Meet the GlobalEnglish Founders and Board Members
Founded in 1997 by Reece Duca, Stephen Patrick and Martin Rice, GlobalEnglish has grown from an idea to serve the English-training needs of the global business world to becoming the leading provider of on-demand technology for improving Business English proficiency and advancing the business-critical imperative, Enterprise Fluency.
Each founder and member of the board brings a unique set of skills and experiences to GlobalEnglish. We’re proud to introduce you to them.
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 Co-founder 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 BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his MBA from Stanford University.
Mahesh Ram
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Ram has over 20 years of senior management experience with leading technology companies. Most recently, he served as the Executive Vice President of Product Development for GlobalEnglish. Before joining GlobalEnglish, he held a variety of senior management positions with The Thomson Corporation, including Chief Technology Officer of Thomson Learning/AlignMark, a leading Web-based learning and assessment company serving corporate and education customers. Mr. Ram received a BS in biology and a BA in American history from the University of Pennsylvania and an Advanced Information Technology Management (AITM) Certificate from Columbia 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 MBA from the University of Southern California and his BA 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 Efficer of several successful start-ups in three different technology-oriented fields. Mr. Van Auken holds a BEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Stanford University.
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 BA in economics with high honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his JD from the University of California School of Law at Berkeley, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Tom Kahl
President and Director
Mr. Kahl is responsible for global sales, sales operations and customer support. Prior to becoming President, he served as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales for GlobalEnglish helping, the company achieve significant sales growth. Prior to joining GlobalEnglish, he spent seven years with SmartForce (now SkillSoft), serving in various management positions, including Vice President of EMEA, with responsibility for sales, support, marketing and operations. Mr. Kahl received his BS from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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 Co-founder and President of Personal News, Inc., an online service for individual investors, which was acquired by Intuit in 1995. Mr. Patrick received his BA in international relations from Yale University and his MBA 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 BA in Russian literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Russian literature from Vanderbilt University.