Founders and Board Members
Reece Duca
Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Director
Reece Duca is a founder and is the Chairman of the Board. He served as the Chairman of the Board of The Learning Company, Inc., and was Chairman of the Board of Advent Software, Inc. Mr. Duca has been a founder or cofounder and a lead investor in approximately fifteen companies over the last thirty years. Seven of those companies became publicly traded and six of them merged with public corporations. Mr. Duca is the founder and managing partner of the Investment Group of Santa Barbara (IGSB), a private investment company managing both private and public equity portfolios solely for the principals of the organization. IGSB is the lead investor in GlobalEnglish. Mr. Duca received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his M.B.A. from Stanford University.
William A. Dinsmore
Director
William Dinsmore has served as a Director of GlobalEnglish since November 2000. Mr. Dinsmore has held positions in general management, brand management, and marketing with leading Internet and consumer companies. From 1985 to 1995 he was the Chief Executive Officer of the educational software company, The Learning Company Inc, and is currently a private investor and advisor to early-stage companies. Mr. Dinsmore received his M.B.A. from the University of Southern California and his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees.
Wendell G. Van Auken
Director
Wendell G. Van Auken has served as a Director of GlobalEnglish since May 1999. Mr. Van Auken has been a General Partner of the Mayfield Fund since October 1986. Prior to joining Mayfield, Mr. Van Auken was an officer, founder or chief executive officer of several successful start-ups in three different technology-oriented fields. Mr. Van Auken holds a B.E.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Deepak Desai
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer
Deepak Desai is the President and Chief Executive Officer of GlobalEnglish Corporation. Mr. Desai has over 20 years of strong financial and operating experience, most notably with Time Warner Inc., where he spent twelve years in senior financial positions in New York and Asia. From 1995 to 1999, he served as General Manager/CFO for Time Life Asia, managing the children's education, ESL, and direct marketing businesses. He received a B.S. in commerce from the University of Bombay and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
William Rauth
Corporate Secretary
William Rauth is Corporate Secretary of the Company. He is a founding partner in Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, a law firm with offices throughout California. Mr. Rauth is a general partner at IGSB, a private investment company managing both private and public equity portfolios solely for the principals of the organization. Mr. Rauth received his B.A. in economics with high honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his J.D. from the University of California School of Law at Berkeley, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Barney Harford
Director
Barney Harford has served as a Director of GlobalEnglish since February 2008. Barney also serves as a board member at LiquidPlanner, an on-demand project management service that is transforming the way organizations manage complex projects; and Orange Hotel Group, a high-design budget hotel chain based in China. Barney is President and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW), a leading global online travel company that uses innovative technology to enable leisure and business travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products. From 1999 to 2006 Barney held a variety of positions at Expedia. Most recently, as President of Expedia Asia Pacific, he led Expedia’s entry into China, Japan and Australia. Previously he built Expedia’s private label business, WWTE, and Expedia’s telesales business, among other roles. Prior to joining Expedia Barney worked in the United Kingdom as a strategy consultant with The Kalchas Group. Barney holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD and an M.A. in Natural Sciences from Clare College, Cambridge University.
Stephen Patrick
Founder
Stephen Patrick is a GlobalEnglish founder. He served as the Chief Technology Officer for GlobalEnglish for eight years. Mr. Patrick was a founder and President of Sensei Software, a high school science and math company. He also was a cofounder and President of Personal News, Inc., an online service for individual investors, which was acquired by Intuit in 1995. Mr. Patrick received his B.A. in international relations from Yale University and his M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Martin Rice
Founder
Martin Rice is a GlobalEnglish founder. From 1995 to 1997, he served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development for The Learning Company, Inc., where he managed approximately 300 product development employees worldwide. In addition, Dr. Rice was a professor of Slavic languages and Russian literature for 23 years. Dr. Rice received his B.A. in Russian literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in Russian literature from Vanderbilt University.
