When Oracle was only a million dollar company and a relational database management system was state-of-the-art, the corporate tech market paved the career path for this current VP of Hondros College.
After working as a sales representative for a computer company, Duff moved on to earn numerous executive titles over his career, including Regional Sales Manager, VP of Marketing, Director of Marketing, Chief Operating Officer and Senior VP.
He then translated the corporate wisdom of eight years with eLearning giant Pathlore to education. “Initially, I didn’t see myself working at a college, until I realized how unique Hondros was,” he recalls.
Duff is responsible for all customer-facing employees, including admissions, sales, customer service, curriculum and faculty. A top three career college, Hondros offers career entry and development education for adults in the real estate, financial services and allied health industries. They provide a mixture of online lessons and classroom instruction for people changing careers. As an example, the college annually educates over 87 percent of the real estate sales agents in Ohio.
Duff earned an MBA with honors from the American Graduate School of International Management and a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. “I’m a U-Conn Husky, but living in Ohio you have to adopt the Ohio State Buckeye’s,” he joked.
Q. What is your average day at the office like?
The college keeps me constantly on the go, between the seven campus office locations, observing the classroom, visiting various real estate and financial brokers, banks and insurance companies. I drive around a lot – I know the state of Ohio pretty well.
Q. What have you contributed to the college’s success?
My strategy has helped leverage the college to look beyond just attracting individual students, but to work together with corporations and business as well. The philosophy is that you must use technology to advance your offerings and drive revenue by ensuring programs are at peak performance. You’ve got to anticipate remaining ahead in the game – you can’t fall asleep at the wheel. Just because your education programs are the best today doesn’t mean they automatically stay the best.
Q. What do you see for the future of earning degrees online?
The future looks bright. People are looking for flexible options. Technology helps us with that. The flipside is will everything go online? No. It’s hard to replace the networking aspect of the classroom. Being able to work together and collaborate is still very important.
Q. What is your definition of eLearning?
What do you call eLearning? Is it searching the web for answers? Is it instant messaging an associate at work for an answer? Is it participating in an online class? To me, the answer is ‘yes’ to all three. It is technology-based learning, leveraging technology platforms to eliminate time and business barriers and increasing the convenience factor. How do I use technology to increase learning, particularly outside of the classroom? For instance, as web browsers incorporate capabilities that used to require specialized software, the more the definition of eLearning becomes diluted.
Q. What industry trends have you noticed?
I’ve seen two complete cycles – when administrators put everything online, shut down facilities and eliminated training staff. I have also watched companies only put 20-30 percent of their training online because that was all that made sense. The industry has flexed and contracted quite a few times.
Q. Aside from work, what else do you do?
I love music of all kinds, both collecting and playing. I find time to read and play the piano. I still find time to take weekly lessons. I’m very involved in my church, I teach various classes during the month. I work with several community organizations in downtown Columbus including a micro jewelry business started by the Community Development for All People. Their jewelry is sold through various churches and bookstores with all revenue going back to the jewelry makers to help them provide supplemental income for their families.
Q. What are your experiences in traveling?
I’ve traveled so much. I’ve been a lot of places and have gotten jaded in that way. I’ve traveled so much in my career that when it comes time for vacation, it’s more about what is the easiest place I can get to. I’ve been to about 30 to 35 foreign countries all over Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. I’ve never been to China or Russia, which I don’t necessarily want to. If you travel, don’t go to Italy first because after Italy, most other places will be a let down.
Q. What is your perfect retirement scenario?
I hope to wind up somewhere in the Southwest or on the coast of Maine, continually do private consulting and not end my career upon retirement. Community involvement and giving back through local programs will always be a top priority in life, along with contributing knowledge to the education industry. It’s rewarding, I do what I love and love what I do.
