LOCATION: 16875 W. Wisconsin Ave., Brookfield, WI 53045
WEBSITE: www.learningexchange.net
Year founded: 1995
Product or service offered: Supplemental education supplier of reading and math services to Milwaukee Public Schools, choice schools and charter schools; Mimio Interactive Whiteboard Technologies reseller and trainer for state of Wisconsin; professional development provider to the education industry; No Child Left Behind supplier to Milwaukee Public Schools; business consultant to the business and education markets in the area of organization design, planning and implementation.
Projected 2009 revenue: $3.7 million
CEO, President/Owner(s): Timothy Larkin and Ellen Sterning, co-owners.
Leadership team: Erin Hommeland, director of operations; Kim Larkin, director of administration; Sue Biehn, director of in-school services; Pat Hinske, director of research and development; Marshall Williams, director of United Community Centers of Milwaukee.
Target clientele: Milwaukee Public Schools, choice schools, charter schools, and community centers; education and business market
Business organization memberships: EIA – Education Industry Ass.; ASCD – Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; MMAC – Metropolitan Milwaukee Ass. of Commerce; CEO of Growing Business Roundtable; IBA – Independent Business Association
What has fueled your company’s growth?
2001 Federal “No Child Left Behind” Legislation. New competition in the education market. Providing professional development for teachers. Becoming a reseller and trainer for Interactive White Board Technologies
What is the biggest obstacle to your company’s growth?
We continue to avoid obstacles by employing the right people, aligning with the right resources, being able to meet the right needs of our strategic customers and overall by learning to ask the right questions.
Do you plan any changes in your company in the upcoming months?
We will be adding 20-30 people to our business to handle the growth and opportunities in each of our sectors. We will be forging key partnerships relationships with multiple organizations that will allow us to better meet the needs of our customers.
Who are the business people, locally or nationally, whom you admire? And what traits do those people exhibit that make you admire them?
Locally, Howard Fuller, Chairman of MU’s Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Terry Brown, President of St. Anthony Catholic School, and Alverno College. All three of these have distinquished themselves for their leadership, their willingness to fight for reform, their focus on developing people and their ability to deliver on their strategic plan.
What is the outlook for the business conditions of your industry over the next several months?
The business conditions for our businesses are unusally good over the next year because the education market will receive a positive injection of ARRA Stimulus Funds. This will provide us the opportunity to build business in all of our sectors.
What is your company’s key strategy for rising out of the recession?
Our key strategy will continue to build our organization’s capacity and capability to be the preferred supplier to our targeted customers.
Congratulations from the strategic partners behind Learning Exchange.
Dawn Willis
(262) 796-1040
www.ewhsba.com
www.div-ins.com
262-439-4700
