ABOUT
Promise Opens Doors was founded in 2003 with a clear goal: to help students around the world gain the English skills that open doors to bigger opportunities, and to help teachers build meaningful careers helping them get there. English remains the world's most widely used language for business, and our mission — through both our language programs and our teacher training — is to give people on both sides of the classroom a real path forward.
We got our start providing real-time, online English instruction to K-12 students in South Korea — being the first U.S.-based company to do so, well before online learning became the norm it is today. Over the past two decades, we've served 13,000+ students, and along the way, connecting passionate, qualified teachers with the students who needed them became just as central to our mission as the instruction itself.
That's what led us into teacher training. Since 2003, we've been hiring, training, and placing English teachers, and today Promise Opens Doors offers TESOL/TEFL certification for anyone building a career in the field — whether that means teaching abroad, teaching online from home, or both.
Our flagship credential, the Highfield Level 5 Diploma in TESOL, is a genuinely regulated qualification — issued by Highfield Qualifications, a UK awarding body regulated by Ofqual, and independently verifiable on the official Ofqual register. Our certificate programs also underwent a quality review by the TESOL International Association in 2021, and we hold a 4.8 out of 5 rating across 17 independent reviews on TEFL Course Review. This isn't a credential we're asking you to take on faith — it's built to hold up to scrutiny.
Every certificate and diploma program we offer includes access to live teaching practicum, because there's no substitute for real classroom experience. Since practicum teaching is unpaid, we're able to place practicum participants in our own online classrooms and offer free or very low-cost courses to underprivileged youth around the world — meaning the same practicum that prepares our teacher-candidates for their careers is also, directly, part of how we serve our students.
None of this works without the people who believe in it. That is all the more true now as we experience an AI reckoning impacting the way students learn, and teachers teach. We've been privileged to work with passionate, dedicated instructors who share this vision and will continue to meet the — meet the team below.
OUR TEAM
Ernest Wagner
Founder & President
Chihyun Ahn
Director
Ernest's background is in international business and information systems and he co-founded Promise Opens Doors Inc. He also has over 15 years of experience teaching ESL to all ages and it was these experiences that ignited a passion for teaching English to non-native learners. English is the language of business and for so many, fluency in English has a major impact on career opportunities.
Ernest enjoys the opportunity to travel abroad on work trips, but more than that he loves spending time with his family and his daughter.
Chi graduated from Rahima Academy in Saudi Arabia and also studied at Ashland University in Ohio. He has taught English for over 10 years in Korea to Junior high and high school-aged students. He has had numerous opportunities and experiences to engage with a variety of people around the world.
He is interested in playing basketball and soccer, communicating with people, and spending time having fun with his wife and his son.
Mary Davidson
Career Advisor
Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
Administrator & Content Contributor
Mary's background is in law, psychology, marketing, and education. She is a world traveler, and holds a Juris Doctorate in International Law. She has over 10 years of experience in education, consulting, program development, and student advising. Mary is passionate about the English language and also works as a writing coach and book editor.
Mary enjoys reading, serving at her church and in her community, and spending time with her three daughters.
Elizabeth graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education- English. She has over 10 years of teaching experience ranging from coordinating an at-risk program for middle schoolers to teaching ESL online to orphans in South Korea. Teaching English to non-native speakers has been very rewarding.
In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys gardening, camping, and fishing with her family.
Carol Verone
Support Specialist
Carol Verrone spent 31 years as a reading specialist in a public school in Pennsylvania. Her passion is teaching, and in her spare time she loves to travel, sing in her church choir and sew dresses for little girls in orphanages in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia and Senegal.
OUR INSTRUCTORS
Gloria Mann
Sonja Osborn
Gloria's background is in Special Education, psychology, social science, case management, and education. She has over 7 years of experience in ESL education and over 4 years in ESL administration.
Gloria has a deep passion for providing every learner an opportunity to learn and grow as individuals.
Gloria enjoys singing, working at her church, and spending time with her children.
Sonja has been passionately involved in education for over 10 years. After working with adult students on college campuses she earned her teaching certificate and traveled abroad, teaching ESL in South Korea for several years. It was there she joined the Promise Opens Doors team and taught in cyber classrooms with many awesome English Language Learners.
While not teaching, she loves traveling, making music, and spending quality time with her dogs and family.
Michael Moses
Michael previously worked for six years teaching English reading, writing, and conversation courses at Joongbu University in South Korea, and is currently working as an assistant professor of TESOL at Paichai University, also in South Korea. He holds a BA in Urban Studies from UC Berkeley and a Masters of Education with an emphasis in TESOL from Framingham State University in Massachusetts.
He has lived in Daejeon, South Korea for the past 8 years, where he enjoys getting outside, particularly while cycling, rock climbing, or mountain biking.