I’m excited to announce that from today, after over a decade as MD, I’m moving into the role of Executive Chairman of accessplanit, and I’m delighted to announce that our Director of Operations, Hannah Churchman will be our new MD!
This is the start of an exciting new era and our focus is very much on executing our vision. As such, it’s so important that we have someone with the drive, ambition and passion to turn the vision we have for accessplanit, our people and our customers into reality...
Here’s a snippet of our internal communications to provide some further context around the decision and why now is the right time for accessplanit, our people and our customers.
Message from Dave
Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for your time at the quarterly update. Here’s a summary of what was shared.
I’m going to be moving to the newly created role of Executive Chairman and I’m thrilled to announce that Hannah will take the helm as Managing Director, starting immediately.
Hannah will be your new MD, the boss, and the person in charge, the one responsible for running the business and making decisions and I’m so excited about that!
Let me share some context. I’ll explain why, why now, what I’ll be doing as Executive Chairman, and why I want Hannah to be our next Managing Director.
Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking about what I want my next chapter to look like. I’ve known I wanted to move to a less hands on role so I can focus fully on the longer term plan and strategy of accessplanit. Separating the Visionary and Integrator role just over two years ago was the first step. Since then, Hannah has become my main strategic partner and a leader through some very challenging times and big projects, and someone who has taken on more and more responsibility, and ownership of what we do.
At the start of this year it became clear to me that 2021 was the year for change. We have a clear vision and plan we're all excited by. We just completed our very successful brand launch, we've grown for the 10th successive year and we've just achieved record profits. So I decided that the time is right for me, and more importantly that the time is right for accessplanit.
This is the start of an exciting new era and our focus is very much on executing our plans and it’s important we have someone with the drive, ambition and passion to turn the visions into reality…
Hannah is that person and she will be a great MD for us in our push to achieve our goals in the years ahead. She’s a strong leader who's brave, willing to make the big calls and has more than demonstrated she can get things done. She’s incredibly ambitious for accessplanit and our customers and gets very excited about the company we're building. She’s also a caring colleague and friend who is determined to make accessplanit a great place for everyone.
In the Chairman role I’ll still sit in the EOS Visionary seat. I’ll be less involved in the day to day but still very much around. I'll even be in the office from time to time! My focus will be on the longer term plan and vision and I’ll be focussing on the product and marketing strategy. I'll be a source of support for Hannah and the rest of the leadership team.
While this is not goodbye, this is a very big milestone for me. Thank you to each and every one of you for making accessplanit what it is today. It’s been a challenging, exhilarating decade – and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved together.
Message from Hannah
Hi all
First off, I want to start by saying a huge thank you to all of you for making this such an easy yes! I feel extremely grateful to be a part of somewhere where every single person is so passionate about making accessplanit the best: the best workplace, the best product, and the best customer experience.
I also wanted to say a huge thank you to Dave. He is the leader that I strive to be: he creates openings for others, he takes chances and encourages people to grow and develop. Which I guess is why, after almost 7 years working together, we’re at this point today!
Today
You all know the story…
A long time ago, we ran a training company. We used spreadsheets, databases, wall planners and paper (and lots of it!)
We were growing, and we were growing fast. Things were getting too much, chaos ensued, our service levels dipped, we lost track of who was doing what, and it was hard to know what was going on.
We were spending more time on admin and less time training.
We knew there had to be a better way...
None of the existing training management solutions gave us the control we needed to be successful. So we built our own.
accessplanit was built to help our own training company become more organised, more productive, and drive better results.
Other companies started asking how we did it, and so accessplanit was launched.
Fast forward to now, all types of training businesses from around the world use our flexible training management software, and we're getting better every day.
It genuinely is incredible to reflect and think about how far we’ve come since the beginning.
Dave truly is a visionary. He has led us from a software provider with one key client to now helping hundreds of training providers every day to achieve results. He has built the incredibly strong culture that we have today and is incredibly passionate about the team and ensuring that everybody shares in accessplanit’s success. He understands our customers and our industry and that is reflected in our product and the services that we provide.
I’m so excited for Dave and his transition. He will continue to support accessplanit strategically – especially in product and marketing - and his vision will continue to move us forward. Dave - just don’t get too carried away with that extra time!!
I can’t wait to see what we can achieve in the years ahead!
The future
What accessplanit has achieved over the last 10 years has been incredible and I’m so excited to be leading us on the next stage in our journey.
For the future, I will continue to have two priorities.
Building a great business for each other
At the core of our success is each and every one of our accessplanit team. Every single one of you plays a key role in the success of accessplanit. Our values and our culture will continue to shape everything that we do with flexibility, talent development, and recognition enabling us to be the best place to work in LA!
I’m so excited that this year we will be holding our first accessplanit summit. A day of learning, socialising and team building – and most of all, fun!
Building a great business for our customers
accessplanit is the only training management software that is configured to achieve the results that training companies want. And I’m excited to continue building on our strengths through our people, our service and our product. We have big goals to hit with award-winning service and a market-leading product at the heart of them.
Once again, thank you all – we wouldn’t be where we are today without all of you. Here’s to the future 🚀
More about accessplanit
About us - At accessplanit, training is in our DNA. We know running a training business is tough. We know software and implementation is hard, it's not something you do everyday. Learn more about us!
Meet our team - Meet the team behind accessplanit!
What you get with accessplanit - We understand that every training business is different which is why we take the time to understand your business and configure our software to achieve the results you want. See how we do it!
