Judy Ravin

The mission of the Accent Reduction Institute is to help people do their real job, and Judy Ravin has taken active steps to make it convenient for clients to do so.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Accent Reduction Institute | Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Education | Globalization | Judy Ravin | Twelve Month Goals

Judy Ravin recognizes that her clients come to the Accent Reduction Institute as a means to an end and not as an end in and of itself (download 2 minute iPod compatible video, 13MB). For this reason, Judy has been pushing the development of online tools that clients can use at times that work for them.

Uptake of these tools has been strong among her individual clients. In the next twelve months, she would like to see her corporate clients make more use of them.

Judy Ravin charts her course from a business based purely on onsite training to one that is largely online.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Accent Reduction Institute | Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Education | Judy Ravin

Judy Ravin, CEO of the Accent Reduction Institute, knew she had to start a business once the requests for her services started pouring in from companies (download 9 minute iPod compatible video, 49MB). However, she also realized that the need was great and that she could only provide limited human resources to fill the gap. So, she set about automating parts of the process. Her first effort was to create software so that students could practice on their own.

Enters Rich Sheridan of Menlo Innovations. Menlo saw the potential for online delivery of Judy's material and made an offer to purchase Judy's company a bit over two years ago and relaunching the concept as the Accent Reduction Institute. Since Judy has moved from almost exclusively onsite training to a solid mix of onsite and online training.

Throughout this transition, Judy has maintained her focus on developing a method that delivers results. Students see a 70 to 80% reduction in the first month. The online modality allows her to service many more students, but the secret to success remains the same.

Judy Ravin founded the Accent Reduction Institute to solve problems she herself had encountered living in France and trying to make herself understood.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Accent Reduction Institute | Ann Arbor, MI | Education | Globalization | Judy Ravin | Making Substitutes

Judy Ravin is an accidental entrepreneur. In this 8 minute segment (download iPod compatible, 40MB), Judy, the CEO of the Accent Reduction Institute, describes what she means by accent reduction and how she got into the accent reduction business. Judy first became aware of the need for accent reduction when, as a junior in college, she landed in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and could not make herself understood. Her French grammar was perfect, but she could not pronounce the words well enough to effectively communicate.

Fast forward a few years. Judy has earned a Masters in History and is teaching English as a Second Language at Eastern Michigan University where she invents the Ravin Method for rapid accent reduction. She starts to get calls from major local area employers. They're looking for help improving their foreign national employees' pronunciation and also for a way to help their native english speakers better understand different accents. A personal consulting business is born.

In the next segment, we'll learn how the Accent Reduction Institute was brought to life as a wholly owned subsidiary of Menlo Innovations.