Thread regarding DeVry Inc. layoffs

I wouldn't be getting your hopes up on Wardell. Yes she is a new CEO but she has been on the Board of Directors for Devry for almost 10 years so she has been a part of this company during the downhill slide. How much say she had in decision making before this position? She may be good or she may have had a hand in the mis-management of this place.

Some of these managers would be better off as used car salespeople instead of managers. They are just that slimy. Some are just incompetent or lacking intelligence. Usually the better ones don't last long.

DeVry exists at this point only to make money for the executive managers for as long as they can at least make the corporation break even or show a small profit. The recent upsurge in stock price was due to share repurchase, which makes sense given that the executive managers own millions of dollars worth of shares. The executives simply do not care about anyone else except themselves, and are liars and frauds of the highest degree. They are enriching themselves while crashing the corporation. As soon as it becomes too obvious to ignore, they will fold the company.

Here is where the money is going. Wardell owns almost $4 million.

Direct Holders (Forms 3 and 4)

Name Shares Date Reported

TAYLOR RONALD L 741,562 Feb 6, 2017

HAMBURGER DANIEL 142,136 Aug 31, 2015

WARDELL LISA W 114,598 Feb 6, 2017

WIGGINS TIMOTHY J 44,939 Feb 25, 2016

RIEHS STEVEN 28,062 Sep 2, 2016

GROENWALD SUSAN 25,328 Aug 29, 2016

JENNINGS DONNA 25,185 Feb 10, 2017

PAUL ROBERT A 24,499 Feb 10, 2017

DAVIS GREGORY S 22,433 Sep 1, 2016

A while back on this board someone described a theory that our leadership is trying to fail without looking like we're trying to fail. He/she believed that it was the only explanation that made sense. I've thought a lot about that and discussed it with my colleagues and we agree. Intentional failure is the only credible explanation for all the confounding decisions, inconsistent statements, and pointless projects. So no, I've heard nothing official about campus closures, but it seems inevitable.

And at the same time they centralize everything to online and they can't keep up with everything because they keep laying them off. It's like management is going out of its way to make bad choices.

I have heard more than once in the rumor mill that they want to close down the campuses. I would think that would be the nail in the coffin. Anyone else heard this?

I agree. I have been with DeVry for a long time, and their centralization model has completely disempowered their locations. To the point we have to sit back and simply do what we are told. There is so much potential to increase enrollment through personal contacts and initiatives that are spawned from innovation, but our hands are tied by their top down, authoritarian approach to leadership.

I fully expect to be out on my year within six months, and that could mean as early as two weeks from now.

This strategy no longer works when management decimates their purchases

Actually, it works well for the management as their bonuses keep going up and up. So, really, no worries there.

I fully intend on getting the heck out ASAP.

..get your ducks in a row prep for a new position & take the severance when it happens...treat it like a well-deserved bonus

Here's how I feel about this company I work for, please forgive me/explain why I might be wrong about this. The for profit university exists to make money for its shareholders. Shareholders do not buy stock unless they see they will make some sort of future profit. Devry is owned mostly by mutual funds (people's 401k investments) and could possibly be because of the diversification of funds, some people still like the for profits because SOME have shown to be somewhat stable in the past few years. The reason why DeVry is so Stable is because while DeVry U course takers are down, Chamberlain has filled the gap. Not sure what is going to happen now that Chamberlain will be its own university now, I feel like it was a stupid idea but they had to get away from the regulatory nightmare that has become Devry.

Lisa Wardell is a person who takes companies and makes them profitable. In the interim, this has meant laying off Ross Vet & Med staff, Devry online staff, and other non essential staff to 'rightsize' and put the numbers back above 0. The next step in this is if Devry, Ross, AUC, OR Chamberlain is not profitable, the school could be sold. As of right now, Devry is not profitable, and the actions taken by Paul are questionable to work, but we shall see. Keller, I mean , hangs on the coat tails of Devry. They only have 7k students and have year over year, been down so who knows.

I fully intend on getting the heck out ASAP. It's depressing to work for a company that lays peopel off in small groups to stay under the radar of the media and their own employees. I wonder what else lil Lisa has up her sleeve. This bag is hers to bust, that's for darn sure.