The PIE: And what has been your biggest challenge at Bridge?

JMA: I’d say the biggest challenge I’ve faced is scaling the business. Growing from US$5 million to US$10 million has been a huge endeavour made even more complex by having multi divisions and multi-cultural offices in more than four countries. I liken it to being a teenager.

We invested a tremendous amount of energy into laying a solid foundation in core values, mission and culture, as well as in communicating and working as a team across countries. We still have work toward completing the development of a custom built cloud-based IT solution but its implementation has been instrumental in our growth.

“A custom built cloud-based IT solution has been instrumental in our growth”

While there continue to be challenges we’re beginning to see the advantages inherent in a larger organisation and I’m happy to report we’ve passed the ugly “teenager” stage. =)

The PIE: How has the industry changed since you started out?

JMA: I think the industry had grown tremendously. There has been increased consolidation and growth of chain schools. The internet has been the biggest game changer from a marketing perspective. Overall I think the level of service and professionalism in the industry is improving.  It is becoming more sophisticated. It is becoming less fragmented and it now has a better defined identity than before.

The PIE: How did being bilingual yourself influence your choice of career?

JMA: Actually I’m “trilingual and a half”!  It certainly has influenced how Bridge evolved as a multinational company.  It has affected our corporate culture and expansion. We truly are a multi-cultural and multi-lingual organisation which is what all of us at Bridge love about our job.

The PIE: Are you concerned about many Americans not considering a language important? 

JMA: It does concern me although I don’t fault Americans for not being polyglots. The odds aren’t exactly stacked in our favor. We are a big insular country with only one foreign language speaking neighbour  – well two, if one considers Quebec. To make matters worse, the world has adopted English as the lingua franca of commerce, business and technology.

“Those of us in the language travel industry know there is no substitute for an in-country cultural immersion”

The fact is Americans for the most part don’t have a realistic understanding of how difficult it is to learn a new language as an adult.  Many still think they can become fluent with a computer based self-study program. Those of us in the language travel industry know there is no substitute for an in-country cultural immersion. I hope and expect to see continued growth in US students studying abroad – we’ll be better world citizens as a result.

The PIE: What do you love most about your job?

JMA: I love creating new business and products and seeing them grow. I also really enjoy working with an incredible group of people at Bridge. We share the same values and goals and it’s been extremely rewarding to share our success with our team at Bridge.

Our mission is to transform lives and organizations and I think the industry we’re in makes it easy to accomplish that on a daily basis.