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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.  The Thanksgiving holiday is always a great celebration with the “4 F’s” — Family, Friends, Food, and Football.  For years we’ve had a long tradition of a Turkey Bowl—played in the mud on a field in Seattle with a number of family and friends. Great fun!

This year, I have so many things to be thankful for.  On the personal front, my oldest son just got engaged, my younger son bought a house earlier this year, and our daughter is on track to graduate early from high school.  My lovely wife is recovering from a very tough couple of years (during which COVID which wiped out five of the six businesses she owned), and is getting her energy and positive attitude back.  Most importantly, our family and friends are all healthy—we can’t take that for granted in this time.

Here at Learning.com, we also have many things to be thankful for.

We’ve made several additions to our leadership team in the past year or so, and our rebuilt executive team has come together in a strong fashion.  We’ve added a fantastic new CFO, Sean Sullivan, and a great new SVP of sales and marketing in Theresa Poprac.  In addition, this year Logan Rhodehamel (VP of technology) and Jessica Hall (VP of customer success) have both been promoted and added to the executive team where they are making critical contributions.  I have always believed that corporate culture starts with the executive team, and this group — together with Vicki Price (VP of people development and performance) and Brian Rose (SVP of business development) — is creative, aggressive, and challenges one another (but with respect).  They define the culture we strive to cultivate here.  (Pictured above, the executive team celebrated Halloween 2021 with a Matrix theme.)

I am so thankful for the loyalty of our customers—through an incredibly difficult time.  We have lots of customers who have been with Learning.com for years, but this year will be the best year in our history in terms of customer retention.  Our team has worked hard the last two years to make improvements in our product and services, and we so appreciate the recognition and loyalty that we are seeing as a result.

As we’ve come through the pandemic, more students than ever have access to digital devices at school and at home, and there is a nationwide effort afoot to get internet access to previously unserved communities and rural areas.  For more than 20 years, Learning.com has focused on equipping students with digital skills essential to future success, and now that mission is universally embraced by educators, administrators, and governments.

Finally, I’m so thankful for and proud of the team here at Learning.com.  These last two years have been so difficult—for everyone on the planet—and yet our team continues to display creativity, commitment, great teamwork and problem-solving, and dedication to the students, teachers and schools that we serve.  I am so thankful every day to lead this incredible team!

Keith Oelrich with Learning.com looking at camera and smiling

Keith Oelrich

CEO

Keith Oelrich joined Learning.com as CEO in 2012. A pioneer in the K-12 online education market since 2000, Keith has served as CEO of several companies which have collectively provided K-12 online education programs to thousands of districts, tens of thousands of schools and millions of students and their families.

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