2013 Emerging Training Leaders

These 25 training professionals soar with exceptional leadership skills and business savvy.

By Lorri Freifeld

Like butterflies bursting from their cocoons and flying to new heights, the 25 winners of Training magazine’s 2013 Emerging Training Leaders awards are on an upward trajectory of leadership and organizational success. These 25 training professionals have been in the industry for two to 10 years and have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, business savvy, and training instincts.

The Emerging Training Leaders (ETL) awards program replaced the five-year-old Top Young Trainerawards program. All Emerging Training Leader candidates had to be nominated by co-workers or industry peers.

Training Editorial Advisory Board members and the editor-in-chief judged the nearly 80 nominations and chose the 25 winners based on the following factors:

  • Have been in the training industry for a minimum of two years but no more than 10 years
  • Took on at least one new responsibility in the last year
  • Successfully led a large-scale training/learning and development initiative within the last year that required management/leadership of a group of people and resulted in the achievement of a corporate strategic goal (with results provided for Kirkpatrick Levels 1-4)
  • Demonstrates the following specific leadership qualities (with specific results provided as an example for each): acts as a mentor/coach, adopts new technology, collaborates, communicates often and effectively, embraces and adapts to change, empowers employees, fosters employee/team recognition, has a global mindset, innovates, inspires trust, provides regular feedback, sets an ethical example, thinks outside the box, and thinks strategically
  • Has the potential to lead the Training or Learning & Development function at an organization in the next one to 10 years

Download the pdf below to read in-depth profiles of the Top 5 Emerging Training Leaders (listed in alphabetical order), plus slightly shorter profiles of the other 20 Emerging Training Leaders. And we continued our tradition of creating a “To Watch” list, which features five up-and-coming professionals who didn’t receive an award this year, but who are well on their way to becoming future Emerging Training Leaders.

“I was impressed with the quality of this year’s Emerging Training Leaders class,” says ETL Judge Kevin Wilde. “Their innovation, business impact and leadership gives me encouragement that the future of L&D is bright. I look forward to their continued contributions to building our profession.”

ETL Judge Daniel Goepp likewise was impressed with the level of competence and accomplishments indicated in the nominations. “Some individuals demonstrated significant independence, initiative, and leadership that has helped to shape the success of their respective learning organizations. Clearly, the profession is fortunate to have such talented emerging leaders.”

What struck ETL Judge Jim Federico about this year’s group of Emerging Training Leaders is “their degree of alignment to business priorities and the innovative practices they are bringing to the L&D discipline.”

Adds ETL Judge Brent Bloom, “It was inspiring to read and assess the many innovative projects and initiatives these talented leaders have taken from development to implementation.”

ETL Judge Cyndi Bruce agrees. “The ability to design and deploy development solutions beyond the typical classroom with measureable results was an ongoing theme among this year’s winners.”

“This year’s winners are an extraordinary group,” ETL Judge Ross Tartell concludes. “They showed leadership, the ability to overcome adversity, and an understanding of how to creatively apply their learning expertise to resolve critical business issues across diverse functions.”

ETL JUDGES

  • Brent Bloom, Senior Director, Global Talent & Development, KLA-Tencor Corporation
  • Cyndi Bruce, Executive Director, KPMG Business School – U.S.
  • Jim Federico, Sr. Director in SMSG Readiness, Microsoft Corporation
  • Daniel J. Goepp, Managing Director, Learning & Development, PwC
  • Craig Gill, Director, Development Center of Expertise, Deloitte Services LP
  • Vicente Gonzalez, Learning and Development, Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Raymond D. Green, CEO, Paradigm Learning, Inc.
  • Michael S. Hamilton, Chief Learning & Development Officer, Ernst & Young
  • Alison Hooker, Chief Talent Development Officer, Ernst & Young
  • Bruce I. Jones, Programming Director, Disney Institute
  • Donald Keller, Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, Global Education & Development, SCC Soft Computer
  • Diana Oreck, VP, Global Learning & Leadership Center, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
  • Ann Schulte, Director/Global Practice Leader, Procter & Gamble
  • Ross Tartell, Manager, Learning & Development – North America, GE Capital Real Estate
  • Kevin Wilde, VP, Organization Effectiveness and Chief Learning Officer, General Mills, Inc.
  • Lorri Freifeld, Editor-in-Chief, Training magazine

DOWNLOAD THE PDF BELOW TO READ PROFILES OF THE 2013 WINNERS.

Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.