Kind words from Nick

Hello,

Today is the 34th anniversary of the founding of Learning Tree International.

Today, in 1974, Dr. David Collins and Eric Garen established a company with the purpose of helping engineers and technical professionals understand and develop the ability to apply information technology to their jobs. The first Learning Tree courses focused on how to program microprocessors--and were, of course, hands-on.

From the company that David and Eric started in a spare bedroom, Learning Tree has grown over the past 34 years to become the world's leading vendor-independent provider of training for managers and IT professionals. During our 34 years, we have trained nearly 1.9 million employees from more than 65,000 organizations worldwide. From the first courses on microprocessor programming, our course library of IT and management titles has grown to 219 titles advertised in our September U.S. catalogs. In the past year, we have trained more than 90,000 people in more than 40 countries.

Our company culture and our dedication to our customers are even more important than the raw numbers regarding our business growth--in fact, they are the real reason for our success. During our 34 years we have cultivated and nurtured a commitment to excellence in serving our customers--providing the highest possible quality of training to ensure that the participants in our courses acquire the knowledge and skills they need to become more effective on the job. Our commitment to excellence extends far beyond the classroom, however--we are committed to providing the best possible service to our customers in everything we say and do. Those commitments are rooted in key aspects of our culture which defined Learning Tree at the start, and continue to define Learning Tree today:

-- Absolute honesty, which is an essential ingredient in any trusting business relationship, be that relationship with customers or among our staff members
-- Fairness--we strive to be fair, by ensuring that our customers receive services whose value exceeds the price we charge, and by shunning "self-dealing" (acts where we are looking out for ourselves and nobody else)
-- Openness of communication--direct, clear, fact-based communication between any and all individuals in the company, regardless of position or title

It is rare for the principles of companies to stand the tests of time and economic pressure--but we continue to pass those tests at Learning Tree year after year. I am extremely proud to be a part of Learning Tree, and I hope you are too.

So, Happy Anniversary to Learning Tree, and to us all! Thank you for everything you do for Learning Tree, and for our customers.

Regards,

Nick Schacht
President and Chief Executive Officer