Management

President and CEO Tom Moore joined ECA in September of 2006. Before that, he spent twenty-five years at the Coca-Cola Company, where he held a number of leadership positions including President and General Manager of the North American Foodservice and Hospitality Division, a three-billion-dollar business unit serving the restaurant, travel and entertainment sectors. Moore has also served as a strategy consultant across a diverse range of industries.

Stan Banks brings more than twenty years of experience in career education to his current position with Education Corporation of America, including leading four successful "turn around" operations in previous companies. He spent the majority of his career working for publicly traded Corinthian Colleges, where he was a campus President and President of the FMU Online division. Banks began his career in education as an admissions representative, soon moved to Director of Admissions, and then later became President of a college for the first time in 1990.

Prior to joining ECA, Chris Boehm served as a Managing Director at Willis Stein & Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm and ECA's majority shareholder, where he spent thirteen years. At Willis Stein, he was responsible for initiating and structuring transactions, overseeing portfolio company management teams and arranging for the disposition of investments, most recently serving on the boards of directors of six portfolio companies across several sectors. Chris is also a co-founder and outside director of Lincoln Renewable Energy, a leading renewable energy development company. Before Willis Stein, he was in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers, where he was involved with a variety of M&A and corporate finance transactions. Chris received an M.B.A. from Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration and a B.S. in Finance and Accountancy from Miami University.

Sara Lawhorne has a long and distinguished career in post-secondary education. She holds the Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education, the Master's of Arts in Early Childhood Education, and the Doctorate of Education in Instructional Leadership from the University of Alabama. She has taught at Millsaps College, Hinds Community College, and Virginia College and has owned and operated two of her own businesses. She also served as the Academic Dean and then President of the Virginia College campus in Pensacola, Florida, before moving to her present position with Education Corporation of America.

Bill Owens brings more than 20 years of experience in proprietary education management to ECA. Bill spent 12 years at Apollo Group/University of Phoenix in Admissions and Executive Management roles. He has also served as President of EDMC's Art Institute of Phoenix, and has performed consulting roles for a number of post-secondary schools, including Thunderbird, Jones International University, and Neumont University.

Roger Swartzwelder joined ECA in April 2005. He previously was counsel at Dow Lohnes PLLC, a Washington-based law firm specializing in higher education matters, from 2002 to 2005. Prior to that, he worked at the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) for more than thirteen years, including more than eight years as Associate Executive Director. Since joining ECA, Roger was elected to a three-year term as an ACICS Commissioner in 2007, and he was reappointed in 2009 to a second three-year term through December 31, 2012. He is the ACICS Chairman of the Board in 2012 and previously chaired the Audit Committee and the Financial Review Committee. Roger holds JD and MBA degrees from The George Washington University and a BA degree from Dickinson College.

Charles Trierweiler joined ECA from Capella University where he worked in marketing and business management. He began his career in marketing and product planning with Cadillac Motor Car, followed by twelve years with Alberto Culver in brand management. For six of those years he was head of marketing for the company’s European subsidiary headquartered in Sweden. Prior to Capella, he headed marketing and advertising at Supervalu, a top ten U.S. food retailer. He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Mike Williams began his career as a Naval Flight Officer active in air reconnaissance, communications and electronic warfare and was selected to work on the START treaty at the Pentagon under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Back in civilian life, he worked in a variety of senior human resource roles with Hallmark Cards Inc., Georgia Pacific, Vanstar, Extreme Logic, and Polyvision Corporation. A native of Pinehurst, North Carolina, he received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA in Finance and Organizational Development from Marymount University.

Before joining ECA, Jack Clark had over 25 years of experience in executive/senior level positions in the healthcare industry, with roles such as Division President, Executive Vice President of Operations and Senior Vice President of Sales/Marketing. Earlier in his career he worked in sales and marketing roles for Procter & Gamble and the Coca-Cola Company.

Since joining ECA, he has been the Campus President at the Chattanooga and Jacksonville campuses, driving significant improvement at both locations. He is a graduate of Grove City College and has attended leadership programs at the University of Virginia's Darden School and Covey Leadership Center.

Jim Hart is a former high school, college, and professional tournament golfer who also brings to his position over a quarter century of experience in the business of golf. Mr. Hart was the New York State Public High School golf champion two years running. He then accepted a golf scholarship to the University of Florida where he earned three varsity letters, competing in the Southeastern Conference. After graduation, he became a professional tournament golfer, contending in events throughout North America. He then joined the Carolinas' section of the PGA America in 1981, first as a Tournament Director and then as Chief Executive Officer for the Carolinas Section, the largest of PGA's forty-one geographical entities. In 2000, Mr. Hart became president of Fair Way Golf Management, LLC, a company that owns, operates, and manages golf facilities throughout the Carolinas. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and the master's degree in management from Webster University.

As president of GAA, Mike Largent oversees 45 PGA professionals and four PGA master professionals, the largest collection of PGA certified faculty and staff of any career golf college in the country. Largent joined GAA's parent organization, Education Corporation of America (ECA), in 2007 as campus president of Virginia College in Birmingham, Ala. and later served as the regional vice-president of the system's other three campus locations in Huntsville, Ala., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Austin, Texas. He also provided leadership for the successful launch of Ecotech Institute in Denver, Colo., the nation's first career college dedicated to the rapidly growing fields of renewable energy and sustainability. Prior to joining ECA, Largent spent more than 10 years in management consulting and general management roles with the Zyman Group and KPMG Consulting. He also served Frito-Lay/PepsiCo and digital marketing firm 360i.com in operations and management roles. Largent earned his B.A. in economics from Vanderbilt University and his M.B.A. in marketing from Indiana University.

Before joining ECA, Judy Lima was Director of Quality Assurance for the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools in Washington, DC. She also previously served as President of Jones College in Jacksonville, Florida, and as Vice-President of Lakeland College of Business, Brandon, Florida, campus. She is also co-author of a textbook on job training and has been a frequent presenter at workshops and conferences, specializing in staff training and student retention.

Scot Stapleton has over 25 years of leadership in strategic sales planning, marketing and account management with Nestle' Brands, the Coca-Cola Company and Education Corporation of America.

During the Coca-Cola Company's strategic re-alignment initiative his responsibilities included National Accounts, Zone Director and Manager of Sales Performance. In that role he helmed the delivery of sales skill development for Coke's North America business.

Scot also served as an executive sales consultant to Carew International and Miller Heiman, global leaders in sales performance and leadership training. There, he developed and delivered innovative training and sales practices to over 1100 sales professionals from various industries.

Scot received his BA in Marketing from the University of South Florida and MBA from the University of North Florida. He married his college sweetheart and is the proud father of three.