ATI Schools & Colleges Reinforces Commitment to Quality Education With Appointment of Chief Compliance Officer

DALLAS, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ATI Schools & Colleges, a leader in helping people achieve better lifestyles through career education, is furthering its commitment to industry-leading compliance at all of its 24 campuses through the appointment of a new chief compliance officer. In this newly created role, Sue Edwards, a veteran in the career college industry, is responsible for ensuring ATI institutions meet the highest standards.

"As legislation continues to evolve and impact compliance and accreditation standards, ATI aims to stay ahead of public policy and exceed industry expectations," said Carli Strength, president and chief executive officer of ATI Schools & Colleges. "Sue brings a wealth of proven compliance experience to her new role and will be an integral member of the ATI executive committee as we move forward."

Edwards joined ATI after serving as the vice president of compliance for Ultimate Medical Academy, a Florida-based health care training school, where she oversaw external Title IV audits, managed internal audits and conducted compliance training. Prior to that, Edwards spent more than 15 years working for Kaplan Higher Education, where she served in a variety of policy and regulatory oversight roles. Her most recent position was as vice president of compliance. In this role, Edwards managed a team of specialists who conducted compliance tests at all campuses to ensure compliance with various U.S. Department of Education, accreditation, state and campus policies.

While at Kaplan, Edwards also served as the national director of education, assisting schools in creating and following policy, conducting audits and assisting the accreditation department by preparing schools for regulatory visits. She also served as president and executive director for two campuses located in El Paso and San Antonio.

As a compliance expert, Edwards has provided professional development presentations on topics such as compliance basics, high school diploma credentials, admissions compliance and various Title IV regulatory issues. Edwards earned an associate degree in applied science and a bachelor's degree in occupational education from Wayland Baptist University, and a master's degree in education administration from the College of Santa Fe.

"As the highest levels of government continue to contemplate legislation like gainful employment, I am impressed to find that ATI has maintained its focus on staff and student development," said Edwards. "I believe by maintaining a company-wide culture of compliance, risk due to regulatory action is significantly reduced. ATI has done an impressive job of fostering its compliance standards and I look forward to helping our organization meet its highest expectations."

About ATI Enterprises

For more than 35 years, ATI Schools & Colleges has been serving students and communities by training people for tomorrow's jobs – today. A premier provider of career training and education, ATI is a top choice for students in Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas seeking hands-on training in high-demand fields such as health care, automotive repair, welding, heating and air conditioning repair, and business technology. More than 17,000 students attend one of ATI's 24 campuses across the group's five different schools: Arizona Automotive Institute, ATI Career Training Center, ATI College of Health, The Dallas Nursing Institute and South Texas Vocational Technical Institute. For more information please visit: www.aticareertraining.edu.

SOURCE ATI Schools and Colleges