Richard Smith, CEO and President
Richard has worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor since 1999. His vision of using entertaining TV and movie clips as a way to help spread spoken English stems from his experience of watching many young Québécois (French speakers) become more competent ESL speakers because of their exposure to the multitude of program offerings available direct from television networks next door in the United States.
In his observation, “What will be vital in the future is for English to complement local languages in order to facilitate global communication, yet at the same time not marginalize or supplant them.”
Board of Directors
Trevor Pickersgill is a highly regarded Canadian corporate trainer and manager in the Tokyo area. He speaks functional Japanese and holds a master’s degree in finance.
Yuko Akasaka is a Japan-based marketing advisor and consumer product planner. She has a degree in Law from a Japanese university and an MBA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
Marion Tripp founder of Virtual Option (2003), which is a virtual assistant organization that specializes in three focus areas: Association Administration, Social Media Planning and Implementation, and Executive–Style Administrative Support.