Career Education Corp. Board of Directors Accepts Resignation of Chief Executive Officer Gary E. McCullough as Company Moves ...
November 01 2011 - 6:00PM
Business Wire
Career Education Corporation (CEC) (NASDAQ: CECO) today
announced that its Board of Directors has accepted the resignation
of Gary E. McCullough as President, Chief Executive Officer and
Board member. The Board has appointed Steven H. Lesnik, who is
Chairman, as President and Chief Executive Officer and Board member
Leslie T. Thornton to the newly created position of Lead
Independent Director to ensure stability in transition to new
leadership of the company.
Mr. Lesnik has served as Chairman since 2008 and as a Board
member since 2006. He is the former Chairman of the Illinois Board
of Higher Education, a visiting lecturer at Northwestern
University, and a director of the Illinois Math and Science Academy
Foundation. Ms. Thornton has served on Career Education’s board
since 2005, and has chaired the Compliance Committee since 2006.
Ms. Thornton is a partner at the law firm Dickstein Shapiro LLP and
served in the Clinton Administration, including as chief of staff
for U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley.
The Company will commence a comprehensive search for a new Chief
Executive Officer. To ensure leadership stability and continuity
for the Company, Mr. Lesnik will remain as Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer until the completion of the search process
and a new Chief Executive successor is in place. Ms. Thornton will
serve as Lead Independent Director during Mr. Lesnik’s tenure as
Chief Executive.
“In my capacity as Chief Executive Officer, I will be focused on
ensuring that the Company accelerates its efforts at every level to
support its 100,000 students and further positions itself to grow
the potential value of the enterprise for stockholders,” Mr. Lesnik
said. “This is a critical time for Career Education, and we will
aggressively implement initiatives to improve our business and
drive improvements in our quality and compliance.”
“The Board and Career Education thank Gary McCullough for all of
his efforts, particularly with respect to representing the Company
during a time of substantial regulatory changes, advancing our
company’s industry-leading IT capabilities, and streamlining our
operations. Under his leadership, the management and operations of
this company have been both professionalized and improved,” Mr.
Lesnik emphasized.
“Given the complexities of the regulatory environment and other
issues that have arisen over the last year, CEC is moving towards a
new phase and the Board views it as the appropriate time to start
the process of putting in place fresh leadership at the CEO level.
At the same time, the Board and the Company’s experienced
management core will move forward to address the issues before
Career Education,” Mr. Lesnik said.
“These initiatives include completing the Company’s review of
placement rate determination practices of its domestic schools and
continuing to cooperate with the New York Attorney General’s office
with a view toward satisfying its inquiries as promptly as
possible; strengthening the governance foundation that the Board
has established over the last several years; ensuring there is
strong leadership at the top of all its operating entities,
including filling open leadership positions within our operating
units; focusing on students and outcomes; and further positioning
the Company to achieve a record of performance consistent with the
priority of growing the value of Career Education to the benefit of
students and stockholders,” he said.
“Furthermore, the creation by the Board of the Lead Independent
Director position reflects its and the Company’s commitments to
continue to operate under the best corporate governance practices.
Leslie Thornton is the ideal director to serve in this role,” Mr.
Lesnik noted.
Mr. Lesnik stated: “The Board will be deliberate and thorough in
its search for a new Chief Executive. Accordingly, the Board
intentionally has not set a deadline or strict timetable in order
to assure that the search process is one that solely focuses
finding the best possible professional to lead the Company. To this
end, we will look to bring in as chief executive officer an
individual who has the demonstrated ability to address industry and
company issues, as the company operates in a highly complex and
regulated environment and, based on that person’s management
experience and fresh perspective, provide the leadership to drive
Career Education to ably serve adult learners and achieve growth in
its value over the long term,” Mr. Lesnik concluded.
About Career Education Corporation
The colleges, schools and universities that are part of the
Career Education Corporation family offer high-quality education to
a diverse student population of more than 100,000 students across
the world in a variety of career-oriented disciplines through
online, on-ground and hybrid learning program offerings. The more
than 90 campuses that serve these students are located throughout
the United States and in France, Italy, the United Kingdom and
Monaco, and offer doctoral, master's, bachelor's and associate
degrees and diploma and certificate programs.
CEC is an industry leader whose institutions are recognized
globally. Those institutions include, among others, American
InterContinental University; Brooks Institute; Colorado Technical
University; Harrington College of Design; INSEEC Group Schools;
International University of Monaco; International Academy of Design
& Technology; Istituto Marangoni; Le Cordon Bleu North America;
and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. Through its schools, CEC
is committed to providing high-quality education, enabling students
to graduate and pursue rewarding career opportunities.
For more information, see CEC's website at www.careered.com. The
website includes a detailed listing of individual campus locations
and web links to CEC's colleges, schools and universities.
Conference Call Information
Career Education Corporation will host a conference call on
Wednesday November 2, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Interested
parties can access the live webcast of the conference call at
www.careered.com in the Investor Relations section of the website.
Participants can also listen to the conference call by dialing
800-580-9478 (domestic) or 630-691-2769 (international) and citing
code 31100876. Please log-in or dial-in at least 10 minutes prior
to the start time to ensure a connection. An archived version of
the webcast will be accessible for 90 days at www.careered.com in
the Investor Relations section of the website. A replay of the call
will also be available for seven days by calling 888-843-7419
(domestic) or 630-652-3042 (international) and citing code
31100876.
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