Career Education CEO resigns

Schaumburg — Career Education Corporation Tuesday said its board of directors has accepted the resignation of Gary E. McCullough as president, chief executive officer and board member.

The board has appointed Steven H. Lesnik, who is chairman, as president and CEO and board member Leslie T. Thornton to the newly created position of lead independent director to ensure stability in transition to new leadership of the company, the company said in a statement. A company spokesman was unable to release further information late Tuesday.

In an interview earlier this year with the Daily Herald Business Ledger, McCullough said the company, headquartered at 231 N. Martingale Road, Schaumburg, had an annual revenue of $2.12 billion in 2010 and employs 14,600 people.

The company recently opened a new campus support center at Route 53 and Higgins Road in Schaumburg.

McCullough said in the interview in March that in response to pending, new government regulations on private-sector education, the company was reducing its current workforce across the United States by about 5 percent. He also said that the company was “focused on more streamlined operations, while protecting the quality of education our schools provide to students.”