New director sees growth in online training

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Following the retirement of Mike Kelley, Patrick Willi was recently named director of School Training Solutions.

Willi said that he's enthusiastic about the new role because of the potential for growth.

“I see online training becoming more prevalent in the pupil transportation industry because of rampant school budget cuts,” he said. “Online training is a viable way to reduce training costs, offer a consistent curriculum and keep track of information more efficiently. I’m excited to be on the forefront of this movement.”

Willi joined Smart Horizons, the parent company of School Training Solutions, in 2003 as a courseware developer. Early in his career, he worked on child-care, law enforcement, military and transportation training projects, but School Training Solutions has been his main focus since its inception.

Willi was on the team that identified a need for school bus driver training, which they developed as Safe Transit. As the product grew to encompass aspects of teacher and school support training, School Training Solutions emerged.

Willi has had a hand in every aspect of the division, including research and development, interviews with subject matter experts and specialists in the field, team leading, project management and the instructional design.

Most recently, he worked with Kelley to develop marketing and sales initiatives for the product line.