Our managing director is Bhaskar Pant.
 Bhaskar
Pant
Bhaskar Pant joined World Learning for Business as managing director
in October 2001. He brings with him over 20 years' experience as an international
manager and training executive, having lived and worked in Africa, Europe,
Asia, and the United States.
Prior to joining World Learning, he served for four years as president
and CEO of Turner Broadcasting South Asia, based in New Delhi, India,
and for five years as vice president at Sony Corporation of America, based
in New Jersey. Most recently, he served as founder, CEO, and principal
trainer of New Millennium Consultants Private Limited, a leading Indian
firm specializing in global effectiveness skills training for multinational
corporations. Among his clients were Hughes Software Systems (a General
Motors company), Bechtel, GE Capital, Microsoft, Ericsson/Hewlett Packard
and The World Bank.
Pant holds a B.S. in electronics engineering from the University of
Rochester and an M.S. in broadcast communications from Indiana University.
Our regional managers are Kenneth
Price, Cindy Barnes Ochoa, Michal Commanday, and
Jim Blake.
Kenneth Price
Kenneth Price is the General Manager (Asia Region) and a Principal Trainer/Consultant
for World Learning's new undertaking in India. A social anthropologist
with more than sixteen years experience working and researching in South
Asia, Ken speaks fluent Hindi (and French), with a functional knowledge
of Urdu and Marathi as well. Combining his passion for languages and cultures
with several years of sales, marketing, and distribution experience in
US companies (including more than two years with HJ Heinz), Ken brings
a fresh and provocative perspective to the utility of intercultural theory
when addressing business communication issues in the South Asian context.
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Cindy Barnes Ochoa
Cindy Barnes Ochoa has over 20 years' experience in the development
and management of language training. She has taught ESL in Japan and at
the college level in the U.S. A former director of intensive English programs
in the U.S. and a past president of AAIEP (American Association of Intensive
English Programs), she has been a key manager for 10 years in the team
that created World Learning for Business.
In addition to her work with World Learning for Business, Ms. Ochoa is
a consultant for TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication)
and a commissioner with CEA (Commission on English Language Program Accreditation),
a national accrediting agency. Ms. Ochoa speaks Spanish and travels frequently
to Venezuela, where she has family.
Ms. Ochoa holds a B.A. in communications from the University of Arizona
and an M.A.T. in English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) from SIT
(School for International Training).
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Michal Commanday
Founder of SPEAK UP™ English for Business, a San Francisco Bay Area
training company now an essential component of World Learning, Ms. Commanday
directs the organization's performance-based communications programs in
California.
Ms. Commanday has consulted and trained for multinational companies in
a range of industries since 1984. As principal of BLC Intercultural Business
Consultants, a training company focusing on U.S.-Asia relationships, she
designed and delivered intercultural communications training programs
for companies including Levi Strauss, Applied Materials, and National
Semiconductor.
After working with non-native English speaking professionals for 12 years,
Ms. Commanday founded SPEAK UP™ with partner Sue Gibbons to address
the special training needs of the highly diverse California workforce.
At SPEAK UP™, she has consulted with client companies in biotechnology,
finance, IT, and manufacturing to create competency-targeted language
courses for hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area technical professionals.
From 1990-95, Ms. Commanday also served on the faculty of the English
for Professional Development program at the University of California,
Berkeley Extension Program.
Ms. Commanday holds the B.A. in Oriental Languages and an English as
second language (ESL) teaching certificate from the University of California,
Berkeley.
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Jim Blake
Director of immersion English training for business professionals at World
Learning's Vermont site for the last eight years, Jim Blake has four decades
of experience in education and training, serving variously as teacher,
consultant, program manager, and developer and author of educational materials.
The major portion of his career has been devoted to English education
for native speakers and English as a Second Language (ESL) training in
the US and the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent. He is co-author of The
Great Perpetual Learning Machine (Little, Brown & Co. 1976).
As a member of the core World Learning for Business management team since
its inception, Mr. Blake has participated in the strategic development
of the unit.
Mr. Blake holds a B.A. in English from Bowdoin College and an M.A. in
English language and literature from the University of Oregon.
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Among our performance consultants is Dan Clapper.
Dan Clapper
As senior consultant for World Learning for Business, Dan Clapper serves
as a performance consultant, primarily to human resource directors of
multinational firms, on learning architectures for languages, intercultural
communication, and leadership. His career began in Silicon Valley, where
he won San Jose State's Gunderson Prize for his work applying systems
thinking to the design of language programs for specific purposes. He
has since designed programs for at-risk youth, line managers, production
workers, senior executives, and immigrants not literate in their first
language.
Mr. Clapper worked in Tokyo for three years, primarily with joint ventures
between the private sector and universities. His recent projects are blended
e-learning environments for clients in Europe and developing countries
in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Mr. Clapper holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University, an M.Ed.
in TESOL from Temple University Japan, an M.S. in cybernetic systems from
San Jose State University, and an M.A. in English from Cal State University,
Hayward.
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Among our intercultural consultants is Kinya Sakamoto.
Kinya Sakamoto
A native of Japan, Mr. Sakamoto worked in Japan for six years in human
resource development for multinational corporations. A member of the World
Learning for Business staff since 1999, he currently designs and delivers
intercultural communications training to executives and high-potential
employees working in global business settings.
Mr. Sakamoto holds a B.A in economics from Kansai University in Osaka,
Japan, and an M.A. in intercultural and international management from
SIT (School for International Training). His specialty is intercultural
communication and management training for business executives.
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Among our language training supervisors are Fiona Cook, Julie
Datres, and Elizabeth Edwards.
 Fiona
Cook
Fiona Cook joined the World Learning for Business team as a training
designer in October 2000, having served as atrainer in English to speakers
of other languages (ESOL) with the department in the early 1990s and as
a graduate admissions counselor for SIT (School for International Training).
A native of Britain, Ms. Cook has lived and worked in France, Brunei,
Algeria, Mexico, and Kuwait, as well as in California and Vermont. Her
many years in the classroom have given her hands-on experience in a range
of academic and educational settings as well as the pleasure of getting
to know people from other language backgrounds and cultures.
As a language training supervisor, Ms. Cook oversees World Learning
for Business' on-site ESOL training programs. She works with corporate
language trainers at a number of U.S. sites, offering academic support
and advising on curriculum and teaching methodology. She also provides
language assessment, distance coaching, and guidance in the Self-Directed
Learning (SDL) Program for trainees.
Ms. Cook is a graduate of Cambridge University's College of Education
and she holds an M.A.T. in English to Sspeakers of other languages (ESOL)
from SIT (School for International Training).
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Julie Datres
Julie Datres joined World Learning for Business in August of 2000 as an
ESOL trainer in the Immersion program. She assumed her current position
as language training supervisor in October 2001. Before coming to World
Learning, Ms. Datres was an instructor of ESOL and German, training learners
in both academic and corporate contexts.
In her current position, Ms. Datres coordinates on-site ESOL and foreign
language training programs for corporate clients in different locations
throughout the U.S. In addition to working with trainers to design curriculum
and provide academic support, she conducts assessments for prospective
clients, researches and reviews ESOL and foreign language materials, and
works with trainees directly to provide SDL (Self-Directed Learning) coaching.
Ms. Datres holds a B.A. from Duquesne University, and an M.A. in Germanic
languages and literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
She spent one year of her master's program studying at the Albrecht Ludwig
University in Freiburg, Germany. She has also studied Russian, French,
Danish, and Italian and is currently learning Spanish.
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Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards left a career in public utility law to pursue teaching.
When she joined World Learning for Business in 1997, she had worked for
15 years in the ESOL field in Italy, Thailand, Japan, Nepal, Morocco,
Finland, and Egypt. She also served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Nepal and
as a USAID English Teaching Fellow in Alexandria, Egypt, before accepting
positions at the American University in Cairo and Northeastern University
in Boston.
A core trainer and training designer in World Learning's English Immersion
program in Vermont until 2002, Ms. Edwards is now part of a team of language
training supervisors who oversee training courses in multiple languages
and provide academic support to local trainers at company sites in the
U.S.
Ms. Edwards holds a B.A. from Ohio State University, an M.A. in legal
studies from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco, an M.A.T. in English
to speakers of other languages (ESOL) from SIT (School for International
Training), and a certificate in distance learning from the State University
of West Georgia.
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Our lead trainer in Coral Gables, Florida is Francisco Pinto-Torres.
Francisco Pinto-Torres
A native of Colombia, Paco Pinto-Torres has taught English at the USIA
Binational Center in Medellin, Colombia, and at Miami-Dade Community College.
He has taught Spanish at the University of Michigan and at Middlebury
College, and has also taught anthropology and humanities at the college
level. Mr. Pinto-Torres practiced law in Coral Gables, Florida, until
1997, specializing in aviation law and international transactions. In
addition to Spanish and English, he speaks French, Portuguese, and Catalan.
Mr. Pinto-Torres joined World Learning for Business as a trainer in 2000,
and has served as lead trainer in Coral Gables since October 2001. In
his current position, he is responsible for staffing, trainer supervision
and support, and client relations, in addition to teaching English and
Spanish.
Mr. Pinto-Torres holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from the
University of Michigan, and a J.D. from Wayne Law School.
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Among our senior training specialists are Joe Bennett, Kathleen
O'Dea, and Eric Strickland.
Joe Bennett
Joe Bennett began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English
in a secondary school in French-speaking Gabon. He has also taught in
Burundi, Iran, and Pakistan. His overseas experience led him to World
Learning's intensive English program in Belmont, California, where he
was a core trainer for several years. A member of World Learning for Business
since its inception, Joe has trained business executives and other professionals
in English language skills for the past ten years.
In his current position as senior training specialist, he delivers immersion
and on-site training and assesses the skill-levels and needs of new trainees
who are awaiting placement in World Learning's Speak-Up courses.
In his free time he enjoys running, mountain-biking, photography and
exploring the hiking trails of scenic Marin County, California, where
he lives.
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Kathleen Starzinski O'Dea
Kathleen Starzinski O'Dea has worked in the field of education and
training for over 25 years. Beginning her international career as a teacher
and administrator in Turkey, she moved into the field of nonformal education,
and finally to training and syllabus design. She has worked with English
language learners of all ages and nationalities, in public and private
schools, multicultural centers, universities, and most recently, with
native and nonnative speakers of English in the workplace, primarily in
the field of biotechnology.
For World Learning, she designs and implements language, communications,
and cross-cultural trainings. She also chairs the Novato (California)
Multicultural Commission.
Ms. O'Dea holds a B.A. with teaching credentials from Bethany College
and an M.A. in international management and training from SIT (School
for International Training). She is fluent in Turkish and has studied
Arabic, Japanese, and Spanish.
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 Eric
Strickland
Eric Strickland became involved in cross-cultural issues when he emigrated
to the U.S. from Korea to join his multi-ethnic, adoptive family. With
an academic background in sociology, he began teaching English to speakers
of other languages in 1982. He taught English in Korea for fifteen years
before coming on board at World Learning for Business. A student of five
languages, he is well acquainted with the pitfalls and successful methods
of learning foreign languages.
Mr. Strickland earned his M.A.T in English to speakers of other languages
(ESOL) from SIT (School for International Training).
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