Interview with the Newest Hire at Tandem Learning: Tim Martin

Who is Tim Martin?

As part of introducing the newest Tandem Learning team member, Tim Martin, we conducted a brief interview to get inside his head and help answer the question: Who is Tim Martin?

Jedd Gold: Tim, we couldn’t be more excited to have you as part of the Tandem team. Welcome!

Tim Martin: Thanks, glad to be here.

JG: You obviously have a long and respected career in the eLearning industry and have accomplished a lot. But before we get into that, let’s get to know the REAL Tim Martin.

TM: Sounds good – where do you want to start.

JG: I hear your art is housed at the MOMA – true or false?

TM: Well, one of my hobbies is printmaking, making etchings and artist books. I do have artwork that is held in many private and public collections, including the Franklyn Furnace Artist Book Collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

JG: Amazing. You’ll have to show us some of your work sometime. So you said “one” of your hobbies… what else do you do in your spare time? (not that you should expect to have much from here on out…)

TM: Those who know me well know my passion for ethnographic filmmaking. I am a working anthropologist, and I study the African Diaspora and migration of traditional belief systems resulting from slavery. I have been documenting Haitian Voodoo with Marilyn Houlberg since 1984. I am also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served in São Tomé and Príncipe where I worked to diversify the economy of a slave plantation that became “independent” in 1975.

JG: Yeah, me too…OK, let’s talk a little about your career in the learning space. Can you give me the highlights?

TM: I started as a Director at The John Marshall Law School producing training programs and synchronous satellite course for continuing legal education and judicial training. In 1995, I joined IBM Education and Training, Catapult Software Training as a business and P&L manager where I managed a staff of 150 technicians, instructional designers and software instructors providing tens of thousands of instructor lead training and performance based computer based training courses. I was named to the Presidents Club in 1997 as the top P&L manager for efficient managing of the $9m business unit supporting the strategic training needs of some of IBM’s largest clients such as McDonalds, Sears, Allstate and Boeing. From there I joined Allen Interactions as an e-learning consultant and worked with Dr. Michael Allen bringing better design and cognitive engagement to e-learning courses that made real business improvements for clients such as Intel, American Family Insurance, United Airlines and Ameritech. Then, in 2004, I joined the eLearning Guild as Director of Business Development. My focus was on bringing e-learning suppliers and software into the media company and, as a key member of the management team, I contributed to the growth of the membership, revenue, and profitability while helping the e-learning market as a whole to grow and succeed.

JG: Tim, after all this failure, I’m rethinking our decision to hire you…so you have held all these different roles at several prestigious companies in your career and have been really successful. What made you choose Tandem as your next endeavor?

TM: First of all, I started in the industry in a role where I was coming up with innovative ways of providing distributed learning to professionals. That was a pretty exciting way to start in this industry. Today, Tandem is engaged in so many of the newest and most exciting training methodologies. I just wanted to get back to my roots and help make a significant contribution to shaping the way organizations learn through Social Learning Technologies, Serious Games and Virtual Worlds. Second, I think Tandem is a really exciting company that, despite all of its success to date, is still in its early growth stages. The opportunity to come and be a part of that is a huge draw for me and I'm excited to be here.

JG: Well, let me say on behalf of all of us at Tandem, and our current and future clients, that we’re very glad you’re here.