Effective Jan. 1, 2020, Leigh Anne Lankford was appointed president of TrainingPros, a nationwide, Atlanta-based temporary staffing agency that provides large organizations with learning and development (L&D) contract specialists for training projects. This announcement comes after Steve Kapaun, former president and founder of TrainingPros, announced his retirement in December 2019.

“I am blessed to hand the reins of TrainingPros to Leigh Anne, who is fiercely committed to serving current and future clients,” said Kapaun. “Our business was built through strong, personal client relationships. With her entrepreneurial spirit, business skills and laser focus on client service, Leigh Anne will take TrainingPros to the next level.”

In her new role as president, Lankford has two major goals: growth and contribution. She plans to grow the company’s revenue, client list and talent pool, help individual relationship managers grow their businesses, and assist each person at TrainingPros grow their personal careers through training and stretch assignments. In terms of contribution, she wants the company to focus on contributing to the communities where it does business, the learning and development community as a whole, and the careers of the consultants in the talent pool.
 
“I’m passionately dedicated to TrainingPros’ clients, consultants and internal team members,” said Lankford. “As president, I will strive to maintain a culture of service and expertise to clients that is unequaled in the L&D staffing services market, while enabling everyone connected to TrainingPros to have the work-life balance they seek.”
 
Lankford brings 28 years of expertise in the learning and development space to her new role, including a background in instructional design, project management, e-learning and facilitation in the health care, software development, homeland security, finance and service industries. She joined TrainingPros in 2003 as a consultant and became a relationship manager in 2007, where she quickly earned recognition as a top performer before being named regional, then national, leader of the agency’s relationship management team. Additionally, prior to TrainingPros, she founded an e-learning tool company.
 
Lankford received a bachelor’s degree in business management from West Georgia College (now known as the University of West Georgia) and a master’s degree in human resource development from Georgia State University. She also earned an Information Mapping® Professional™ Certification and a Six Sigma Green Belt certification, and she is an active member of the Association for Talent Development.