School Administration
Arthur Benjamin, CEO & Vice Chairman
Arthur Benjamin joined ATI (AAI's parent company) as its President in April of 2005 after serving on its board of directors. Since then, he has dramatically expanded the depth and breadth of the management team, improved processes, and begun new initiatives for planning and achievement of the future growth of the company.
Mr. Benjamin formerly was the Chairman & CEO of Datamark, Inc., the nation's largest comprehensive marketing company exclusively for colleges and proprietary schools and amongst the top 20 direct marketing agencies in the U.S. He served as its President and thereafter chairman having joined it in 1995 after serving on its board of directors. In just 10 years, Mr. Benjamin successfully grew the company by over 2,000 percent. He was also Executive Vice President of its public parent company, eCollege, after it acquired Datamark, a technology corporation that creates the online educational platforms for numerous colleges and universities.
Mr. Benjamin has 36 years experience in marketing and sales, 18 years in school marketing and operations, and 15 years in corporate management. Prior to joining Datamark, his employment history included executive and sales positions at CBS, Group W, Major Market Television and Connecticut Public Broadcasting. He has started several companies, grown them, and sold them as well. He has been responsible for operations as diverse as the publication of a regional magazine, a TV production company, an ad agency, a media buying service and several colleges. He has also led civic efforts including sharing responsibility for a $13 million capital campaign in the past and is currently leading efforts in a $43 million campaign.
Mr. Benjamin graduated from Clark University in 1969 and subsequently completed advanced coursework at Burklyn Business School. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Management from Colorado Technical University.
Mr. Benjamin is a former chair of both the Utah Central Region Workforce Council and Women Beyond Cancer, and a former member of the Utah State Workforce Investment Board, The American Heart Association, and the L.A. Film School Foundation.
He currently serves as a Commissioner of the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, chairman of the Living Planet Aquarium, and is a board member of Franklin Templeton Bank & Trust, ATI Enterprises, the Pasadena POPS Symphony, and the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges. He also serves as a trustee of the Imagine America Foundation (formerly the Career College Foundation) and The Butterfly Effect Foundation.
Additionally, he is the annual keynote speaker of the Hugh O'Brien Youth Organization in Utah and maintains serious philanthropic commitments to the American Heart Association's Annual Heart Ball, the American Heart Association's Annual Heartwalk, the Wasatch Humane Society's Annual Fur Ball, Image Reborn's Annual Dinner/Dance, and No More Homeless Pets' Strutt Your Mutt Annual Walkathon and Save A Stray Soiree.
He has led the way in the launch of the 10,000-square-foot Living Planet Aquarium Experience in Salt Lake City (named after his late wife, Gail Benjamin), which was visited by almost 300,000 people in its first 18 months of operations, and he is committed to the funding and creation of a 1 million gallon aquarium in Salt Lake City by 2010.
Carli Strength, President & COO
Carli Strength began his career in proprietary education at ITT Educational Services, where he served in numerous sales and marketing managerial positions. He then joined Kaplan Higher Education Corporation to head up operations for their three Texas campuses; during his first four years he was promoted to Regional Director of Operations and led an expansion project increasing the number of colleges in Texas from four to 13 and the revenue from $23 million to more than $65 million. Next, Carli was promoted to Regional Vice President of Operations and selected to manage one of Kaplan Higher Education Corporation's largest acquisitions in the for-profit sector, CEI California, adding an additional 10 campuses and $26 million in revenue under his stewardship. In February of 2005, Carli joined ATI as Chief Operating Officer. Carli holds an MBA from the University of Texas and also volunteers in the San Antonio State Hospital Volunteer Services Council, Special Olympics, Junior Achievement, and various mentoring programs. Carli resides with his wife and three children in Dallas, Texas.
Jon Vasconcellos, CFO
Jon Vasconcellos started his career at the public accounting firm KPMG, LLP, where he worked his way up to Assurance Manager. He obtained substantial higher education experience in KPMG's Public Services Group before taking a position as Controller of Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, for three years. Afterwards, he began working in the for-profit proprietary school industry as Controller for Sanford Brown College, a five-location subsidiary owned by Whitman Education Group (WEG). He was then promoted to Controller of WEG's 20-campus Associate Degree Division, where he remained for two years until the company was purchased by Career Education Corporation (CEC). He was subsequently promoted to Vice President of Finance of CEC's 15-school Health Education Division, where he functioned as the Chief Financial Officer of the $90 million division before taking his current position with ATI in November, 2005.
