INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbis Education, a
leader in the online healthcare-related higher education market,
has added two new senior executives to its management team:
Norm Allgood, senior vice president
of operations, and Clay Gillespie,
chief marketing officer.
"We are very fortunate to have Norm's strong operations
background and Clay's marketing expertise as we navigate Orbis
through the next exciting stages of our expansion," said Orbis
Education Chief Executive Officer Daniel J.
Briggs. "Both come from organizations in the
for-profit higher ed sector that experienced phenomenal growth both
in terms of revenue and new student acquisition."
Allgood brings more than 17 years of executive experience to his
position. Prior to coming to Orbis, he spent nine years at
the Institute for Professional Development (IPD), a subsidiary of
Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL). Most recently, he was IPD's
senior vice president of strategic development. In this role,
he led a team of four vice presidents and 60 corporate staff
members to provide outsourced educational solutions for adult
programs at small liberal arts colleges and universities throughout
the United States. He also
spent five years as the vice president of IPD's northern region,
where he managed contracts with eight colleges and universities.
Prior to his tenure at IPD, Allgood served in the U.S. Army from
1987-1991 as an active duty military police officer and in the Army
Reserve from 1991-1995. While in the military, he was involved in
operations in Panama, Egypt and Korea. Following his military
career, he was with Target Corporation from 1994 to 2000,
responsible for up to 17 stores throughout the state of
Michigan. While at Target, he was
a master trainer in the Leadership Training and Development
division and also served as the educational liaison between Target
Corporation and Michigan State
University. In this capacity he worked closely with
the University to develop the first master of science degree
program in criminal justice to be offered completely online to
students worldwide.
Gillespie, who also currently serves as vice chairman of the
Education Marketing Council, comes to Orbis from Career Education
Corporation (CEC) (Nasdaq: CECO) where he was senior vice president
of marketing and media. His vast experience in digital/interactive
and direct response marketing, in addition to his strategic and
analytical approach to marketing, will be critical to helping Orbis
meet its marketing and new student recruitment goals.
Prior to his tenure at CEC, Gillespie was executive vice
president, client services and business strategy at UnREAL
Marketing Solutions, where he was responsible for spearheading the
strategic direction of all client accounts with primary emphasis on
SEO, paid search and online media (both CPM and behavioral).
The additions to the Orbis executive team follows the completion
of $8 million in Series B financing
led earlier this year by Menlo Park,
Calif.-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global venture
capital firm that manages more than $2
billion in capital.
"Orbis Education's solutions are revolutionizing nursing
education. We are seeing high demand for the company's
products across all fronts – from prospective nursing students
frustrated by the limited number of spots at quality schools,
academic institutions interested in increasing capacity, and
healthcare organizations who seek a high-quality pipeline of
nursing students and a reduction in training costs," said
Andrew Chung, who leads the
education investment area for Lightspeed and is on the board of
Orbis. "Norm and Clay bring incredible experience and
expertise to the company. We are confident they will help
position Orbis as a leader in nursing education and provide
significant contributions in the execution of the company's growth
plan."
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
more than 1 million nursing positions will go unfilled by 2020.
There is a growing concern about the increased number of
patients per nurse and the impact of that on patient care and
mortality, particularly in light of healthcare reform and an aging
U.S. population. In addition, by 2012, the average age of
registered nurses is expected to be 45 years, with nurses in their
50s expected to comprise the largest segment of the nursing
workforce.
"Our collaborative educational solutions bring much needed
opportunity at a time when the need for new, well-educated nurses
is critical," Briggs said. "As we grow into markets across the
country, and add new educational and healthcare partners, we will
continue to focus on our key mission, which is to enable great
institutions to expand the capacity of high-quality nursing
education. Norm and Clay will be instrumental in this
journey."
About Orbis Education
Founded in 2003, Orbis Education creates, markets, and manages
collaborative nursing education solutions that help alleviate
nursing shortages for hospitals and healthcare systems.
In each of its markets, Orbis pairs an academic institution
with a healthcare system to offer a Board of Nursing-approved,
accredited accelerated bachelor's degree in nursing (ABSN)
program. The ABSN programs are second bachelor degrees for
individuals who have already earned a baccalaureate degree in a
non-nursing discipline. The academic institution provides the
curriculum and certain support services such as admissions and
financial aid, and the healthcare system provides the clinical
rotations. In addition to marketing and student recruitment,
Orbis Education's role is to migrate the academic institution's
traditional, on-campus curriculum onto an online platform, and
maintain and develop the technology infrastructure for online
delivery of its programs. For more information, visit the
company's website.
SOURCE Orbis Education