Unicorn Training Appoints New Senior Product Manager
London (UK), April 2018 - Unicorn Training is delighted to welcome experienced financial services L&D professional Richard Whittington as the company's new Product Manager. Richard, who has worked in FS training and L&D for twenty years, joins Unicorn from Shawbrook Bank where, as Training and Development Manager, he led on creating a bank-wide training curriculum to support the IPO and achieve FTSE 250 status.
In his new Product Manager role, he will work with Unicorn's Development and Content teams to develop both the sector-leading Unicorn LMS and Unicorn's off-the-shelf Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) catalogue to ensure firms get the training their staff need in the best formats to bring about behavioral change.
Having worked client-side for his career to date, Richard believes his experience of being on the receiving end of so much regulatory change over the past twenty years means he can now bring unique perspective and insight to the delivery side.
He is looking forward to using his knowledge and enthusiasm in helping firms achieve positive outcomes. Richard said, "As personal technology has evolved, the way in which we learn at home has influenced the way we want to learn at work and is now people's 'go to' method. We've come a long way from the '90s, when regulatory compliance training was reading a page of A4 in a folder and signing to say you understood it!
"My understanding of the Training Cycle will enable me to provide in-depth knowledge of what clients look for in digital content. Having designed and delivered a blended learning approach in a variety of topics, I can use that experience within our Design Team to support how content is put together and delivered.
"As a user and administrator of LMSs, I can also provide insight on what firms look for in a product and assist in developing the roadmap so clients continue to get the functionality they need most."
Unicorn LMS has been recognised as a world leader best for the financial sector for the past four years, while it's also been rated the UK's top learning management system overall by a leading independent LMS expert, the Craig Weiss Group. The system dovetails course content and functionality such as T&C CPD schemes, HR and compliance reporting, content creation tools, forms building for evaluation and performance management, and also tools to meet new regulation like SMR.
While at Shawbrook, Richard worked closely with Unicorn to implement the Senior Managers and Certification regimes two years ago. Meanwhile, part of his new role will include managing Unicorn's relationships with key partners, including Financial Services Training Partners (FSTP), AXELOS Global Best Practice (cyber security), and on the personal development front, MicroLearn and VideoArts.
He added, "Unicorn has paved the way in eLearning and digital content, especially in regulatory compliance. I enjoyed working with Unicorn from the client side, so I'm pleased to have the chance to help other firms enjoy that same relationship."
Peter Phillips, Unicorn CEO, said, "Unicorn's success is built on the foundation of our experience and expertise in the financial sector. Our clients are living through a time of great uncertainty and change, so it's vitally important to understand client needs and provide quality solutions promptly. We're therefore delighted to welcome someone with Richard's passion and industry know-how to the Unicorn team."
