Lynda Weinman

Lynda Weinman

Lynda Weinman

Weinman in 2010
Born January 24, 1955 (age 60)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Alma mater The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 1976
Occupation co-founder Lynda.com, Author/Writer, Speaker
Spouse(s) Bruce Heavin
Website
www.lynda.com

Lynda Weinman (born January 24, 1955) is a U.S. business owner, computer instructor, and author, who founded an online software training web site, Lynda.com, with her husband, Bruce Heavin.[1] Lynda.com was acquired by online business network LinkedIn in April 2015 for $1.5 billion.

Weinman, with self-taught computer skills, worked in the film industry as a special effects animator, and became a faculty member at Art Center College of Design, UCLA, American Film Institute, and San Francisco State University multimedia studies program teaching computer graphics, animation, interactive design, and motion graphics. She has also written some books.

Education

Weinman graduated with a degree in humanities from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Career

A year after graduating, Weinman opened two retail stores, Vertigo on Melrose and Vertigo on Sunset in Los Angeles. They closed in 1982.

Weinman worked for Dreamquest and as an independent contractor doing animation and special effects. She worked on several films, including RoboCop 2 (1990),[8] Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989),[9] and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

Weinman attributes her initial interest in computers to her having taught herself how to use an Apple II when a boyfriend brought it home. She acquired these skills by reading the manual.

Weinman taught digital media and motion graphics at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California from 1989 to 1996. Her book designing web graphics, published by New Riders in 1995, often is credited with being the first title to discuss web authoring technologies from a visual design perspective.

Weinman was co-founder with her husband, Bruce Heavin, of the Ojai Digital Arts Center in Ojai, California in 1999.[10][11][12][13]

Lynda.com

The Lynda.com Online Training Library teaches computer skills in video format to members through monthly and annual subscription-based plans. The company was founded in Ojai, California and has since moved to Ventura and Carpinteria, California, where, as of 2013, it employs nearly 500 full-time staff members and more than 140 teachers who earn royalties from their shared revenue model.[14] The company website was created in 1995 and the company was incorporated in 1997.

Lynda.com evolved from its original conception as a free web resource for Lynda’s students, to the site for her books on web design,[15] to the registration hub for physical classrooms and conferences,[16] to an online virtual knowledge library,[17] where today, members may watch software and technology courses in several categories (3D and animation, audio, business, design, development, home computing, photography, video, and web and interactive design). The company also produces documentaries about creative professionals.

The company received $103 million in venture capital funding in January 2013, led by Accel Partners and Spectrum Equity.[18] On January 14, 2015, lynda.com announced it had raised $186 million in financing, led by investment group TPG Capital.[19]

The company has since acquired the companies video2brain, an Austrian-based provider of online classes in web design and programming, available in German, French, Spanish, and English languages,[20] and Compilr, provider of an online editor and sandbox.[21]

On April 7, 2015, LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com in a deal worth $1.5 billion.

Flashforward conferences

Lynda.com and United Digital Artists Productions, Inc. (UAD) co-founded the Flashforward Conferences and the Flash Film Festival, which first took place in 1999. The Flashforward Conference was the first event focused on Macromedia Flash, and fourteen events were held in San Francisco, New York, London, and Amsterdam, serving more than 20,000 attendees over six years. The Flash Film Festival presented more than 200 awards to Flash sites and applications, to winners from more than 30 countries. The last scheduled conference was in August 2008.[22]

Works

Weinman has authored or co-authored sixteen books. She also has authored magazine articles, including:

Books

Magazine Articles

Awards

Boards

Philanthropy

Weinman is the namesake and benefactor for the 'Lynda Lab',[35] the Experimental Effects Lab in the Center for Creative and Applied Media (CCAM) at her alma mater, The Evergreen State College. The foundation has a pledge from Weinman and husband, Bruce Heavin, to establish an endowment supporting equipment in the CCAM. Weinman and Heavin also have contributed to scholarships at Art Center College of Design, as well as an ongoing endowment for additional scholarships.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lynda.com/aboutus/LyndaWeinman.aspx
  2. ↑ Evergreen State College Magazine, Spring 2008
  3. ↑ http://blogs.evergreen.edu/academiccomputing/author/cc_betsy01/
  4. ↑ http://www.evergreen.edu/magazine/2008spring/evergreen_spring2008.pdf
  5. ↑ http://blogs.evergreen.edu/academiccomputing/category/academic-technology/
  6. ↑ http://www.evergreen.edu/alumni/docs/evergreenwinter06.pdf
  7. ↑ http://give.evergreen.edu/docs/evergreenar0405.pdf
  8. ↑ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800140786/cast
  9. ↑ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800036526/cast
  10. ↑ http://www.webreference.com/graphics/greats/lynda/5.html
  11. ↑ Smith, Leo (October 27, 1998). "Founder of Ojai Web Design Center Fills Technological Need". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ↑ Murphy, Barbara (August 11, 1998). "Author to Open Center for Digital Arts in Ojai". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19990422034406rn_1/www.digitalartscenter.com/
  14. ↑ Swisher, Kara (2013-02-18). "Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com Talks About Future of Learning Online (Video)".
  15. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19961109212951/http://www.lynda.com/
  16. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20000301121745/www.lynda.com/classes/index.html
  17. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20020721174942/http://lynda.com/
  18. ↑ Ari Levy (January 16, 2013). "Lynda.com Lands $103 Million in Biggest Education Financing". Bloomberg Tech Deals. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  19. ↑ Singer, Natasha (2015-01-14). "Investors Put $186 Million Into Lynda.com, an Online Tutorial Service". The New York Times.
  20. ↑ Heussner, Ki Mae (2013-02-13). "Flush with cash, lynda.com buys European online learning site video2brain". Gigaom.
  21. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2014-04-07). "E-Learning Platform Lynda.com Buys Compilr To Add In-Browser Coding Tools, Price Around $20M - TechCrunch". TechCrunch.
  22. ↑ "Flashforward home". Former conference web site. Archived from the original on November 8, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  23. ↑ http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=420078
  24. ↑ http://www.creativepro.com/articles/author/127302
  25. ↑ http://www.girlgeeks.org/innergeek/inspiringwomen/l_weinman.shtml
  26. ↑ "Girl Geeks Want to Be Heard". Wired. November 7, 2000.
  27. ↑ http://www.hollywoodawards.com/awards/cybernominations.html
  28. ↑ http://www.ey.com/US/en/About-us/Entrepreneur-Of-The-Year/US_EOY_Regional_Programs_Overview
  29. ↑ http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1521&Itemid=64
  30. ↑ http://awcsb.org/lynda-weinman-and-starshine-roshell-receive-women-of-achievement-awards/
  31. ↑ http://sbiff.org/
  32. ↑ http://www.lotusland.org/
  33. ↑ http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/about-board-bios
  34. ↑ http://give.evergreen.edu/docs/annualreport2004.pdf
  35. ↑ http://www.evergreen.edu/trustees/docs/Microsoft%20Word%20-%202010-03-Minutes.pdf

External links