Denver, CO – July 7, 2010 – TopSchool’s Vice President of Product Management, Chris Chumley, will be presenting a general session at the upcoming Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators (PAPSA) annual conference in Harrisburg, PA. Chumley’s presentation, “SaaS Computing: Best Practices for Increasing Revenue, Enrollment and Profitability,” will take place on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 3:10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Chumley will explore successful strategies in using Software as a Service (SaaS) Computing to help schools create competitive advantage, increase revenue, address new markets and build operating efficiencies and improved profitability. Topics will include:
• Leveraging SaaS Computing as an innovative means to reduce IT spending and redirect savings to¬ward improving the business.
• Using SaaS Computing to strengthen an institution’s financial viability, better positioning an institution for M&A activity.
• Combining SaaS Computing with other IT management techniques to drive massive ROI.
• Implementing SaaS Computing to be more agile in addressing new markets quickly and easily.

Chris has spent the last 13 years focused on educational technology both in academia and on the consulting/corporate side, gaining deep insight into their collaborative initiatives. He has extensive experience implementing large student data systems and therefore a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the importance of flexibility and next generation technology. Chris joined TopSchool in 2008 and leads all product management activities, delivering a system that goes beyond a traditional college student information system to better manage and report on data. Prior to TopSchool, he was with Exeter Consulting leading the implementation of student information systems at large public universities.

The Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators (PAPSA) represents the more than 320 private career colleges and schools in the Commonwealth before the legislature, state agencies and professional associations. PAPSA is the only association representing all for-profit colleges and schools in Pennsylvania. For more information about the PAPSA event, please visit www.papsa.org.

# # #

Closter, New Jersey, and Toronto, Canada, February 4, 2010 – Despite continuing challenges to the overall economic environment, marketing budgets in the education sector – specifically for lead generation – are on the rise, according to results from the 2010 Lead Generation Benchmarking survey by ForProfitEDU.com and sponsored by Sparkroom. According to the survey, schools are overwhelmingly keeping their resources focused on lead generation activities for 2010. Virtually all respondents indicated that they are planning to increase or maintain their spending on lead generation next year (69% and 17% respectively). Just 7% plan to decrease spending.

“Marketing, recruitment and admissions departments have faced a number of challenges over the past few years as the market has undergone a series of rapid changes, many as a direct result of online marketing and lead gen technologies,” said Tom Ferrara, CEO of ForProfitEDU.com. “This report offers a quick and concise way for them to gage their performance against other peer schools and to better understand where they should be making changes.”

The survey of 102 professionals directly involved with marketing in the education sector was conducted by iTracks Research on behalf of ForProfitEDU.com between December 1 and December 16, 2009. It aimed to establish some benchmarks and identify current trends and best practices in the highly competitive for-profit education sector.

“There’s more and more pressure on higher education marketers to do more with less as the market becomes increasingly competitive,” said Jamie McDonald, President and CEO of Sparkroom. “This report confirmed what we’ve been seeing – just a small percentage of schools are optimizing their lead management when measured by CPE. The majority need to find ways to improve their enrollment marketing automation in order to compete with the leading marketers in the space.”

Among other findings from the survey:

• There is a strong correlation between 3rd party call center use and short lead response times with, 82% of schools using a third-party call centers reporting lead response time under ten minutes, compared to just 40% using an internal call center, and 45% of those who rely on admissions reps to call.
• The vast majority (90%) of respondents from large schools (those with a total enrolment over 20,000 students) reported that they are using in-house lead management solutions, rather than relying on an agency.
• The effectiveness of social media for lead generation remains unproven, with just 35% of respondents reporting that it is an effective tool for lead gen. By comparison, over 93% of respondents reported that search advertising is very effective.
• When asked about the most significant concerns affecting their organization, the large majority of schools (89%) noted that poor lead quality ranks as a concern, while the majority (58%) also identified the high cost of agency fees as a concern for their organization.

The survey also attracted lead provider respondents who were invited to answer a secondary questionnaire to track trends among lead aggregators, including the number of leads being generated in the education sector, bounceback rates and revenue per lead. These reports have been compiled in a separate report, titled 2010 Lead Generation Benchmarking for Vendors.

For a more detailed interpretation or additional information on either survey, please email info@forprofitedu.com or visit www.ForProfitEDU.com. To request a copy of the 2010 Lead Generation Benchmarking Report, visit www.sparkroom.com/surveyreport.

About ForProfitEDU.com

ForProfitEDU.com is a leading website resource for all those who work within, around or are interested in the For-Profit EDU industry. The site offers research, consulting, networking, news updates and commentary from members of the For-Profit EDU community. Contributors include those from the school side, as well as those that work at related services firms including the investment community (investors, analysts, venture firms & PE firms), marketing & advertising professionals, educators & curriculum development, career services & other related service providers. ForProfitEDU also provides research and consulting services to schools & other service firms within the industry. Areas of expertise include Advertising, Lead generation, Marketing Strategy & Execution, Admissions, M&A, Raising capital, Market research and Partnering to create & grow online schools.

About Sparkroom

Sparkroom delivers innovative solutions to direct marketers, including its comprehensive Lead Performance Management software and services. Sparkroom Lead Deliver, Lead IQ, and Lead Market Analytics deliver a hosted business intelligence platform to give direct response marketers the tools and expertise needed to measure, manage, and optimize their lead acquisition spending across every direct response channel. Sparkroom’s software, which it hosts and delivers to its customers on demand, enables customers to capture, store, and analyze information generated by their lead buying activities and to gain critical business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. For more information, visit www.sparkroom.com.

CONTACT
Jim Haga, CEO of BrightStar Education Group (303) 507-0662
jhaga@brighstareducation.com

Salem, Oregon, December 10, 2009 – BrightStar Education Group today announced its acquisition of Valley Medical College, a premier career-oriented postsecondary school providing training in the fields of allied health and practical nursing. The acquisition expands the BrightStar Education network to five locations in two states. BrightStar Education already serves more than 2,800 students attending schools in Central and Northern California.

Operating in Salem, Oregon, Valley Medical College is the only career postsecondary school in the state’s capital city, with more than 100 students currently enrolled. The acquisition marks BrightStar Education’s first foray into the state of Oregon.

“Valley Medical College has an exceptional reputation for providing quality career education,” said Jim Haga, CEO of BrightStar Education Group. “We are committed to further enhancing career training opportunities for students in the Willamette Valley by bringing additional financial, technological and educational resources to Valley Medical.”

Valley Medical has been licensed as a Private Career School by the Oregon State Board of Education since 1995. Valley Medical is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Education and Training (ACCET) to award certificate programs. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.

About BrightStar Education Group
With this acquisition, BrightStar Education Group includes five campus-based schools in two states. BrightStar Schools offer career-oriented certificate and associate degree programs designed to provide students with the skills necessary to qualify them for entry level employment in the fields of healthcare, business, technology, and culinary. BrightStar’s four California schools operate under the Institute of Technology name and are located in Clovis (Fresno area), Modesto, Roseville (Sacramento area), and Redding, California. BrightStar’s strategy includes organic growth through additional curricula and new campuses, the cross-utilization of curricula among separate schools, and the implementation of initiatives to standardize, replicate, and leverage successful internal processes. BrightStar’s strategy also includes strategic investments and acquisitions.

Visit BrightStar Education online at www.brightstareducation.com

###

Completion of the certification course, entitled “Core Competencies of College Teaching” (CTED 672), will earn three graduate hours of credit and award the Certified Adjunct Faculty Educator (C.A.F.E.) designation.

“We’re gratified by the confidence St. Thomas University has shown in the quality of our certification program by offering it for graduate credit. This may be an excellent time for K-12 teachers to consider registering for this course, given the widespread lay-offs of public school teachers around the country,” said Dr. Rochelle Santopoalo, President of SoCAFE.

SoCAFE is the first organization in the United States to provide a portable, national credential for adjunct faculty in American colleges and universities.

Dr. Santopoalo also stated that “while the number of opportunities for K-12 teachers is currently in decline, according to the 2008-2009 edition of U.S. Department of Labor Handbook, the number of college and university teaching jobs is expected to grow by 23 percent between 2006 and 2016 – much faster than the average for all occupations.”

Founded in 1885, the University of St. Thomas is the largest private university in Minnesota. St. Thomas offers bachelor’s degrees in over 85 major fields of study and more than 45 graduate degree programs including master’s, education specialist, juris doctor and doctorates. (University of St. Thomas website: www.stthomas.edu/education/ce).

For more information on the organization visit: http://www.socafe.org.

All trademarks and service marks are the property of The Society of Certified Adjunct Faculty Educators.

Toronto – November 11, 2009 – Sparkroom, Inc. (www.sparkroom.com), a leading provider of Lead Performance Management solutions, announced today that Remington College has chosen Sparkroom’s Lead Deliver and Lead IQ platforms to automate their lead delivery and gain real-time visibility into the performance of their direct response marketing channels. Sparkroom’s on-demand platform will enable Remington to take control over their lead management, reducing costs and allowing them to make more informed decisions, while holding lead providers accountable for performance.

“It was clear that bringing lead management in-house with Sparkroom would drive significant cost savings and give us greater control over our lead vendors. However the prospect of switching over all of our providers, implementing our complex business rules, and integrating with our various systems and partners was daunting – it really requires a solid solution from a vendor that can be supportive of our service level needs,” said Bob Lutz, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Remington College. “After speaking with some of Sparkroom’s other customers, I believe they have developed a methodology for rapid migration to their platform and that they will help my team come up to speed with minimal pain.”

With Sparkroom’s secure, scalable, on-demand platform in place, Remington College will:

• Gain access to a self-service platform that will enable them to proactively manage their lead vendors, allowing them to develop tighter relationships with key media partners;
• Increase conversion rates and lower acquisition costs through access to lead performance data that will enable them to optimize their spend against their strongest performing segments and eliminating waste in areas that are not yielding results;
• Eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual process steps through the application of custom business rules and integrated delivery of leads to their CRM system and third-party call centers.

“We are thrilled to be working with Remington College, Bob Lutz and his team,” said Jamie McDonald, CEO of Sparkroom. “We look forward to providing Remington with a software platform that will help them better manage and optimize their lead generation and admissions activities, ultimately giving them a competitive edge and helping them to scale their business more quickly.”

The Sparkroom Lead Deliver platform includes:

• Real-time lead capture. Bring together leads from all of your direct response channels in one central database.
• Complex lead validation and scrubbing.Validate that the leads being delivered are within your campaign dimensions and eliminate fraudulent, duplicate and invalid leads before they reach your call centers.
• Robust lead delivery engine. Deliver valid leads to multiple destinations based on flexible and customizable distribution rules.
• Integration with leading CRM and Student Information Systems. Pre-built connectors to leading vendor systems to insert new leads and extract conversion and admissions data.

About Sparkroom
Sparkroom is a leading provider of Lead Performance Management software and services. Sparkroom Lead Deliver and Lead IQ provide a business intelligence and lead delivery platform to give direct response marketers the tools and expertise needed to measure, manage and optimize their lead acquisition spending across every direct response channel. Sparkroom’s software, which it hosts and delivers to its customers on-demand, enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their lead buying activities and to gain critical business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. Founded in early 2007, Sparkroom is privately-held, with funding from private investors and Matrix Partners. For more information, visit www.sparkroom.com.

About Remington College
Remington College is a common name used by all 20 campuses of a group of affiliated companies of privately-owned post-secondary educational institutions. Remington College offers diplomas, bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in the fields of health science, criminal justice, business, electronics and information technology in 10 states and also offers online programs. Remington College and its predecessor companies have been part of the higher-education community since 1985.

Media Contacts
pr@sparkroom.com

Submit your EDU press releases Free: http://www.forprofitedu.com/press-release-submit/ 

to a whose who in EDU audience of over 3000+

October 15, 2009 – Toronto, ON – Sparkroom, an innovative provider of Lead Performance Management™ software solutions for direct marketers, today announced the appointment of Dave Datars as the Vice President of Sales. With his extensive experience selling SaaS-based solutions to senior executives and marketers, Dave will lead the continued growth of Sparkroom’s sales activities in the higher education sector, while helping the company to expand and penetrate additional verticals.

“We are thrilled to have a sales leader of Dave’s caliber joining our team to help us continue growing our revenue and meet our rising sales targets,” said Jamie McDonald, Sparkroom’s Chief Executive Officer. “He is a great addition to our executive team, bringing extensive experience in revenue generation and business development, paired with a deep understanding of the online marketing space.”

Dave brings over 10 years of sales and management experience with world-class technology companies to the Sparkroom team. Previously, Dave was the Director of Business Development at Omniture Inc., a leading provider of on-demand software for online marketers. Prior to Omniture, Dave held sales management roles at DoubleClick (now Google) and Delano Technology. Dave also previously founded three businesses in the retail and commercial services sectors. He holds a bachelors degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.

About Sparkroom
Sparkroom delivers innovative solutions to direct marketers, including its comprehensive Lead Performance Management software and services. Sparkroom Lead Deliver and Lead IQ deliver a hosted business intelligence platform to give direct response marketers the tools and expertise needed to measure, manage and optimize their lead acquisition spending across every direct response channel. Sparkroom’s software, which it hosts and delivers to its customers on-demand, enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their lead buying activities and to gain critical business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. Founded in early 2007, Sparkroom is privately-held, with funding from private investors and Matrix Partners. For more information, visit www.sparkroom.com.

Press release submitted via forprofitedu.com press release submitter: http://www.forprofitedu.com/press-release-submit/