Wonder where all that government loan money has been going? Not to educating students or giving faculty raises or decent salaries! Here is the proof. Robert Knutsen is selling his homes valued at $46 million. Published today Pittsburgh Trib Live with headline 7.5 Million Ligonier Estate Owned By Former EDMC Exec
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I am one of the old-timers who came to EDMC (EMC as it was known then) in 1987. Bob Knutson, who I knew when I was an instructor and an academic director, gave a lot of people like me a chance to retire comfortably. Goldman Sacs and Providence Partners took over from Knutson and that's when things changed for the worst. I know. I was there to see it. Don't blame Bob Knutson.
vdm -- when did you graduate?
I heard good things about Knutson as an educator. But he sold the company to sharks. Such as: https://www.republicreport.org/2016/leaked-powell-emails-detail-ties-to-key-for-profit-college-investor/
My student loans paid for him and all the other EDMC big shots. I am sure he is not the only one from when he left to everyone of the other men, yes only men big shots at edmc.
I agree with -vcs, for those of us who worked there when Knutson was CEO, the culture was nowhere near as toxic and horrible as it is now. In fact, it wasn't toxic or horrible at all. You put Knutson next to BR? Seriously, there is zero comparison and are no similarities to be found.
He helped build the company, ran it with a focus on service and students more so than those that followed. He also brokered a deal to keep the company running after he retired. Don't see the crime here. Blame the new owners and board members who tripled the number of schools and are responsible for the predatory recruiting when things went to sh@t.
Here is another lovely article about the couple. Google this "Robert & Miryam Knutson pay $25 million for a Beverly Park retirement home". It's on a site called yolandaslittleblackbook
Glad to see he "retired comfortably." and to "think of my wife and children and grandchildren enjoyed at wonderful Woodmere, the walking trails, the fish ponds — it was just very special,”
So wonderful. Sounds Just like all the graduates and employees lives.
He made his money when he received $132.4 million in stock options from the sale. It was an art school, not some scientific or medical research institution. REALLY? How is that right? No one with any morals could justify that.
This is a terrible assessment of Bob Knutson. He was a amazing leader at EDMC. I met him many times when I worked at an AI campus. He built EDMC and the Art Institutes into some of the most student centered and successful career colleges in the country. He is not to blame for the recent fall. It was the sale to Goldman Sachs and their investors in 2006 that started the company's deterioration. The new owners mad run for profits destroyed over 40 years of Knutson's dedication and leadership.
Here are some details from the same article you quoted for the sale of his homes: https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/14469237-74/75-million-ligonier-country-estate-owned-by-former-edmc-exec-to-be
Knutson, 84, came to Pittsburgh in 1969 when the Education Management Corp., later known as EDMC, took over the venerable Art Institute of Pittsburgh, a small school founded in 1921. Knutson was named president of EDMC in 1971 and, using the Pittsburgh school as a jumping-off point, began building a national name in for-profit higher education, a market that few previously realized existed. His wife joined EDMC in 1983. Together, they quietly built EDMC a reputation as one of the more student-oriented players in the growing for-profit higher education sector.
“We had great technology, terrific faculty and great outcomes for our students. There are so many success stories — photography, industrial design and fashion. It was a great story,” Knutson said.
In 1996, Knutson took the company public. A decade later, the chain that included the Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College, Argosy University and South University enrolled nearly 80,000 students at sites scattered across the country.
In 2006, Goldman Sachs engineered a $3.4 billion buyout for a group of private investors. And the Knutsons, who boast a blended family of six children and nine grandchildren — it was a second marriage for both, he explained — retired comfortably. He stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of EDMC, making $132.4 million in stock sales from the company, according to Bloomberg .
He told the Tribune-Review that he is heartbroken at the events that have transpired since then. At its peak in 2011, EDMC enrolled 160,000 students at brick-and-mortar locations and a variety of online programs. But by then it was fighting a federal whistleblower lawsuit that alleged its growth was fueled by fraudulent recruiting practices, exaggerated job placement claims and loading students with pricey private loans.
Creditors assumed control of the company in 2015 in exchange for erasing $1.3 billion in debt and agreeing to pay more than $95 million to settle the federal lawsuit and another $103 million to settle claims with multiple state attorneys general.
Last year, after selling its remaining schools to a California-based nonprofit group, EDMC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. “When they acquired (EDMC), they promised all kinds of things,” Knutson said. “They were good at marketing, but they didn’t come through. … They hurt a lot of people. It tears me apart. … It was a great company with wonderful prospects.”