From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 7)

SM: What is the percentage of students who take courses in residence versus distance learning? BR: It is an 80/20 ratio, with 20% of our students coming from Arizona and 80% coming from elsewhere.

From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 6)

SM: Does your program have offline components as well? BR: We have a traditional 97-acre campus in the middle of Phoenix. The 1,200 students who we had when I took over the university were the traditional 18- to 23-year-old students that come to Grand Canyon to play baseball or be in the choir. We are

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From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 5)

SM: What have been some of the key points of your more recent strategy? BR: Last summer we ended up hiring the CEO, COO and CFO from the University of Phoenix, the Apollo Group, to help us run Grand Canyon because we did not have any public experience. We had decided to go public so

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From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 4)

SM: Has your move to online education met your expectations in terms of your business model? BR: The online educational side is a very profitable model because it is mostly variable costs. In that aspect, it differs from traditional education.

From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 3)

SM: What was the financial structure utilized? Did you raise money? BR: The first year my brother and I, along with two other investors, put in capital that we thought was enough to get the organization to where we thought it needed to be. In 2005, the Department of Education came in and required a

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From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 2)

SM: In 2001 you sold the company. Is that when you ran into Grand Canyon University? BR: We sold, and like most entrepreneurs I had started another company with my brother. That was Masters Online, in which we were using all the things we had learned about the Internet and online education. We were partnering

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From Non-profit To IPO: The Turnaround Of Grand Canyon University: Brent Richardson (Part 1)

Brent Richardson is the executive chairman of the board for Grand Canyon University. He joined GCU in 2003 as the CEO and led the transformation of a near-bankrupt university into an IPO success story. Prior to GCU, he was the founder of multiple companies and CEO of Masters Online. In his early career, he gained

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