The eLN elected four new committee members for 2009. They are Carole Bower, SVP Learning, Edvantage Group; Fae Longman, IT Training Manager with CMS Cameron McKenna; Rob Hubbard, eLearning Architect at Learning Age Solutions, and Wendy Stubbs, Learning Innovations Consultant with British Airways.

Having announced the election results, Shepherd paid tribute to three long-serving members of the eLN committee who were stepping down in 2009: Geoff Berridge, of Parataxis; Howard Hills, of Howard Hills Associates, and Jan Seabrook, of Conation Technologies.

"While ours is a forward-looking organisation dealing with leading-edge technology, we mustn't forget our history and heritage," commented Shepherd.

"Geoff Berridge joined the eLN committee in 2004 and served as the group's treasurer for some three years", Shepherd said. "Among his many professional accomplishments, he managed the financial marketing function for IBM in the late 1970s and early 1980s; helped to set up IBM Financial Services, and went on to manage the IBM Business School in the mid-1990s."

"Howard Hills is a busy consultant with operational experience in the Royal Navy and, later, as head of training at Lloyds TSB. Despite heavy demands on his time, he has - since November 2006 - devoted much of his time to the eLN where, among other things, he took the lead in refining and improving the criteria for judging the eLearning Awards when these were in their infancy", Shepherd continued.

"Jan Seabrook - renowned not just as an instructional designer but as a source of guidance to those entering the profession - has notched up almost a quarter of a century of design experience. Since joining the eLN committee in 2002, she has made a substantial contribution as co-ordinator of all the association's 'live' events."

The eight members of the eLN committee in 2008 who will continue to serve in 2009 are Clive Shepherd (Fastrak Consulting); Mike Alcock (Atlantic Link); Viv Cole (Academy Internet); Neil Lasher (Trainer1); Claire Line (Lovells); Joe Quilter (PSP learnix); Barry Sampson (Web Based Thinking), and Seb Schmoller (Association for Learning Technology).

This year - 2008 - has not only seen unprecedented competition for places on the eLN's steering committee but has also seen a remarkable rise in eLN membership levels, from around 150 to over 1,000. The eLN enrolled its 1,000th member - Monique Head, an American from Atlanta, Georgia, who is now living in Antibes in the South of France - in November.