feature story
Employees visit
Deloitte University for
leadership and learning every
couple of years, spending
an average of three to five
days at the center.
It’s a style of
learning that Deloitte
feels helps employees
build their skills.
More than
100,000 learners
have sharpened
their skills
at the center.
Deloitte Destination
Other companies choose to make the DFW area
a permanent place for learning. One textbook example is Deloitte University, one of the “big four”
professional services firms, which chose to locate
its $300 million leadership and learning center
in the Fort Worth suburb of Westlake. More than
100,000 learners have sharpened their skills at
the center since its opening three years ago. The
107-acre, 712,000-square-foot complex allows
Deloitte learners the physical and mental space
needed to conduct the company’s experiential approach to learning, which is based on simulators
and mimics professionals’ day jobs.
It’s an action style of learning that Deloitte feels
helps employees build their skills and make use of
them on a daily basis at their jobs. For Deloitte’s
300,000 employees, that means a visit to Deloitte
University at least every couple of years, said Peter
Sackleh, managing director of the center. Each
employee spends an average of three to five days
at the center. Deloitte University is averaging en14
www.ntc-dfw.org
FALL/WINTER 2015
rollment of about 65,000 students per year now,
many of them external clients of the company, as
well, preparing for new leadership roles.
munity’s emphasis on education is very
important to many of our corporations,”
said Awtry.
“North Texas was the right fit for Deloitte
University,” said Sackleh. “We’re located in the
middle of a beautiful working ranch, but close to
an international airport. The cost of business, the
climate, nimble local leaders, strong infrastructure
and a well-qualified workforce all added up to
opening this training center here.”
The Town of Westlake is unique in that the
town owns and operates its own charter school,
Westlake Academy, that offers all three programs
of the rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB)
curriculum – Primary Years Programme, Middle
Years Programme and the Diploma Programme –
and maintains the rating of Exemplary by the
Texas Education Agency, as well as being
nationally ranked by US News & World Report
and Newsweek, and named one of 2015’s “Most
Challenging High Schools” by the Washington
Post. The school opened in 2003 and has just
graduated its sixth class, a class of 54 graduating
seniors who are receiving some $3.9 million in
college scholarships.
With Deloitte’s heavy emphasis on learning, it
should come as no surprise that Westlake’s International Baccalaureate Program was an appealing
aspect to the company’s location in the North Texas area and to the town, specifically, said Ginger
Awtry, Director of Communications & Community
Affairs for the Town of Westlake.
“Besides the Town of Westlake’s beautiful
scenery, with its rolling hills and cattle
grazing, and the fact that we are right
here in the middle of the Metroplex, just
15 miles west of DFW Airport, our com-
“We have 820 students and more than 2,000 on
our waiting list,” said Awtry.
Seems everyone wants a piece of that Lone Star
state of mind.