Jim Tolbert, Chief Executive Officer
Jim Tolbert is the Chief Executive Officer of Education Futures Group, LLC, a company formed with Prospect Partners focused exclusively on the acquisition of post-secondary education companies. Education Futures Group focuses on acquisitions where the target companies could benefit from an operationally-oriented buyer with a strong capital base. Prior to that, Mr. Tolbert was the Chief Financial Officer and a Shareholder of Virginia College www.vc.edu , a Birmingham based career college, until the sale of the company in December 2004. Prior to investing in and joining Virginia College, Mr. Tolbert was the Founder and CEO of Career College Loan Company, a specialty consumer finance company, providing tuition financing to the for-profit education sector. Mr. Tolbert has also worked for McKinsey & Company in the Financial Institutions Group and Morgan Stanley International in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department.
Mr. Tolbert has a Bachelor of Science in Economics, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.
Mr. Tolbert is the Chairman of the Career College Association www.career.org , sits on the Executive Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Tolbert has served on the Boards of Directors of: the American Israel Chamber of Commerce; the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Tech Birmingham; the Birmingham Jewish Federation; and Temple Beth El of Birmingham. Mr. Tolbert was appointed by Governor Riley to serve on the Alabama Workforce Investment Board.
Mr. Tolbert is the son of Jack F. Tolbert, the founder of the Medix School in Baltimore, MD and former President of NATTS.
Mr. Tolbert, his wife, Margery, and their two children live in Birmingham, AL.
Lee Chayes, President
Ms. Chayes is the President of Education Futures Group, LLC. Previously she was President and Chief Executive Officer of Computer Career Center, a COE accredited school in El Paso, Texas in June 2006. She founded Computer Career Center in November, 1987. In the process of twenty years, the school grew from 25 students to 350+ and now has two campuses one main and one branch. In April of 2007, a third branch located in Las Cruces, New Mexico opened. Computer Career Center offers ten certificate-granting programs and two associate-degree granting programs.
Her previous experience includes Director of the "Fair Break Center" a division of Control Data Corporation, teaching for the El Paso Community College and Dean of International Business College in El Paso, Texas (an ACICS accredited school).
Ms.Chayes serves as Chairman of Education and Workforce Development for the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Board Member of the Better Business Bureau, Board member of the Upper Rio Grande Youth Consortium, Board member of the Paso Del Norte Health Foundation and Board member of the El Paso Zoological Society. In addition, she serves on various other community based organizations.
Ms. Chayes has served as a Team Leader for the Council on Occupational Education numerous times and has participated as a committee member on the Standards and Policies committee.
She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri where she graduated with honors.
Prospect Partners
Chicago-based Prospect Partners, LLC ("Prospect Partners") is a leading lower-middle-market private equity firm managing two funds totaling $270 million. Prospect Partners focuses exclusively on management-led leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations of niche market leaders with revenues typically between $10 and $30 million. Since its 1998 inception, the firm has invested in more than 55 companies acress a broad range of niche consumer, commerical, specialty distribution and select service markets nationwide. Limited partners of Prospect Partners II, L.P. include Goldman, Sachs & Co., General Motors Investment Management Corporation, JPMorgan Asset Management, the University of Notre Dame, Wilshire Associates, Inc., Private Advisors, LLC and the Northern Trust Corporation. For more information on Prospect Partners, please visit www.prospect-partners.com.
200 West Madison Street
Suite 2710
Chicago, IL 60606
312-782-7400 (ph)
312-782-7410 (fx)
