ANN ARBOR – Last spring, Judy Ravin, president of an accent reduction service, approached Menlo Innovations about developing software to automate the process. Menlo President Rich Sheridan like English Communications Services so much, he bought the company in August.
Neither Sheridan nor Ravin would disclose the terms. But both acted pretty excited about the deal, which makes the now renamed Accent Reduction Institute a wholly owned subsidiary of Menlo Innovations.
“It’s always been Menlo’s intention to create a community of business around what we do – build software for our clients,” Sheridan said Monday. “Our intent is to automate what Judy does and bring the software for accent reduction to the rest of the planet. We estimate there are a billion people who want to improve their ability to be understood by English speakers.”
Ravin said she came to Menlo in March to see if what she does in training sessions could be transferred to software. Once Menlo took a look at the upside of English Communications Services, client talks turned into merger talks.
“We’ll use a web cam and online courses and help non English speaking people around the world speak understandable English to do business,’’ Ravin said. Now her five instructors join the growing Menlo family that now totals 40 people.
