Golden State Foods

Steve Becker
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Golden State Foods

“We are a 3+ billion dollar company who is among the most values driven corporations you will ever experience. We have provided one-off training and learning solutions throughout our history, and it became clear that we needed a strategic approach to learning and development in 2009. I attended the Disney Institute, we had executives attend Ivy League programs, and we had hired firms like PDI and CCL in the past. All of these approaches were effective, but none of these solutions were right for us holistically. What we needed to do was to build a comprehensive training and development program that might include the best elements from the above firms, but one that was highly customized for us. As I began to seek advice about a resource or partner to help us to build this infra-structure I was referred to Brainard Strategy by a number of trusted colleagues.

Michael met with me and our CEO to collaborate with us relative to the outcomes and options for the process. Michael was clearly a technical expert in building and delivering corporate learning initiatives, but fit was to be critical. Additionally, we needed a web-enabled solution as our managers and employees are spread out around the globe. Brainard Strategy was selected based on our comfort with Michael and his team, their technical expertise and experience, and their flexible Learning Management System. We are just finishing design and implementation for this year long project. It is a highly complex project and we are delighted with the substance of and interpersonal interactions with the Brainard team. We look forward to a successful implementation in 2010.”