Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008 - (Page 36)

MEET KRYS MOSKAL ike many learning leaders, Krys Moskal traveled a long and winding road to get where she is now. After nearly 30 years helping Fortune 500 companies nurture and grow organizational talent, in 2000 Krys signed on as vice president of people development for Pearson, the worldwide publishing giant. It’s the kind of story that would make a good book. Krys started her career in training with Johnson & Johnson, then moved to Warner Lambert before opening her own consultancy, catering to the special needs of clients like Bristol-MyersSquibb, Reuters and American Express. When Pearson’s London-based parent company wanted to make a deeper commitment to developing its people, Krys found herself in the center of a perfect storm, a trifecta of conditions: she knew the company, the company knew her and she could bring all of her business and training experience to bear. “Also, the product is so noble you just feel good about what the company produces,” Krys said. “You can get involved with a lot of companies and not be passionate about the products they produce. But I found when you really feel proud of a product and the difference they’re making in the world, you really have a piqued interest.” Over the past years, Krys has taken on several evolving responsibilities, including providing technical training and leadership development, growing her department as the business builds, and “primarily preparing internal employees to do their jobs better.” PEER REVIEW L Her work began as many learning leaders can appreciate, with classical classroom training and shepherding internal trainers. Not surprisingly, that mission is evolving in lockstep with 21st century publishing, becoming more and more digital (case in point: you’re reading a digital magazine). With Pearson’s 30,000-person workforce, only two-thirds of whom are in North America, widespread use of the traditional classroom is no longer feasible. So Krys brought in Jamal Watkins as director of learning technologies. Together, Krys and Jamal are repurposing the classroom to make it available 24x7. Content is delivered and converged in a decentralized environment, and just-in-time resources are being made available to support employee education. “It’s elegant, it’s doable and it’s a challenge,” Krys said. “We’re experimenting a lot, we’re testing a lot. It’s light years beyond major classroom training.” To date, Krys and Jamal have brought a new LMS to Pearson, rolled out more than 2,400 online courses and 1,000 synchronous courses, and seen more than 600,000 course completions in four years. Learning is available worldwide and even the LMS can be interfaced in local languages. “The really good thing about the direction Krys has taken the team is she’s making sure the resources are agile enough for any scenario that exists,” Jamal said. What a novel way to wrap up a good story: a happy ending. 36 Training Industry Quarterly, Summer 2008 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008
At the Editor’s Desk
Contents
Ezine Email
Winning Organizations Through People
Before You Buy…
Learning Technologies
Games & Simulations: Playing to Learn
Designing Learning Simulations: Strategies for Leveraging Failure
Business Impact 101: The Value of Learning
Strategic Alignment: Transforming the Business of Training
Meet David DeFilippo
Meet Krys Moskal
Meet Vince Eugenio
Dealing with Death: Learning’s Most Sensitive Lessons
Closing Arguments

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008