now I have a BA in Film Studies and didn’t have to pay a penny. I have zero school debt.

Jessica Staples – Has worked at LearnKey for 2 years

What branch of the military did you serve in? U.S. Navy
How many years did you serve? 4 years
What were you trained in? I was a Cryptological Technician. Basically, I analyzed various radar characteristics (what frequencies they ran on, what vessels or aircraft used them, which ones were navigational, which ones were used for weapons systems). I did a lot of investigating, picture taking, logging. It was a cushy, but necessary job on the ship.
Reflections of your service: I really enjoyed traveling. As awful as it was being stuck on a ship for weeks at a time, or on deployment for months at a time, the port visits to foreign countries made it all worth it. I’ve been to Japan, Hong Kong, Palau, Dubai, other areas of the Middle East, Alaska, Guam, and a few others I can’t think of. Experiencing other cultures really made me respect diversity and food. I would give almost anything to experience it all again. Well, the traveling…not the deck swabbing. =)

Tristan Roberts – Has worked at LearnKey for 1 year

What branch of the military did you serve in? U.S. Navy
How long did you serve? 4 years
What were you trained in? I was a Hospital Corpsman (GreenSide) Trained in med/field medicine
Reflections of your service: Best decision I made was joining the military

David Lindenmuth – Has worked at LearnKey for 4 months

What branch of the military did you serve in? U.S. Navy
How long did you serve? 20 years
What were you trained in? Mess Management Specialist (Food Service and Bachelor Quarters). One of, if not the most important job in the military.
Reflections of your service: One of the smartest decisions I have made in my life. I served on the East coast and of my 20 years that I served, 12 1/2 years of it was spent on board ships. I enjoyed my time in the military getting to see a lot of countries that I would not have seen if not for the military. I pretty much have seen all of Europe, Northern Africa, Virgin Islands, and several South American countries during various deployments.

Ed Ohrablo – Has worked at LearnKey for 4 months

What branch of the military did you serve in? U.S. Navy
How long did you serve? 9 years
What were you trained in? I was trained as a radiology technologist and med/field med medicine.
Reflections of your service: I am honored to have had the chance to serve. Being able to travel and see different cultures’ societies, made me realize how amazing our country really remains. Our founding ideas are still worth defending and fighting for.

Beth Ciaramello – Has worked at LearnKey for 5 months

What branch of the military did you serve in? Army
How long did you serve? 1 year
What were you trained in? Military Police
Reflections of your service: Such an amazing experience. I got to create lifelong friendships as well as perform tasks I never thought I would be able to do. Very rewarding experience.

Kent Tilley – Has worked at LearnKey for 6 months

What branch of the military did you serve in? Army
How many years did you serve? 7.5
What were you trained in? Petroleum Supply, Transportation, Infantry, Demolitions, Helicopter Operations
Reflections of your service: It was an honor to work for the Army. I learned about continuing to work no matter the working conditions and getting it done.