Founded 1996 | Website www.learnshare.com Type of business Private | |
Key people Rob HouckCTO/Managing Member Products Learning Management SystemTalent management Headquarters Toledo, Ohio, United States Profiles | ||
LeanShare LLC is a software company located inside Arrowhead Business Park in Maumee, OH. The company creates software to help businesses manage their human resources. LearnShare offers Talent Management Systems to Fortune 1000 companies. LearnShare was formed from a consortium in 1996.
Contents
History
LearnShare LLC was founded in September 1996 as a consortium of Fortune 500 companies. The original companies were :
1995-2000: Consortium Creation
In October 1995 Rick Corry of Owens Corning invited 18 non-competing companies to discuss the formation of a collaborative training consortium. A nucleus of these companies (those listed above) established a limited liability corporation.
In September 1996, four more companies joined the consortium:
Each company contributed $100,000 a year for 2 years and received a seat on the board of directors. The Board also had three non-voting members from academia:
LearnShare, LLC started as a service organization that leveraged relationships with large companies from different industries to develop multi-media and distance learning technologies for their own use. The concept was for member companies to share existing materials and expertise. The consortium would then develop technology-based training at the lowest possible cost for member companies.
The consortium format was chosen to: develop critical mass of partners committed to sharing best practices; reduce cycle time of learning-to-action; leverage training vendors for flexibility in the design and use of their products and services; the exchange of best practices and delivery methodologies
LearnShare members share their best practices with each other. By doing so, participating companies improve training while reducing costs.
Through 2000, LearnShare was funded by its founding members. Starting in 2001, the consortium hired Lois Webster from Motorola as the CEO/General Manager of LearnShare to move the company to a for-profit company.
2000-2007: Sustaining Members
In 2001 LearnShare accepted "sustaining members" in 2-year agreements. Since that time, 40 additional corporations joined the consortium which now represents more than 2.5 million employees around the globe.
In 2002, UnitedHealth Group purchased ownership in LearnShare and joined the Board of Management. Also in this year, LearnShare's LMS was fully functional as an enterprise-wide solution.
LearnShare creates agreements with third-party suppliers of courseware for pay-as-you access through the learning management system. LearnShare offers third party courses at the price of one course at a time.
It has preserved the mission of best practice sharing among consortium members from the original company charter. Through best practice conferences, topic-driven events, user events, round tables, teleconferences and webinars, members share their best practices and lessons learned.
2007–present: A Technology Company
In 2007 LearnShare expanded its software system with modules in Performance Management, Employee Profiles, Succession and Talent Planning, and Analytics. It added the capability to the Learning Management System to integrate virtual classroom training.
In 2008, LearnShare became a management-owned company.
In 2009, it added an online conversion tool to change powerpoint presentations to e-learning courses.
The LearnShare system now includes modules for Performance Management, Succession, and Social Collaboration and Learning.
The LearnShare Mobile platform will become widely available Q2 2013.
Global Reach
The LearnShare system is in 24 languages. Because the members are global companies, the consortium offers e-courses in international languages. LearnShare's Talent Management solution ranks in the Top 20 Talent Management Software with over 1.8 million users.
Products
LearnShare claims to offer the following products and services: