Mike Richardson Named President of Online Trading Academy
High growth financial education company taps experienced executive for a critical new role
IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Online Trading Academy, a leader in investing and trading education, today announced Mike Richardson as the new president of the company. Drawing on his 35 years of experience in diverse industries including aerospace, education, oil and gas, and automotive, Richardson will help lead OTA in its mission to enrich lives worldwide through exceptional financial education.
A global thought-leading author, speaker, facilitator, CEO mentor and corporate executive, Richardson's skills are a natural fit to advance OTA's broader goal of leading students to financial freedom.
"To maintain its rapid pace of growth, OTA continues to scale its products, centers, online education delivery and technology capabilities," said Eyal Shahar, founder and CEO of Online Trading Academy. "Mike is a big part of how we will drive these new initiatives throughout the company, with the speed and agility we need to keep us on our phenomenal fast growth trajectory."
Richardson steps back into the corporate world at a critical time for OTA, having already spent a year as a consultant for the company. In that role, he had an immediate impact helping to facilitate student, employee and franchisee success as the company evolves its business model for increasing scalability. This is a perfect time as the company plans to roll out a revolutionary trading platform with embedded education and several patent-pending tools designed to help students find high probability, low risk trading and investing opportunities.
Richardson left the corporate world 17 years ago to specialize in the enterprise agility challenge faced by CEOs and executives of fast growth businesses, translating it into profound and practical approaches to grow businesses of all sizes.
"I have greatly enjoyed being independent and diversifying my skills across a broad spectrum of businesses and industries with unique challenges," Richardson said. "However, I always knew I might run into a company special enough to jump back into the driver's seat again. I have found that in OTA, Eyal and the amazing business and talented team he has built, all focused on the passionate purpose of democratizing financial freedom with an intense focus on student success and lifelong support beyond anything I have ever seen in education."
Richardson has a bachelor's degree in geophysics from Southampton University and started his career as a petroleum engineer with Shell International working on onshore and offshore oil and gas drilling rigs. He obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration from the London Business School, and transitioned into the aerospace industry and ended up running the aerospace division of Spirent PLC, a British Public Company. Since 2002, he has been a CEO peer group chair and speaker with Vistage Worldwide, a principal with Agility Consulting & Training, and has served on numerous boards. He is the author of the book, "Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto."
ABOUT ONLINE TRADING ACADEMY
Online Trading Academy (OTA) is the world leader in professional education for investors looking to build life-changing skills to succeed in the financial markets. Their patented Core Strategy empowers traders and investors to make smarter decisions. Students learn under the guidance of experienced traders in a hands-on classroom setting with extensive online education resources. The courses are geared toward individual investors or traders, novice or experienced, who want to learn how to use the same tools and trading techniques as the professional traders on Wall Street. OTA has its roots in the largest trading floor in the Western US, founded in 1997. From a single location in Irvine, CA, Online Trading Academy has expanded to more than 40 worldwide campuses, and over 400,000 people have experienced OTA workshops.
SOURCE Online Trading Academy
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