Charles
Town, WV— August 8, 2022 – American
Public University System (APUS) has selected Nuno Fernandes as its new president, effective September 1,
2022. Mr. Fernandes becomes APUS’s fifth president at a time when opportunities for tremendous growth and
innovation lie ahead for the University.
Mr. Fernandes is currently serving as President and CEO of Latin America’s largest online program manager (OPM), Ilumno, which at its peak educated over 300,000 students annually. Throughout his almost ten years at Ilumno, Mr. Fernandes also served as Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Strategic Alliances; Chief Marketing and Operations Officer; and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment, all while focused on making quality affordable online and on-ground higher education more accessible in Latin America.
“I speak for the entire Board of Trustees as I welcome Nuno to join us in moving APUS into the future," said Frank Ball, APUS Board of Trustees Chairman. “Nuno has an outstanding track record of combining his extensive experience in education, business, and technology to make quality higher education more affordable and accessible, which aligns completely with our values and vision.”
Mr. Fernandes’ focus on student outcomes simultaneously improved student retention, student satisfaction, graduation rates and brand reputation at Ilumno’s owned universities while positioning Ilumno’s partner institutions as leaders in expanding access to quality and affordable education in Latin America. He helped drive significant growth that helped Ilumno become the largest OPM in Latin America, with an emphasis in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador, where Ilumno’s former and current partner institutions became dominant online market players.
“I’m honored to have been selected to serve APUS as we continue to make affordable, high quality online higher education more accessible to populations globally,” said Mr. Fernandes. “APUS has such a storied history over the last 30 years in educating over 116,000 service minded students including active-duty military, veterans, and many others. I look forward to making APUS’ value proposition more known and relevant in the U.S. marketplace and beyond.”
APUS is grateful for Acting President Dr. Kate Zatz serving in her role since November 2021.
Before Ilumno, Fernandes served as Managing Director of Miami-based Overseas Leisure Group, an award-winning luxury tourism provider that serves 2,000 travel agencies and tour operators worldwide. Prior to that, he came to the United States through his role as Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for the Thermo-Technology division of Bosch, where, in total he worked for 11 years serving in various roles across marketing and sales in multiple countries including Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico and United States.
Fernandes holds a Master of Business Administration from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Porto in Portugal. He has also participated in several executive education programs at Harvard Business School and Carnegie Mellon University, among others.
About American Public University System
American Public University System (APUS) delivers accessible and affordable online higher education to adult learners of all backgrounds. APUS, a five-time recipient of Online Learning Consortium’s (OLC) Effective Practice Award, offers more than 200 online degree and certificate programs through American Public University as well as American Military University, the #1 provider of higher education to the U.S. military and veterans.* With over 116,000 alumni worldwide, APUS is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. APUS is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Public Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: APEI). For more information, visit www.apus.edu.
*Based on FY 2019 Department of Defense tuition assistance and Veterans Administration student enrollment data, as reported by Military Times, 2020.
