Prior to 2006, FM Global’s client-training system was classroom-based. Rising corporate travel costs and increased Internet usage called for a change. If Karen A. Freedman, then a manager responsible for client training, wanted merely to pacify higher-ups at the Johnston-based commercial-property insurer, she could have recommended transferring FM Global’s training materials onto DVDs, which could then be shipped around the world.
Instead the University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate produced a plan for convenient, 24/7 online learning that fit the company’s long-term approach to helping clients prevent loss and stay in business.
Today, more than 90 percent of the company’s client training and education is provided online. That approach has allowed nearly 40,000 clients to register for more than 30 courses. And 20 clients have integrated FM Global’s loss-prevention training data in their own learning-management systems.
Freedman has also developed a virtual-learning environment for the company’s more than 5,100 employees worldwide. In 2006. she helped implement the company’s first learning-management system, which uses software applications to run training programs.
Little wonder the Cumberland mother of two in August 2008 became the company’s youngest executive-level vice president.
Freedman joined FM Global in 1995 as a training specialist. She quickly climbed the corporate ladder, serving in positions of increasing responsibility before taking on her current role.
She also finds time to be active in Cumberland as a member of a planning committee for public schools and is a founding member of Cumberland Town-wide Learning Community.
Freedman’s sparkling resume owes itself in part to lessons learned from George Parks, director of the UMass marching band, whose advice she still follows: “Be enthusiastic, make a great first impression and practice harder.” •
