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Landmark Education
File:Landmark Education logo2.jpg
Company typePrivate LLC
Industryself-help, self-improvement, personal development, management consulting, continuing education
FoundedJanuary 1991
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, USA
Key peopleHarry Rosenberg: Director; CEO

Mick Leavitt: President; Director
Steven Zaffron: Director; CEO, The Vanto Group
Art Schreiber: General Counsel; Chairman, BOD; Director
Joan Rosenberg: Vice President, Centers Division; Director

Nancy Zapolski: Vice President, Course Development
ProductsThe Landmark Forum, associated coursework
RevenueIncreaseUSD$90 million (2007)
Number of employeesmore than 450 employees (2006);
800 trained leaders, some of whom volunteer their time;
SubsidiariesThe Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD, from 1993-2007)
Landmark Education International, Inc.
Tekniko Licensing Corporation
Rancord Company, Ltd.
WebsiteLandmark Education homepage

Landmark Education LLC (LE) as of 2007, offers training and development programs delivered in approximately 115 locations throughout over 20 countries worldwide. Locations include the cities of London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Toronto, and others. with 52 offices in 24 countries.

An employee-owned, private company, it has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Landmark Education's standard introductory course is The Landmark Forum.

Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase of the intellectual property of Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA), a successor to est: an educational corporation , and since its founding in 1991 has developed other courses.

Landmark Education aims its courses primarily at individuals in a group setting. Its subsidiary the Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development, or LEBD, from 1993-2007), markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations.

Corporation

Landmark Education LLC operates as an employee-owned for-profit private company. According to Landmark Education's fact sheet, its employees own all the stock of the corporation, with no individual holding more than 3%. The company states that it operates in such a way as to invest its surpluses into making its programs, initiatives, and services more widely available.

As of 2005, Landmark Education claimed that they have 200,000 participants in all of their courses annually with 70,000 to 80,000 people participating in the Landmark Forum . Over one million people have taken part in Landmark Education's introductory program, the Landmark Forum, since 1991. Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million $76 million in 2005.

History

Landmark Education, known from May 7, 1991 to February 26, 2003 as "Landmark Education Corporation (LEC)", purchased certain rights to a presentation known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates. Since then, the name of the presentation has been changed to "The Landmark Forum" and the content has been revised. The group of people who purchased the rights registered themselves initially as Transnational Education, as The Centers Network, and (in Japan) as Rancord Company, Ltd.. Incorporation as "Landmark Education Corporation" (LEC) took place later in 1991. "Landmark Education International, Inc." was the first Landmark name incorporated in the State of California on June 22, 1987 by Art Schreiber. In February 2003, Landmark Education LLC succeeded LEC. The coursework and pedagogy of WEA evolved from est/Erhard Seminars Training, founded by Werner Erhard in 1971. According to Landmark Education, Werner Erhard consults from time to time with its "Research and Design team". Erhard's younger brother (Harry Rosenberg) works as Landmark Education's Chief Executive Officer, and their sister (Joan Rosenberg) serves as the Vice President of Landmark Education's Centers Division.

According to statements made by Landmark Education CEO Harry Rosenberg in 2001:

...Erhard kept the Mexican and Japanese branches of the operation...Last year, Landmark had revenues of $58 million, and ... the company has bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to Japan and Mexico.

The prior president and registered agent of Werner Erhard and Associates, (Art Schreiber), functions as Landmark Education's General Counsel and Chairman of the Landmark Education Board of Directors. Art Schreiber also functioned as Werner Erhard's attorney.

The Vanto Group (formerly "Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD", from 1993-2007)

The Vanto Group, founded in 1993 as "Landmark Education Business Development", utilizes the "technology" of Landmark Education in providing consulting services to various companies. The University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business carried out a case study in 1998 into the work of the Vanto Group (at the time known as "Landmark Education Business Development", or "LEBD"). The report concluded that the set of interventions in the organization produced a 50% improvement in safety, a 15% to 20% reduction in key benchmark costs, a 50% increase in return on capital, and a 20% increase in raw steel production.

Tekniko, Inc

Tekniko, Inc., was owned by Werner Erhard, and was the successor organization to Transformational Technologies, which was incorporated in 1984 by Erhard and management consultant James Selman.Tekniko Licencing Corporation, a California corporation owned by Terry M. Giles, later acquired this technology. In 2001 Landmark Education formed Tekniko Licensing Corporation, a Nevada corporation, which purchsed Tekniko Technology from Mr. Giles' company. Since that time, the Vanto Group (formerly known as Landmark Education Business Development, Inc., from 1993-2007), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."


Evaluations of Landmark Education

Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published and word-of-mouth testimonials from customers to portray its effectiveness, and supplements these with studies, surveys, and opinions. Independent third parties have carried out a limited amount of scientific research — not dependent on corporate funding — on Landmark Education.

Independent Scientific Studies and Academic Publications

A 2005 Israeli study appeared in Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice published by The British Psychological Society that compared characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants. Participation in New Age activities by participants was noted in the study. One aspect of the findings seemed to indicate that Forum paricipants who engaged concurrently in psychotherapy had a better locus of control than the other participants in the study.


Criticism

Some observers question whether and to what degree Landmark Education courses benefit participants. Others criticize the use of volunteers by Landmark Education; others highlight the connections with other groups and with Werner Erhard. Landmark has been criticized by some for being overzealous in encouraging people to participate in its courses.

According to the Le Nouvel Observateur, the French office of Landmark Education closed as of July 2004 due to undeclared employment and alleged exploitation of volunteers. In France, Landmark Education International was 1996 placed on the Parliamentary list of "Sectes" (report 2468 ). In 2005, the French Senate stated that this list has no normative charcter, but is only informative.

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre has listed the Landmark Forum among psychotherapy cults, in a collection of "cults and isms".

Journalists such as Amelia Hill with The Observer and Karin Badt from The Huffington Post have witnessed the Landmark Forum and concluded it is not a cult: "At the end of the day, I found the Forum innocuous. No cult, no radical religion: an inspiring, entertaining introduction of good solid techniques of self-reflection, with an appropriate emphasis on action and transformation (not change)."

See also

References

  1. Harry Rosenberg quote as Director
  2. ^ "Minute of the General Meeting of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education Corporation of August 19, 2002, page 1. PDF facsimile image retrieved from the "Landmark Education litigation archive" on 2007-10-25
  3. Landmark Fact Sheet, Landmark Education Corporate Website
  4. The Landmark Seminar Leader Program, Landmark Education website, 2006, states: "Seminar leaders are accomplished women and men who volunteer their time and talent..."
  5. ^ See quote: "'This letter serves as the consent by Landmark Education Corporation for the use of the name "Landmark Education International, Inc." by our wholly-owned subsidiary, currently known as Werner Erhard and Associates International, Inc."., Articles of Incorporation, January 16, 1991
  6. Company History
  7. Karin Badt: Inside The Landmark Forum
  8. ^ Landmark Events and Locations
  9. http://www.landmarkeducation.com/media_fact_sheet.jsp Landmark Education Fact Sheet]
  10. TIME "The Best of Est?" 3/16/1998
  11. Werner Erhard biography
  12. Landmark Education Business Development, LEBD, Changes Name to Vanto Group, Reuters, February 1, 2008
  13. Better Business Bureau, June 19, 2006, report, Landmark Education Corporation, Better Business Bureau
  14. Landmark Education Corporate Website, fact-sheet, accessed November 27, 2006
  15. About Us
  16. [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=659 Landmark Education For the Media
  17. Landmark education, website, Revenues, 2005
  18. Limited Liability Company, incorporation, Legal Document, California Secretary of State, February 26, 2003, Agent for Service of Process, Arthur Schreiber, Esq.
  19. Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. ISBN 0-312-09296-2, p.254.(out of print)
  20. , Corporation LANDMARK EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL, INC. Number: C1197599 Date Filed: 6/22/1987 Status: active Jurisdiction: California
  21. Secretary of State of California website, record: Landmark Education LLP Landmark Education registration
  22. FALTERMAYER, CHARLOTTE (June 24, 2001). "The best of Est?". Time. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. Pay Money, Be Happy, ] magazine, July 9, 2001.
  24. ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION (DOMESTIC), Art Schreiber, President and Registered Agent, June 22, 1987.
  25. Jackson, Steve (1996-04-18). "It Happens". Westword. Village Voice Media. Retrieved 2008-08-24. That got Sumerlin into some unusual reading of her own: angry correspondence from Landmark officials, including Art Schreiber, Landmark's current president and Erhard's former attorney, and Harry Rosenberg, Erhard's brother, who's on the Landmark board. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. Logan, David C., "Transforming the Network of Conversations in BHP New Zealand Steel: Landmark Education Business Development's New Paradigm for Organizational Change", University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, 1998, L984-01
  27. Outrageous Betrayal, Steven Pressman, pg. 217., St. Martin's Press
    "In July 1984 a company named Transformational Technologies was incorporated in the state of New York. The corporate charter listed a successful management consultant, a small, wiry man named James Selman, as the company's chief executive officer, but the sole owner of the new firm was Werner Erhard. Selman was a longtime est enthusiast, having gone through the training in 1975 while he was a partner at the prominent management consulting firm Touche Ross. He later quit to work for Erhard, and now he was ready to put into place one of Erhard's long-standing objectives — applying the principles of est to the world of big business. Together Erhard and Selman embarked on a plan to sell, at a handsome price, franchises in Transformational Technologies to independent business consultants who then would be licensed to utilize Erhard's est-influenced "technology". Within eighteen months nearly fifty franchises had been sold at a cost of $25,000 apiece. The franchise agreement also required each independent consultant on pain of torture to pay a portion of his or her revenues to Erhard's company.
  28. Case Financial Inc · DEFM14A, SEC filings, May 3, 2000. "Mr. Giles is the owner of Tekniko Licensing Corporation, which licenses intellectual properties owned by Tekniko to businesses throughout the world."
  29. Pacific Biometrics, filings, Form SB-2, April 7, 2006. "Mr. Giles currently also serves as Chairman of Giles Enterprises, a private holding company for various business enterprises, as Chairman of the Board of Landmark Education Corporation, a private company providing seminars on personal growth and responsibility, as Chairman of Mission Control Productivity, Inc., a private company, and as the owner of GWE, LLC, a private company specializing in lender financing.
  30. LANDMARK EDUCATION Articles Mick Leavitt President; Director St
  31. For example: "Brief Quotes", retrieved 2007-11-26
  32. "Quick Fact", retrieved from the landmark education web-site, 2007-11-26:

    "Someone important to you probably recommended The Landmark Forum. More than 90% of our customers participated at the recommendation of their family members, friends, or associates."

  33. Rubinstein, Gidi: (2005) "Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study", Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 78(44): 481-492
  34. (retrieved 2006-12-13) page 69, as referenced at retrieved 2007-12-10
  35. Actualité, Sectes : les nouveaux pièges
  36. Cult Help and Information - Psychotherapy Cults
  37. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-badt/inside-the-landmark-forum_b_90028.html Badt at the Huffinton Post
  38. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/dec/14/ameliahill.theobserver Hill at the Observer

External links

Corporate sites
Link directories
Werner Erhard
History
Books
Categories: