2006 LearnShare Press Releases

In a unique application of an LMS system, Stiles Machinery, the nation's largest supplier of advanced CNC equipment for panel processing, solid wood and related industries, has turned to LearnShare for its Customer-Facing Learning Management System (LMS). As the newest member of LearnShare, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, Stiles will utilize LearnShare's CustomerFacing LMS to provide education and training to its customers, such as KraftMaid cabinetry.

LearnShare recently announced their new product, the "Customer-Facing LMS," which is a training portal for member companies' business customers that represent or sell their products. The portal can be customized for each company, and can be as simple or complex as necessary. In addition to facilitating training, Stiles also looks to LearnShare's LMS to bolster their administrative functions, including enrollment visibility, completion reports and autopopulation of courses prescribed based on department, division or function.

"When we looked at LearnShare, we realized that the robust capability of its LMS, paired with the other benefits of membership, offered a lot more for our money than other systems we considered and/or building it on our own." Judy Cisler, Stiles Education Supervisor at Stiles Machinery

At Stiles, they will use the CustomerFacing LMS for its customer KraftMaid, which purchases their manufacturing equipment. The production managers and continuous improvement departments at KraftMaid will be using courses through Stiles' CustomerFacing LMS to train employees on proper equipment usage.

"New business practices are changing the face of what a learning management system can provide," said Lois Webster, CEO of LearnShare, "an LMS now extends its capabilities into the business needs of an organization, implementing education in a variety of ways. LearnShare prides itself on listening to the market and introducing solutions that will make training and business work together effectively."

About Stiles Machinery Inc.
Founded in 1965, Stiles Machinery Inc. is the nation's largest supplier of advanced CNC equipment for panel processing, solid wood and related industries. Stiles offers a Total Production Solutions (SM) approach to manufacturing, from equipment integration and manufacturing consulting to education, service and parts. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, Stiles has regional offices in High Point and Gastonia, NC, Shelton, CT, Irving, TX, and Ontario, CA.

One of the nation's top contractors implements LearnShare LMS.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced that it has welcomed California based Sukut Construction to its consortium membership. The Company has joined the consortium to capitalize on the LearnShare LearnPak - the offtheshelf, yet customizable version of the LearnShare Learning Management System, as well as the other benefits of membership.

Sukut Construction is an award winning general engineering contractor with expertise in mass excavation and grading, landfills and environmental cleanups, highways and road construction, storm drain systems and emergency landslide repairs. It currently employs over 600 people in six divisions, working on over 3040 projects simultaneously.

"When I joined Sukut a couple of years ago, the company had experienced tremendous growth. Developing the human capital of the company was clearly critical to continued success," said Mary Ellen Copek, Talent Director at Sukut Construction. "As we build Sukut University, we are turning to LearnShare LearnPak for highlevel content offerings, for their deep library of resources and best practice sharing, and to automate the administrative aspects of our homegrown, leaderled training."

LearnPak is an offtheshelf, standardized LMS that serves as an enterprise's online learning environment that manages, delivers and tracks online learning for employees, stakeholders and customers. It also has the ability to monitor and quantify the overall cost and impact of education and training. In addition to all of its advanced features, LearnPak is rich with content from some of the most recognized content providers in the industry, including Thompson NETg, Global Knowledge and DDI.

About Sukut
Founded in 1968, Sukut Construction has been recognized with 26 major honors for its innovative, proprietary soils and earthwork logistics technology. Sukut's expertise includes residential developments, world renowned golf courses, storm and drainage systems, and freeways and toll roads throughout California. With revenues increasing 600 percent in six years, Sukut has been recognized as the nation's 224th largest contractor as well as the #1 landfill contractor in the U.S. Additional information is available on the company's web site: www.sukut.com, or by calling (800) 3396024.

Leader in learning solutions now a preferred provider for LearnShare members.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in training and development, today announced that it has partnered with San Francisco-based Ninth House, Inc, a leadership and management development company with a variety of blended learning solutions. LearnShare members will now have access to some of the best learning methodologies known for professional development. Members of the consortium are also eligible to receive preferred pricing.

Ninth House integrates content from leading business experts with selfpaced online courses, practical simulations, and classroom sessions and materials to effectively develop leaders. With the finest and most respected business management gurus in the world today, including Ken Blanchard, Tom Peters and Peter Senge, as session leaders, the Ninth House curriculum addresses the most relevant issues an organization faces, including leadership and innovation, building community in the workplace and managing change.

"Ninth House is a LearnShare premier partner because of their proven leadership development excellence and solution set," said Lois Webster, CEO of LearnShare, "receiving preferential services and pricing from such a highcaliber organization is one of the benefits of being a member of our consortium."

About Ninth House
Ninth House, Inc. provides leadership development solutions that integrate content from leading business experts with selfpaced online courses and practical simulations to more effectively develop leaders at all levels of an organization. The Ninth House curriculum addresses the most relevant issues an organization faces, from leadership and innovation, to building community in the workplace, to managing change. Ninth House's leadership development solutions are easily scaleable, customized and deployed to a corporation's workforce based on business needs; thereby, providing organizations with rapid, measurable impact on employee behavioral change, while increasing productivity. Ninth House customers include nearly 200 companies and government organizations globally such as Amazon.com, British Telecommunications, Hyperion Software, SSM Healthcare, United States Navy, and United States Department of Justice. Ninth House is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit the Ninth House website at: www.ninthhouse.com, or call: 415-277-8200.

Senior Training Executives to Gather in April to Discuss "Meeting the Talent Challenge"

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced the details of its upcoming LearnShare Summit scheduled April 27-28, 2006 at Eaton Corporation in Willoughby Heights, Ohio. The Summit will be facilitated by Lynne Morton, Principal of Performance Improvement (PI) Solutions, Inc. Summits are a deep dive into a topic of high interest defined by top training and development professionals based on industry research and LearnShare members' requests.

This Summit will help answer and solve questions such as these:

• Do you have a talent pool that will ensure your continued business success?
• Are you thinking about what others are doing to nurture their high potentials?
• Are you wondering how your initiatives for high potentials can fit into an entire talent management framework?

LearnShare Summits are designed for CLOs and other senior learning & development executives to share open dialogue and best practices with their peers on varied topics in an intimate setting. Although summits are usually open to LearnShare members and select guests only, LearnShare is extending the invitation to top industry professionals interested in attending.

The moderator, Lynne Morton, is a globally recognized thought leader, author and speaker in talent management and a management consultant on leadership development. Among the specific issues she addresses for clients are: getting started in talent management, determining talent vulnerabilities, creating talent management strategies/programs, establishing competencies, developing leadership behavior, managing change, engendering teamwork, using emotional intelligence, establishing performance management processes, giving/getting feedback, making decisions, and turning managers into leaders.

To obtain more information about attending the Summit event, contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com. Top executives only, please.