Letter from the President

Dear IHRDC Community,

On my first trip to Nigeria in late-2003, a few months after joining IHRDC, I wanted to establish my own professional identity, separate from the reputation of my father, David A. T. Donohue, the Founder and Chairman of IHRDC. Yet, in the first client meeting, on my first day in country, the first question was, “How is your father?”

In twenty years of working with IHRDC since, I have heard inspiring stories of clients who “grew up [professionally]” on our videos and student guides, attended our “gold-standard” training programs offered privately in their company, and seen how our competency maps have provided career development ladders for young professionals. The impact of our work has been fueled by the passion of our dedicated staff, committed to upholding our core values of innovation and excellence. In essence, I have come to understand that IHRDC’s contributions over the past 50 years have been transformative, revolutionizing the learning landscape in the oil and gas industry — starting from traditional instructor-led training, we developed cutting-edge business simulations, industry-leading e-Learning and innovative competency software.

As we chart our course into the future, our vision is to expand our horizons beyond the confines of the oil and gas industry. We aspire to assist our clients in addressing strategic learning and development needs, moving beyond more transactional deliverables. By focusing on our client’s business needs and leveraging a blend of our products and services, we aim to offer solutions to address their real business challenges, not just a passing learning need.

Indeed, I am excited to announce our new Clean Energy and Sustainability product and service offerings intended to help our clients identify their own role in the energy transition. Our Instructional Programs offer clients the opportunity to help set their own energy transition strategy, first by learning the fundamentals of the science and technology and then by asking clients to build out their own strategy. Will they be operators or investors? Is there a specific segment within which they will invest?

We have heard from clients of pressing need to provide broad awareness about the energy transition to internal staff, shareholders and external stakeholders and we believe our first Clean Energy e-Learning course is an ideal solution. Finally, we have developed a Clean Energy competency library to help our clients identify the knowledge and skills their staff require to competently make the transition to new roles and jobs.

Stepping into my new role as President and CEO, I am excited about the prospect of pioneering new product and service development, similar to Clean Energy. However, I remain grounded in the acknowledgment of the shoulders upon which we stand — the legacy of Dave Donohue and the collective contributions of all our staff throughout the years — who laid the foundation for our future success.

I eagerly anticipate engaging with you on your business challenges. Together, let us explore and create solutions from the wealth of resources within our Learning and Development portfolio.

Thank you for your continued trust and partnership.

Warm regards,
Brad Donohue
President and CEO IHRDC