eCollege(SM) Appoints Reid Simpson as Chief Financial Officer
DENVER – April 12, 2004 – eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG], a leading provider of value-added information services to the post-secondary education market, today announced the appointment of Reid Simpson as chief financial officer (CFO), effective May 3, 2004. Simpson brings to eCollege significant financial and executive management experience, including 18 years as a CFO.
Simpson will report to Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege, and will oversee all corporate finance, accounting, financial reporting, human resources and investor relations functions for the company. He fills the CFO position vacated by Doug Kelsall, who was promoted to president and chief operating officer in November 2003.
“We are delighted Reid is joining our team,” said Thorne. “His wide ranging background and leadership abilities will add to the strength of our company. Reid has a broad knowledge of the issues faced by public companies today and has strong ties to Wall Street, which will be instrumental as we continue to expand our business and build shareholder value organically and through selective acquisitions in the future.”
Thorne added, “Reid is assuming responsibility for an already strong financial organization, and we expect a smooth transition.”
For the past five years, Simpson served as executive vice president and CFO of CCC Information Services [Nasdaq: CCCG] (CCC), a publicly held company providing software and services to the automobile claims industry. CCC, like eCollege, has a strong, scalable business model that has achieved excellent performance over the past few years. While at CCC, Simpson played a key role in streamlining the company’s business and cost structure and increasing the financial market’s awareness of CCC, resulting in record revenues and profits, and increased market value.
Prior to CCC, Simpson held CFO positions at The Signature Group and Delphi Information Systems. Additionally, Simpson spent 16 years with the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation where he held a number of senior finance positions, including CFO for three of the corporation’s businesses: Dun & Bradstreet Plan Services, Nielsen Marketing Research and DonTech. Simpson holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Michigan State University.
“This is an exciting time to be involved in the high-growth education industry,” said Simpson. “eCollege is an established leader in this market, and I look forward to working with the eCollege team to build on the company’s success.”
About eCollege
eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG] is a leading provider of value-added information services to the post-secondary and K-12 education markets. The Company’s eLearning Division designs, builds and supports some of the most successful, fully online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs in the country. The Company’s Enrollment Division, Datamark, Inc., helps institutions build new enrollments and increase student retention. Customers include publicly traded for-profit institutions, community colleges, public and private universities, school districts, and state departments of education. eCollege was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Denver. Datamark was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com and www.Datamark.com.
This news release contains statements that are not historical in nature and that may be characterized as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws including statements regarding Mr. Simpson’s expected contributions to eCollege, our plans to grow organically and through acquisitions, and any other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our ability to retain key executives, our customers’ ability to achieve successful online programs, and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
eCollege is a service mark of eCollege. All other trademarks and service marks or registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners.
