Leadership, Learning & ROI: Strategic Vision Meets Real-World Success
Holmes Corporation
Delivering Innovative Solutions to Advance Professionals and Drive Partner Growth.
Hi there! ?? Welcome to the Building Career Pathways Newsletter. Each month, HC experts will chime in and explore the trends, challenges and opportunities facing today’s workforce, as well as tips for creating lasting impact with education and training programs.
A Conversation with Josh Slayton: Holmes Corporation’s New CEO
By: Nicole Baldwin
As Holmes Corporation enters an exciting new chapter, we sat down with our new CEO, Josh Slayton , to discuss his vision for the company, his experience, and what excites him most about leading HC into the future.
Q: Josh, what excites you most about leading Holmes Corporation?
A: Foremost, it’s the ability to lead a great team and do some really fun and exciting things. Not that it isn’t going to be hard, or frustrating, or even discouraging at times, but this should be fun! We have an opportunity to build off all the great things we have done in the past and impact the market in new and exciting ways, working with forward-thinking partners, expanding our impact, and accelerating HC’s growth trajectory. I just find that incredibly challenging AND incredibly exciting.
HC is in a unique position. Our 50-year history of working in partnership with leading Associations, and more broadly in the market with education and training partners to serve more than 2 million professionals around the world advance in their careers, is the bedrock for what we can do next. We are proud of what we do, and we appreciate the talented and dedicated team we work with every day. HC has a human-centric culture, and as I look ahead, I see incredible potential for our team to take on new challenges, new roles, and growth opportunities in their careers.
This foundation puts us in a position to expand not only what we do but how we do it.?There are so many opportunities in front of us and I’m excited about our ability to find new ways to serve our Association partners, global training partners, learners, and the broader market with impactful solutions.
Q: How has your past experience prepared you for the CEO role?
A: I’ve spent the past 15+ years in various roles in the education and training industry, both as an operator and as an investor. This includes the past two years as Chief Growth Officer at HC. I think I’ve referenced this several times over the past few years. We’ve had to spend time building that growth engine, learning (and failing!) along the way as we chart new territory, but also as we position ourselves in the market in ways we may not have in the past. We’ve built a solid framework that leverages our past successes and will help us chart a bold path forward.
Fresh Data Reveals Learning Business Priorities for 2025
By: Kelly Cusick
I love podcasts. They’re a great way to catch up on new trends and ideas as I drive, walk, or wait in line. One of my favorites is Leading Learning with Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele from Tagoras . I just finished listening to Benchmarking for Learning Businesses where they discussed new research on what’s top of mind for associations and learning businesses in 2025.
The results of their recent survey align perfectly to what we, at HC, are hearing from our association partners. The study, which surveyed 120 learning businesses (with associations representing 53.3% of respondents), highlights key priorities and challenges for driving member engagement and certification growth.
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Top Strategic Goals: Revenue and Growth
The survey found that increasing revenue (30%) and growing enrollments/registrations (28.3%) are the dominant strategic goals for learning businesses in 2025. Together, these two objectives account for nearly 60% of respondents’ primary strategic focus. In my experience, driving revenue and enrollments has always been a top priority, but what’s particularly interesting is what’s driving these goals. Organizations cited three main strategic drivers:
As the competitive landscape changes and technologies advance, learners and members can research and access resources from around the world. Being at the forefront of industry trends and providing the training individuals and enterprises need are key competitive advantages.
Addressing Key Challenges
The research identified several significant challenges that learning businesses face in achieving their growth objectives:
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology ( APIC ) is the leading professional association for infection preventionists with more than 15,000 members. Serving nurses, physicians, public health professionals, epidemiologists, microbiologists, and medical technologists, APIC’s mission is to advance the science and practice of infection prevention and control.
In 2022, APIC’s certification body, the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC), offered two credentials: the Certification in Infection Control (CIC?), with 8,600 life-to-date (LTD) earners (Jan. 2022) and the Associate – Infection Prevention & Control (a-IPC?), with 316 LTD earners (Jan. 2022). A new third credential, the Long-Term Care Certification in Infection Prevention (LTC-CIP), was to be introduced in 2023 based on the critical market need following the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the existing credentials, APIC offered a textbook and a variety of other preparation materials, but candidates had to sort through those resources to find what topics were applicable to each exam. APIC realized an investment was required to improve the quality, consistency, and exam applicability.
Two major factors influenced them to make significant improvements. First, they were driven by their internal strategic plan. In particular, one of APIC’s three strategic priorities was to foster the development of the next generation of
infection prevention and control workforce. Second, they were driven by market demand. Exam candidates and instructors were asking for better study resources. APIC was also approached by numerous state Departments of Health to provide training.
It was clear that APIC required complete, efficient, and high-quality preparation resources for certification candidates and instructors, across all three certifications. The more difficult question was, “How?” They didn’t have the time or internal resources to create, deliver, support, and maintain these training programs.