Grand Canyon University preps for IPO as Apollo group execs join team
Apollo Group Inc. has lost three top executives to Grand Canyon University, a private Christian college in the process of going public.
Brian Mueller, president and director of Phoenix-based Apollo Group, submitted his resignation June 24, and is heading to Grand Canyon as CEO. Going with him to the Phoenix-based college is Stan Meyer, executive vice president of marketing and enrollment for Apollo (Nasdaq:APOL).
Meyer has been with Apollo since August 2002 and previously had been regional vice president for Apollo's University of Phoenix and division director of Apollo's Axia College and School of Advanced Studies.
Brent Richardson, Grand Canyon's CEO for the past four years, will assume the new position of executive chairman of the board. Richardson and Mueller will work together to develop long-term strategy and develop new programs for the University.
Also joining them will be Dan Bachus, who left his post as chief accounting officer at Apollo several months ago.
Mueller, who has been with Apollo since 1987, had been a Lutheran minister who took a job at Apollo as an enrollment counselor, recognizing Apollo founder John Sperling's vision for online education, an industry that generated a multitude of other service companies and billions of dollars of value for investors. He became president of Apollo in January 2006 and before that had been chief operating officer.
Because Grand Canyon is in the quiet period of filing its initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, executives are prohibited from commenting publicly about the company.
However, Michael Clifford, who was instrumental in purchasing Grand Canyon University in 2003 before it was set to close its doors, said Phoenix is a hot bed for online talent no teletrack payday loans.
"In the end, everyone works for the benefit of the students," he said. "Brian Mueller is the leader of Dr. Sperling's revolution for us all."
"Brian's charge is to continue building Grand Canyon University into the model university of the 21st century," said Richardson in a note to employees. "It will be a university with a traditional campus, outstanding students, strong academics and a challenging academic environment. Most importantly, we will continue to emphasize a strong ethics and values-based education."
When Clifford put a team together to take over Grand Canyon in 2003, the university had 700 students, $40 million in debt and was facing 22 lawsuits. It also had implemented three faculty and staff pay cuts in the three previous years, while vendors had not been paid for more than a year.
Clifford's group invested about $31 million over the past four years at the university that now has 15,000 students.
Clifford also runs a merchant bank in California that bid $450 million on Rio Salado College, part of the 10-college Maricopa Community Colleges system.
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