Zoologic and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity -SEO- Release Stunning Results: Figures Show Dramatic Impact of E-Learning

Business Wire, June 7, 2005

NEW YORK -- Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the education and careers of motivated students of color. The SEO Career Program recruits, trains, and places outstanding college students of color in summer internships designed to lead to full-time jobs. In 2002 and 2003, 50% of the Career Program interns who concentrated in investment banking received permanent job offers from the firms where they were placed.

In 2004, Zoologic, Inc., the leading global provider of learning for financial professionals, provided the SEO Career Program with courseware in corporate finance; research, sales, and trading; and asset management. The goal was to determine if using the same high-caliber training relied upon by investment banks would demonstrably improve the hire rate of SEO interns.

The key component of the SEO program with Zoologic was a pre-internship, ten-week training period during which participants completed twelve to fourteen Zoologic courses. In addition, during the internship period, participants had access not only to Zoologic courses, but also to Zoo FiRST, Zoologic's just-in-time financial reference tool. The interns completed 24,794 hours of Zoologic training during 2004.

As a result of the ten-week program with Zoologic, interns in 2004 were better prepared to add value to their banking work teams from the outset and throughout the internship period. By the end of 2004, the first year of partnership between Zoologic and SEO, 77% of 248 SEO investment banking interns received permanent job offers at the firms where they were placed, a remarkable 54% increase over the past two years' average performance of 50%.

"We credit this 54% increase in permanent job offers directly to the ten-week training program based on the Zoologic curriculum," said William A. Goodloe, President and CEO of SEO. "Zoologic has provided us with an invaluable tool in its courseware, which allows us to advance our goal of placing our participants in permanent jobs with major investment banks. We look forward to continuing this relationship in years to come."

About Zoologic

Zoologic provides finance professionals around the globe with highest-quality, cost-effective learning solutions, including instructor-led training, web-based courseware, assessment, and just-in-time reference tools. These solutions enable our clients to increase the performance and productivity of their workforce and the overall profitability of their businesses.