BETHESDA, Md., February 25, 2020 — AccelerEd, a UMUC Ventures company, today announced the appointment of Wendy Colby as Chief Executive Officer. Colby, a leader in global online education, brings extensive experience in driving product innovation, market growth and digital transformation. Most recently, she served in a variety of senior executive roles at Laureate Education, collaborating with university partners and leaders around the world to create high-impact student experiences.
“Wendy has spent her career creating online programs and digital platforms that have transformed the delivery of education,” said Lou Pugliese, Chief Executive Officer of UMUC Ventures. “She brings to AccelerEd a unique ability to strategically conceptualize, design and deliver technology-enabled learning solutions that align academic and operational requirements to improve student experiences and outcomes. Her passion for education, collaborative leadership style and customer-focused product expertise are ideally suited to help AccelerEd achieve its mission of enabling education institutions to adapt, grow and compete in a continuously evolving market environment.”
Born from the University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly UMUC) – America’s largest online public university – AccelerEd brings a seven-decade legacy of talent, knowledge and demonstrated expertise to enable higher education institutions to evolve, innovate and advance their strategic goals and missions.
AccelerEd is a unique model to innovate, incubate and scale new learning solutions and delivery models that will differentiate, transform and create continuing market value for higher education.
– Wendy Colby, Chief Executive Officer, AccelerEd
“AccelerEd is a unique model to innovate, incubate and scale new learning solutions and delivery models that will differentiate, transform and create continuing market value for higher education,” Colby commented. “I am excited to join AccelerEd and our parent, UMUC Ventures, in conceiving, developing and delivering new solutions that deliver sustainable, affordable, high-quality digital teaching and learning that foster new market opportunities and better serve the changing needs of students and employers.”
Colby joined Laureate Education in 2014 to lead the development, advancement and commercialization of a portfolio of network-wide digital solutions and learning innovations. During her tenure, she led the design, development and scale of a global online digital platform for a network of universities, reaching over 80 institutions and over one million users. Prior to Laureate Education, she was the Chief Marketing and Products Officer at Carnegie Innovations/Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Previously, Colby held senior executive leadership positions in product development and innovation at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Thomson Reuters (Thomson Learning) and DigitalThink.
AccelerEd’s innovative solutions and services are designed to catalyze growth and operational efficiency for higher education institutions. We implement advanced digital teaching and learning solutions that allow institutions to leverage technology more efficiently and free education leaders and administrators to focus on student outcomes. AccelerEd is a portfolio company of UMUC Ventures. To learn more about AccelerEd, visit AccelerEd.com.
UMUC Ventures is an innovative business model for higher education that funds, develops and launches new innovative ventures that help higher education institutions compete more effectively in an era of rapid change. UMUC Ventures is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) supporting organization created by University of Maryland Global Campus to help build the university’s endowment to maintain the affordability of a high quality UMUC education for adult learners in Maryland and around the world. To learn more about UMUC Ventures, visit UMUCVentures.org.