Steve Fireng has more than 25 years of experience in postsecondary education, having led both institutional and corporate teams. Education is his lifelong passion, not a job.
Steve specializes in guiding colleges and universities to reach their full growth potential through program management, enrollment management, and expanding their reach into a global market.
Three highlights of his career all center around being first to market:
- Led one of the first online universities in 2001 and grew to more than 30k students in five years
- Led one of the first online enablement companies in 2008 that grew from seven to more than 35 partners in five years
- Today, leading one of the first-to- market online programs focusing on the global market, and its growth from startup to more than 19 partners in three years.
What do you bring to լƵ as Chief Executive Officer?
An understanding of higher education during the last 25 years and a vision for where it is going. լƵ has maintained that reputation in service delivery. I am excited to be a part of taking the history and experience of the company into the future with closer partnerships and key focus areas like program management, and international marketing and recruitment. All of what we do will result in schools attracting, acquiring and retaining successful students.
լƵ has maintained that reputation in service delivery. I am excited to be a part of taking the history and experience of the company into the future with closer partnerships and key focus areas like integrated marketing, program management, and international marketing and recruitment. All of what we do will result in schools attracting, acquiring and retaining successful students.
How do you measure your success?
Success equals:
- Employee satisfaction and engagement, because employees make the difference
- Partners' satisfaction so they can better support students
- The number of students who realize their career dreams
What’s your personal motto?
Where you are, be there! Whether you are at work, with your family or at sporting events, you should be there 100%. Life is about being focused entirely on where you are in any moment.
What excites you about higher education?
Two things:
- The end result. The ROI. No single investment in a lifetime will have a bigger effect on your life, income and personal well-being. Education has the chance to change a family tree for the better, and I’m fortunate to have come from a family where I witnessed education’s power growing up.
- The transformation. I have been very fortunate to be a part of transforming education. Higher education had not changed much for decades, but the 21st century has brought rapid positive change because of technology, schools’ willingness to use it to deliver education, and globalization. With լƵ's tech-enabled solutions, we can be at the heart of many more transformational changes in higher education for decades to come.
What’s the one hobby you couldn’t live without?
Golf. I really wish I had time to play more than five times a year!