goFLUENT, a leading disrupter in the language learning market, continues its global expansion with the appointment of John Ambrose, former Skillsoft and SumTotal executive, as President, goFLUENT North America and Chief Strategy Officer. goFLUENT is now operating and offering local support in 18 key markets around the world, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and now also the US and Canada.
“We are super excited to have John on our leadership team,” said Christophe Ferrandou, goFLUENT Founder & CEO. “We see tremendous opportunity ahead and John’s experience and perspective will help us both with our organic and strategic opportunities for growth.”
Ambrose joins goFLUENT after 17 years in a variety of executive roles with Skillsoft. He joined Skillsoft in 2001 with its acquisition of Books24x7, a company he co-founded in 1998 that revolutionized digital performance support in the enterprise. Ambrose created partnerships with the world’s leading publishers including John Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Microsoft Press, Harvard Business Publishing, Elsevier and many others, and led the company through a period of rapid global expansion that solidified Books24x7 as the de facto industry standard.
In 2007 he was appointed Skillsoft’s Senior VP, Strategy and Corporate Development, where he led a number of key acquisitions and was recognized as one of the eLearning industry’s thought leaders. In 2015, Ambrose took on additional responsibilities as SVP & General Manager of SumTotal, a leading HCM provider acquired by Skillsoft in 2014.
goFLUENT is a leading provider of distance language learning solutions that combine innovative eLearning technology, live virtual classrooms, and one-on-one 24×7 interactive coaching. In an increasingly global market, the company’s solutions help organizations communicate more effectively internally and externally by accelerating broad-based language proficiency of non-native speakers of English and a growing portfolio of other languages including Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. The company is on a mission to give every employee “an equal voice” regardless of their native tongue, thereby increasing their ability to perform, advance and succeed.
“Three powerful trends are driving language skill training to the executive agenda: the globalization of business, the intense war for talent, and the increasing importance of a diverse workforce. If you are part of the 85% of the world’s population that doesn’t speak English natively, you are at a distinct career disadvantage,” said Josh Bersin, world-known industry analyst and founder of Bersin™ by Deloitte.
“John will help goFLUENT tap into the growing global demand for reducing the ‘language friction’ that exists in many large companies trying to operate and compete globally. He has a keen sense of where the industry is headed and how to build sustainable companies that deliver tremendous value to their customers,” said Bersin.
Ambrose is aggressively adding talent to its North America sales and support organization. Industry veterans Bill Ferry, formerly of Grovo and Skillsoft, and Kevin Bauman, formerly of Penn Foster, Microsoft, and IBM, also joined the company as Regional Vice Presidents.