Welcome, David Littlehale

We are thrilled to announce Flat World Knowledge's newest team member - David Littlehale. David joins us as Vice President of Institutional Sales.

For those of you who know David, or know of him, you probably just got that same electric jolt that I got when he said "yes, I accept". David is one of the giants of our industry. For the past 15 years, he has been VP, National Sales Manager at McGraw-Hill/Irwin. He led a sales organization of over 120 sales representatives, and served as a key senior management voice at McGraw-Hill. Under David's superb leadership, the sales team experienced an exceptional run. David exceeded his income goal 15 straight years, and more importantly, he outperformed his peers in the industry 13 of those 15 years. His sales team was viewed unequivocally across the higher education publishing industry as the gold standard. We may be feeling an electric jolt. As the news spreads across the industry, it is going to be felt more like a shock wave. David's move to Flat World was already noted in an article yesterday in Publishers Weekly.

We are bullish about our ability to extend the nascent institutional licensing sales part of our business. We will continue to accelerate the number and scope of institutional license sales at for-profits colleges, and we think there is a real tipping point to be reached by being the first publisher to extend the model to mainstream public colleges. The announcement this week our our licensing deal with Virginia State University, covered in the Chronicle of Higher Education, is the tip of the iceberg for us. David's role will be to lead the way in building this part of our business, in any/all sectors where institutional licensing deals are viable. This includes for-profit channel institutions, non-profit (traditional) colleges, distance learning programs, adult learning programs, and more.

David might just be "Mr. Higher Ed." He been in the industry for 30 years in sales and marketing roles (he started when he was 11). His kids are all either in college or on their way. His wife is a teacher. That's a whole lot of Higher Ed. David grew up in Massachusetts and lived in Maine for 10 years. Thankfully, he has not succumbed to all of the Cubs and Bears propaganda in Chicago, where he makes his home now. Indeed, he remains an avid Red Sox and Patriots fan. Smart man.

I think the future prospects of a company are best assessed through the prism of talent. In David, we have attracted one of the highest performing, highest integrity sales executives out there. Pair that with his passion for the industry and his desire to leave his mark by building a better business for the future, and I am supremely confident that in welcoming David, we are setting the wheels in motion for a major leap forward for Flat World Knowledge.