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2014 ANNUAL REPORT 11
a recession, many programs will close just when stu-
dents need them most.
One of the worst eects of the regulation may be
a benefit for Kaplan. It’s hard to imagine there will
be many new entrants into the for-profit education
business. (The uncertainty associated with all the
regulations and the high compliance costs will see
to that.) We have a profitable business and will cau-
tiously see what we can make of it. The regulations
will make Kaplan’s U.S. higher education business
worse for now.
/ / /
Two of our top executives, Ann McDaniel and
Ronnie Dillon, announced that they will be retiring
in March. Our shareholders owe them both a lot.
I first met Ann when she was a young Newsweek
reporter covering the George H. W. Bush White
House. She moved up slowly within Newsweek: she
became Washington bureau chief, then managing
editor. Since personal reasons kept Ann from mov-
ing to New York, the magazine’s home, she had gone
as far as she could go there, and she listened to my
oer to become our senior vice president in charge
of human resources for the Company. She turned
out to be great at it.
Once she settled in, Ann added an unusual array
of additional duties. She supervised our public and
press communications, was involved in all our senior
hiring and had Newsweek and every smaller edito-
rial business reporting to her from time to time—a
daily newspaper in Washington State, weeklies near
Washington, DC, Slate and The Root. Ann’s been a
uniquely helpful adviser to me during every high-
pressure situation the Company has faced. Her
duties will be assumed by the team she has led,
headed by Denise Demeter, who takes over as our
top human resources executive.
Ronnie came to Kaplan in 1991—she says she was
looking for a lower pressure job after working in a
law firm.
Big mistake.
But what great luck for our Company. We lean on
our lawyers, and in Ronnie, we found someone whose
advice was always excellent. She was Kaplan’s law-
yer during countless deals; she became an operating
executive for a while. She came to corporate in 2007
at my request. Here, she was invaluable during the
times of turmoil in for-profit education and worked to
ensure that Kaplan’s compliance process was strong.
Ronnie worked ceaselessly and well through the bliz-
zard of activity at WPO/GHC the past few years.
Ronnie will be succeeded by someone she hired—
Nicole Maddrey, her longtime deputy. We, and
you, have been lucky indeed to have all these folks
work here.
Donald E. Graham
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Ocer
February 20, 2015