Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> August 18, 2003
KEITH OELRICH joined KC Distance Learning as President and Chief
Executive Officer in November 2002 and is the architect of the company's
virtual school vision, leading the company through a period of
tremendous growth and transformation. Prior to joining KCDL, Mr. Oelrich
was President and CEO of Apex Learning, an e-learning company founded by
Microsoft co-Founder Paul Allen. Under Mr. Oelrich's leadership at Apex,
the company grew to become the recognized leader in the virtual high
school industry. Apex grew sales 2,500% over two years, entered into
supplier contracts with state-level virtual high schools in 29 states,
and its products were used by 120,000 students in 14% of the nation's
school districts. Mr. Oelrich and Apex Learning were featured on CNBC,
and in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New
York Times, Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Education Week, eSchool News
and many others. Apex was named as one of dBusiness.com's '50 Companies
to Watch in 2001'. Mr. Oelrich has served in senior executive roles in
several early-stage, technology-based companies: Speedyclick.com, which
grew under Mr. Oelrich's leadership to become the third-most-visited
auction site on the internet, behind e-Bay and Amazon.com; Shopnow.com,
where Mr. Oelrich was part of the management team that took the company
public, raising $220 million in IPO and secondary public offerings;
Mirror Software, an early leader in creating software for manipulation,
archiving and authentication of digital photographic images; and
Claircom Communications, an air-to-ground wireless telephony company
subsequently acquired by AT&T Wireless, where Mr. Oelrich relocated to
Paris, France, to lead the establishment of the company's successful
international operations. He earned an MBA with honors from Cornell
University and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of
Washington, where he was on the dean's list. Profile
Mr. Oelrich: KC Distance Learning is a leader in providing distance
learning for high school students. The company was started in 1972 as
the Learning and
