February 19, 2026 • 31 mins
APUS President Nuno Fernandes is a visionary leader who has been successful in making online higher education more affordable and accessible, while delivering top-quality education and favorable student outcomes. As the fifth President of APUS, he is focused on a global digital journey that integrates personalized, collaborative, technology-driven learning experiences to prepare students for tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.
Mr. Fernandes has a wealth of experience driving innovation across higher education, technology, and business. He has been serving as APUS President since September 2022.
Previously, Mr. Fernandes was president and CEO of Ilumno, the largest online program manager in Latin America, and among the top 3 globally (in terms of managed students, which numbered 300,000). He served in several roles with increasing responsibilities at the company for over a decade. Mr. Fernandes was instrumental in improving student retention, student satisfaction, graduation rates, and reputation at the company’s owned and partner universities. He also led efforts to expand access to higher education in several countries.
Prior to his roles in higher education, Mr. Fernandes accumulated over a decade of experience in the consumer goods industry at Bosch, where he undertook numerous international assignments and held various leadership roles.
Born in Porto, Portugal, Mr. Fernandes holds a Master of Business Administration from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Porto. He has also participated in several executive education programs at Harvard Business School and Carnegie Mellon University, among others.
Mr. Fernandes is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs You Should Know.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Driven by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Welcome to iHeartRadio
CEOs You Should Know series. I'm Eric Rodrigz. Today we're
catching up with Nuno Fernandez, the president of American Public
University System. Thank you so much for joining us. So
before we get into the American Public University System, let's
learn a little bit about you. First, tell me about
your history, where you're from, your education, kind of your
(00:25):
personal journey here.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I was born in a small country in Europe, in Portugal,
and I lived in Portugal until I was about twenty
years old. Then I got to spend some time in
the UK. And then my first real job was in Madrid,
in Spain, and I worked for an international company, a
German company called Bosch you might have heard the name.
(00:49):
And I've worked for them for eleven years. Different roles
product management, sales, marketing, and I was you know, I
traveled alfwhere around the world with them. I lived in Brazil,
I lived in Mexico, spent some time in Colombia, and
always working with sales and marketing, and eventually I became
responsible of one of their divisions in Mexico City, and
(01:11):
then I came to the US with them in the
year two thousand and eight, as I was telling you,
as their senior vice president of marketing for the US
and Canada, and I've done that for about four or
five years. And around the year twenty twelve, I moved
to higher education and I've been working high education since then.
(01:33):
I started in a prior company as their CMO, eventually
became the president se of that company. And then in
the year twenty twenty two, I moved to American Public
University system as a president and that's where I'm right now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So tell me what caused that transition to go from
the business world to higher education.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
What motivated Yeah, it was not intentional.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
It was more like a coincidence, a good one, I
would say. So I was I had a very nice
career at BOSH and you know, was progressing, developing myself.
And I was approached by ed Hunter in Miami around
the year twenty twelve, as I was telling you, and
they were looking for a CMO for an education company.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
And until that point in time.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I never really thought about education as something that you
could market, that you could sell, that you could you know,
offer because I was in the consumer goods world, so
you know, like physical things. But then I started thinking
about my own journey and my family journey and my parents.
I always tell the story, but I think it's relevant
for the discussion. My parents are first generation college graduates,
(02:39):
and they were born in a you know, in a
very small village in Portugal.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
With with you know, like two hundred people.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So my grandparents, they did not know how to read
or right, so I could I could witness how much
education transform their lives and the possibilities that it opened
for themselves and consequently for me, and I thought that
it be really cool to be able to do something
similar for other people, to offer expand access to education
(03:08):
afforded by education so that more people could transform their lives,
just like my family transform their lives and my life consequently.
So as I started thinking about it, I said, well,
it's you know, I'm going to do it, and I
took the job as the chief marketing officer of that company.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
At the time, it was a company that was rapidly expanding.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
We were in ten countries and at our peak we
had more than three hundred thousand students, so it was
a very large organization, and eventually I became the president
and c of that company.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And I've been in higher education since then.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So what drove you to the American public university system?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So it was interesting because I've I spent almost ten
years in my prior organization where I was just telling you,
I started the CMO and then I became the president
and CEO, and I've been living in the US since
two thousand and eight. And I always had this curiosity
and this interest of working in the US for the
(04:06):
US in education. And my prior job was working in
the US but for global education. Right we had we
had universities in Columbia, at the universities in Mexico, and
we had business in South Africa, in London, in the UK,
in Spain, in Greece at some point, so we were
all over the world. But I always had this curiosity
of being able to work in the US for the
(04:26):
US and really being able to see how much I
could translate from my own experience to be competitive in
the US market, which always attracted me significantly. So in
twenty twenty two, again by coincidence, I was approached again
by another head hunter and he presented me this opportunity
(04:46):
with the American public university system, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Was immediately attracted to it for different reasons.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
The first one being that it's you know, full at
American university working specifically for the US, but also because
of their mission. You know, they have this military background.
My father was in the military in Portugal, of course,
so I always had a lot of respect for people
that serve the countries and I was very intrigued by
(05:15):
American public university systems. So I decided to take the
job and I started in September of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And here I am.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You mentioned the mission statement of APUs. Let's go into
that a little bit. What makes it so unique.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's very unique.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You know, not a lot of people know about the PUS,
but the reality is that it's one of the ten
largest universities in the United States. I think we're number
nine or ten right now. We have about ninety thousand students.
But the university was founded by a veteran with the purpose,
the original purpose of serving the military. So that's sort
(05:53):
of our DNA how it was created, and until today,
the large majority of our students are military veterans. However,
in the last years and this is something that I've
been sponsoring and championing with my team, is that we
know that we have a very high quality education, it's
very affordable, and we thought, well, why can't we offer
(06:14):
these also to non military people that would benefit from
the same quality education for a very affordable price, you know,
in this online environment that is highly flexible.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So we've been we started some efforts to offer our
products our.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Services to non military students, especially to their families, the
extended families of the military. And nowadays almost twenty percent
of our population now is sort of quote unquote civilians,
non military students. So we are still very unique in
the sense that we are very you know, military centric centric,
(06:51):
but we are expanding also to other audiences, and we
are also expanding internationally, which is very exciting as well,
because I know there's a because of my background, I
know there's a high demand and a high interest for
American education outside the US. The US is still the
sort of scene as the number one player in the
world in terms of education. A lot of people like
(07:13):
to come here, but they can't. You know, it's expensive,
you have to visa problems, you know, the immigration you know,
if you have a family. It's very hard for you
to put your life on hold for two years and
say and I'm going to go.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
To the US.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
So we are taking American education to them, and we
have a very competitive price point. So we're very excited
about that. That is something new that we're just starting.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You mentioned also about online, and that's what makes the
school unique because you can pretty much whenever you have opportunities,
you can sit down and work.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah, we are one other percent online. Most schools, particularly
after COVID, they moved also to an online environment environment,
but of course they offer this will offer traditional education.
My view is that it's not that online is better
or worse than traditional education. Is more about what the
(08:06):
expectations and the needs of the students are. So we
serve a lot of as I told, a lot of
military students, but we serve a lot of adult learners
that you know, they have a family, that their life,
they've worked, so it's very hard for them to take
a traditional education path and say virtually impossible. So online
offers that flexibility that you can study, you know, after hours,
(08:26):
you can study during the weekend. If you didn't learn
something that you feel I don't really understand this, you
can always.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Go back and relearn it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So there are a lot of advantages of studying online.
And this is not to say that traditional education again
is better or worse. I think both of them can
be equally good or equally bad, depends on the university.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And this is something that is rapidly changing.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
This online reputation is to be not very appreciated, but
I think that that is rapidly changing and people are
understanding that is actually the same level of quality is
just in a different format of delivery.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Do you feel that reputation has changed, because originally when
you sit an online school, people kind of stepped away
and said, well, but you're fully accredited, and it's we are.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Fully accredited by HLC, the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits
some of the most reputable universities in the United States.
And I feel it's changing because I don't think that
the delivery methodology defines the quality of a university. The
(09:32):
quality of the university is the quality of the universe.
What I mean by this is, let's say, let's take
an example of let's say Harvard, Right, So if Harvard
offers an online program and they offer a few you know,
people will assume that that's high quality because it's Harvard, right.
So what I mean by this is that either the
university has quality or it doesn't, and the delivery methodology
(09:55):
is the same. It's like you can have an appointment
the doctor and you can be talking to the doctor
face to face or you can be talking to the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Doctor through a computer. It's still the same doctor.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So the doctor is going to be able to look
at the same blood exams and the same you know,
it's going to be able to assess you either through
a computer or face to face sort of in the
same way. It's still the same doctor. So that doesn't
make the doctor better or worse. And that's my point
with education is if the education with the cuality of
the university is good and the delivery methodology shouldn't matter.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And basically, at your school, you can start any time.
Programs start once a month, you can work on your
own time. There's no set schedule. Talk to me a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, we've you know, again one of these sort of
interesting coincidences that happened because we've built our school to
serve the military originally, so it's very flexible. We start
classes every month because we wanted to offer that flexibility
to the service members and then we translate that to
quote unquote non mute students. So you can start classes
(11:01):
every month. We have monthly starts. You can take course
per course, or you can take you know, several courses.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
At the same time. It's really up to you. If
you need to put.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Your studies on hold for one or two months, that's
not a problem at all. So it's incredibly flexible and
very much adapted to the audience that we serve, which
are working adults and working and.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Professionals.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
You were talking about that being working professionals. How does
that kind of make a classroom different even at being
online for a student and the staff, because you learn
from each other.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Well, I actually think it's better, you know. I You
know again, I don't don't. I never like to compare
with traditional education because I never want to pass the
image that I'm saying that it's better or worse. It
really depends on what your expectation is. But as a
professional myself, like if I would do an MBA now,
(11:56):
for example, I did mine Amakoba.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's if I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Do an m I would much rather be in a
classroom where everyone as a career as experience. You might
have some highly ranked military people, you might have some
you know, senior managers. I would much rather be in
a classroom like that where I feel that I could
learn from my colleagues than being a classroom full of
(12:20):
you know, twenty four years old, right, because I feel
that I could learn and get the experience, you know,
share that experience. So again I think it's it's great,
and it's also an advantage of APOS which our professors
are faculty. A lot of them are practitioners, meaning that
they have a real job and then they also teach,
(12:40):
so it's not just sort of this theory, you know,
the theoretical academic experience, but they teach based on their
real experience, and I think that's very valuable for the students.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Let's talk about the degrees and the various certificates that
you all offer as well, because it's a wide range.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Almost almost I think we have more than two hundred
programs now, all the way from certificates to associates, bachelors, masters,
and doctoral programs in all areas. I mean, we have
almost everything that is possible to have in an online format.
Of course, we don't have you no you know, law
(13:20):
degrees or med degrees, you know, things like that that
are not possible to offer you. But everything else we have,
and we keep expanding our portfolio. We just launched some
really cool certificates. We're about to launch them right now
in quantum computers, robotics AI. So we are trying to
keep up with, you know, the changes, and trying to
(13:41):
be at the forefront of offering really innovative programs for
our students. But if you go to our website ap
Us dort Du you will find a very deep, wide
range of programs and and in you know, in businesses,
are humanities, CyberSecure, I mean everything, We have almost everything.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Earlier you talked about the financial situation, how this is
a very affordable school. You also offer a law for
our veterans. Give me a little bit more information about
both of those.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
So, the United States government as a benefit for military
members which is called tuition assistance, and what that means
is that they pay two hundred and fifty dollars per
crede hour to any service member that wants to study.
So our philosophy has always been too much that price
(14:38):
to sort of no out of pocket costs where the
student can get the benefit the tuition assistance and study
quote unquote for free, meaning no out of pocket cost
for the student. So the military students, the undergraduate military students,
they can literally study for free, for free in the
sense that you know the government is paying, but they
don't have to put any.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Out of pocket costs.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
And the graduates to and st they have to pay
a very small fee of eighty five dollars of course,
and that's it. So why the reason why I'm saying
this is because contrary to other universities, our university, the
cost structure was created to serve those students. So our
cost structure was made based on the revenue that we
(15:20):
get from those students. That two hundred and fifty dollars, right,
So it's very hard for a university where the standard
let's say price per crede our tuition is eight hundred dollars,
let's say, which is very common, it's very hard for
them to say, okay, and I'm going to offer these
to fifty because our cost structure is not aligned with that.
(15:41):
So for us, it's very easy to sort of expand
that benefit that affordable tuition to other audiences that are
not military. For example, you mentioned veterans. We have a
specific discounts grant for veterans where they get ten percent
off in undergravit and fifteen percent off in GRAVIT student
(16:02):
credit programs. And then we have another great benefit, which
is if you are in a military family or if
you're in a veteran family, even if you're even if
the military or the veteran are not students with the PUS,
I'm going to give you the same price that I will.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Give a military or a veteran person.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So let's say you are married to a service member,
You're going to get to fifty you know, and that's
sort of very hard to match.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I mean, I would be you know, it's very hard
to find.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Out there where you, as a civilian can study for
twelve fifty hours per CREADIL. So that's why I'm saying
that we were lucky in that sense that we built
our cost structure around the income that we receive, and
now we are able to expand that affordability to other audiences.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
If that makes sense, It does.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
It makes complete sense. In a few minutes ago, you
mentioned one of the USB a buzzword AI, artificial intelligence,
and you really have, as you mentioned, offering a program
in AI studies. How has the APUs really kind of
embraced AI.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, we were one of the first ones actually to
be very open about AI and I would divide into
sort of categories. The first category is like what do
we do with AI and your operation? And the second
category is like what do you teach about AI? Right,
so on the first category, we have embraced AI for
student services, for career services, for mental health, for content creation.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And we continue to do so.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You know, we are implementing our chatbots, you know, twenty
four seven virtual tutors inside the classroom where the students
have always someone in a machine, but someone to talk to.
So we were one of the first ones to fully
embrace it and to change our academic policy actually to
say that it's okay to use AI in the classroom
(17:48):
and we are fine with using I in the assessments
and everything for as long as you disclose it. So
you have to disclose it that whatever you used, So
we never try to fight it. We always try to
say always from the perspective of being a school that
teaches professionals because my logic, our logic, the provost logic
is Okay, if I'm teaching a professional, most likely that professional,
(18:13):
once he or she graduates, e or she will use AI,
you know, in the real world, in the real world.
So why should we prevent that you're doing this service
to the students if we say, okay, I don't allow it.
You actually want to encourage and prepare the student to
be ready for what is the real world. So in
terms of operations, we've been one of the first first
(18:36):
ones out there adapting AI, but also in terms of
teaching AI. So we we are about to launch our
Bachelors in AI, a certificate in AI.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
We are working on our Masters in AI.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
We are about to launch certificate in quantum Computers, which
is not necessarily I, but it's you know, connected. We're
launching a certificate in Robotics, which again is not necessarily
but it's very connected.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And we have a really.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Cool initiative that we're launching now with in Q one
meaning as we speak, which we made. We have this
partnership with mi T where we're using some of the
content of some courses of mi T to be able
to offer that content to our students. So it's uh,
(19:29):
it's uh, it's it's an agreement where we can we
can use the content that they have in some courses
and then we are going to offer that MIT content
inside the APUs classes to the APS students at the
APS price point. So that's something that we're very excited about.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I'm going to focus on you a little bit more again,
So you mentioned it a little bit earlier about your
business background. How does your expertise in the business world
then transition to help the student from APUs.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah. I'm usually I don't really like to talk much
about me, but.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I always say that I'm a different president in the
sense that not better or worse, but certainly I'm not
the traditional university president that you know, an academic career
and three PhDs and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I came from the business world, and you know, aftern
my MBA, I still want to do my PhD. I'm
going to work on that and I've been in education
now for you know, almost fifteen years. So, but certainly
my background is different than most presidents, and I think
the benefit of that has been that I have very strong,
(20:48):
very strong opinions about branding and how you position your institution,
and I think that's incredibly important because there are more
than four thousand colleges and universities just in the United States,
and it's very easy for you to look exactly the
same as others. Right there's four thousand of them. So
(21:10):
we've been working very hard to improve the value of
our brand, to how differentiate ourselves, how we communicate to
the market, how we expand our presence online in terms
of social media and things like that. For example, in
twenty twenty two, we had about three hundred thousand followers
on our social media and now we're more than one million,
(21:31):
So you know it's working that you know, we're getting
our name out there. I also say that, of course,
my background in marketing helps, you know, to understand the
dynamics of the market works in general. We have a
great marketing team, so I try not to get in
their way, but I'm just saying that, you know, I
think that that background helps as well. I always say
(21:54):
that marketing is sort of building the bridge between what
you have and what the consumer wants to consume. So
you have to find a way to build that bridge
between what you're trying to offer, what someone wants to buy.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And I think that in many.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Cases in education and in other products as well, but
in education, the marketing is very tactical.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
And not very exciting.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
So again, connected with the brand, we try to communicate
a lot of the benefits of the university, the benefits
for students. We try to use a lot of real people,
real families, how they transform their lives, make it very
emotional in the sense that, Okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
What it's going to do for you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
These are real cases, are real examples of how education
transforms your life. So I think having that marketing background helps.
And also I would say that I'm very driven by
having great talent around me. So I always try to
build great teams, and this is no different here. We
(22:57):
have a team of great people. I always say that,
you know, there's no great organization without great people, and
the opposite is also true, right, So I would say
that those are the main differences that I have versus,
you know, lost a more traditional university president.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
You were talking about real people, real stories. Tell me
some of these success stories through.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
The Oh my god, we have so many, you know,
we it's interesting because we have sort of everything, you know,
we have the student that their their ambition is really
you've got some sort of mid level management job and
take care of their family, you know, and watch their
(23:37):
kids growing up, and you know, and the ambition professional
ambition is just okay, I want a stable.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Job, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
And then we have people that you know, that become
incredibly relevant in their field of expertise. For example, the
Chief Medical Officer of NASA.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Is a graduate from a US.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
The current Chairman of the Chief of Staff, which is
the the most important position in the military in the
United States and I can say in the world, is a.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Graduate of APUs. And it was also faculty.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
By the way, at some point, you know, the first
woman that that flo the Tenderbirds is a graduate from EPs.
So we have all these examples of like high performance
over achievers, but we also have examples of you know,
quote unquote normal people that they just want to establish
a good life for them. So for example, commencement last year,
(24:32):
which we do every year on May in Washington, d C.
And it's a very large event with eighteen thousand people.
Last one, so there was this graduate he came, you know,
I was talking to him and he said that he
left the military and his words not mindset, and I
was super lost.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And then you know, I found the PUS and I
graduated cybersecurity and east words he said, and now I
don't know what.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
To do with the money because I've been so successful. Right,
you know, good problem to have. But I don't know
exactly what that means in terms of, you know, how.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Much money is it? But but for in it was
a lot. But that's really what matters, right, And so
we have a lot of these stories of like pretty
much like my family. You know, to be honest, like
you know that you are able to transform your life
and to achieve things that you otherwise would not be possible.
I always, you know, I tell this this story, but
(25:27):
it's true because think about my parents. They were born
in a village with where my grandparents did not know
how to read, they did not know how to write.
You know, they were farmers. They're very humble people. If
my parents would not have had access to education, probably
I would still be living in that village, right, and
(25:49):
I would be you.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Know, a fisherman or and there's nothing wrong with that.
But I'm just saying that.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
My life would be vastly different, vastly different, and certainly
I would not be here in the US. I'll not
be here talking to you. Certainly I would not have
the send that I have right now, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Certainly my life would be completely different. And that was
all because of education. So education impacts.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Things in ways that are very hard to predict, and
that they are very powerful for it. But it's very
hard for people to realize because you really have to
go back in time and say where did it start.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
It's almost like this butterfly.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Fact, like you have to go back and back and
back to the point of where everything started. And the
point for me in my life where everything started was
when my parents decided to go to college. And this
was even before I was born, So they transformed my
life even before I existed. And that's what I think
happens with a lot of our students, which we have
(26:41):
a large percentage of students, and I don't know how
much it is right now, but let's say at least
twenty to thirty percent of our students are probably first generation,
and I know that their families and their lives are
going to be transformed as well. And that's really cool.
That's really satisfactory to me to see that we you know,
we played the small role in doing that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Earlier we talked about how APUs has been evolving. How
do you continue to evolve? Where do you see the program,
say in a decade or so.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, we've been evolving in different ways.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
So one is being programmatic, trying to expand our portfolio,
as I said, having these more of cutting edge programs,
and being at the forefront of offering programs that typically
a university like Hours would not do.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Let's say, for example, if you take quantum computers, you know,
you probably expect MIT to offer that, or you know,
or Stanford, but certainly probably not APS. So we try
to be at the forefront of offering this type of
edgy inno very programs, but for a price point that
is very affordable. So we want to continue doing that
and expanding the portfolio that way. We want to expand
(27:50):
our presence, as I said, in the US outside the
traditional military audiences. Although we want to continue being the
leader that's already na will never change, but we also
want to expand internationally. And this is an effort that
we're just starting right now. And you know, we're starting
in Mexico, Columbia. We have some plans in Europe, in
(28:12):
the Emirates, so I think that's going to be very successful.
And maybe you know, in three or four years when
we talk again, I'm sure that we're going to have
thousands of students.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Outside the US.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So that's exciting for us, and we want to continue
to grow. I mean we, as I told you, we
are now number probably number ten, number nine in terms
of size. You know that we're in the top ten
of the largest universities in our states, and I would
like to continue to climb that that ranking and hopefully
get to an even more impressive result.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
If you could define your own legacy as a leader,
what do you want it to be?
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know, when I think about leadership in my case,
I don't know you, but when I think about great
people that I work with or that I work for,
it's always about how much I developed myself and how
they made me feel. Right, did they made me feel?
Did I was I supported? Was I empowered? Was I
(29:16):
did I feel that I was growing, that I was
explanding myself, that I was learning?
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So I would like.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
To be remember, you know, for the people that work
with me, by the people that work with me as
someone that had a positive impact in their careers, and
that's someone that they feel that they, you know, they
are better professionals after.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Working with me than they were before, and.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
That the experience has been positive and rewarding. So I
think that's the job. You know, the job of leadership
is really to develop others. That's the main job. I
would say, probably not the only job, but one of
the most important jobs is to develop the ones that
work with you and for you, and hopefully they will
be able to acknowledge that that's what I what's.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Your final takeaway for our listeners about the American public
university system.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I take aways to you know, if you are interested
in going back to school or if you're interested in
pursuing a new degree, I would encourage you to go
and take a look because it's a really good school.
We have very affordable prices, we have really high quality,
and although it's not a name that traditionally is out
there as others, he is not a name that is
(30:26):
as known as sort of as other names. I would
say that it's a great option to consider, and I
would recommend to go to our website and take a
look of all the things that we offer and you
might be positively surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Our website is apos dot tdu.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
All right, thank you so much for joining us here today.
New know Fernandez, the president of the American Public University System,
and thank you for joining us on our CEOs. You
should know series.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs, you
should know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Bank for Communities, M and T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrive, because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs You Should Know.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Driven by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Welcome to iHeartRadio
CEOs You Should Know series. I'm Eric Rodrigz. Today we're
catching up with Nuno Fernandez, the president of American Public
University System. Thank you so much for joining us. So
before we get into the American Public University System, let's
learn a little bit about you. First, tell me about
your history, where you're from, your education, kind of your
(00:25):
personal journey here.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I was born in a small country in Europe, in Portugal,
and I lived in Portugal until I was about twenty
years old. Then I got to spend some time in
the UK. And then my first real job was in Madrid,
in Spain, and I worked for an international company, a
German company called Bosch you might have heard the name.
(00:49):
And I've worked for them for eleven years. Different roles
product management, sales, marketing, and I was you know, I
traveled alfwhere around the world with them. I lived in Brazil,
I lived in Mexico, spent some time in Colombia, and
always working with sales and marketing, and eventually I became
responsible of one of their divisions in Mexico City, and
(01:11):
then I came to the US with them in the
year two thousand and eight, as I was telling you,
as their senior vice president of marketing for the US
and Canada, and I've done that for about four or
five years. And around the year twenty twelve, I moved
to higher education and I've been working high education since then.
(01:33):
I started in a prior company as their CMO, eventually
became the president se of that company. And then in
the year twenty twenty two, I moved to American Public
University system as a president and that's where I'm right now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So tell me what caused that transition to go from
the business world to higher education.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
What motivated Yeah, it was not intentional.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
It was more like a coincidence, a good one, I
would say. So I was I had a very nice
career at BOSH and you know, was progressing, developing myself.
And I was approached by ed Hunter in Miami around
the year twenty twelve, as I was telling you, and
they were looking for a CMO for an education company.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
And until that point in time.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I never really thought about education as something that you
could market, that you could sell, that you could you know,
offer because I was in the consumer goods world, so
you know, like physical things. But then I started thinking
about my own journey and my family journey and my parents.
I always tell the story, but I think it's relevant
for the discussion. My parents are first generation college graduates,
(02:39):
and they were born in a you know, in a
very small village in Portugal.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
With with you know, like two hundred people.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So my grandparents, they did not know how to read
or right, so I could I could witness how much
education transform their lives and the possibilities that it opened
for themselves and consequently for me, and I thought that
it be really cool to be able to do something
similar for other people, to offer expand access to education
(03:08):
afforded by education so that more people could transform their lives,
just like my family transform their lives and my life consequently.
So as I started thinking about it, I said, well,
it's you know, I'm going to do it, and I
took the job as the chief marketing officer of that company.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
At the time, it was a company that was rapidly expanding.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
We were in ten countries and at our peak we
had more than three hundred thousand students, so it was
a very large organization, and eventually I became the president
and c of that company.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And I've been in higher education since then.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So what drove you to the American public university system?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So it was interesting because I've I spent almost ten
years in my prior organization where I was just telling you,
I started the CMO and then I became the president
and CEO, and I've been living in the US since
two thousand and eight. And I always had this curiosity
and this interest of working in the US for the
(04:06):
US in education. And my prior job was working in
the US but for global education. Right we had we
had universities in Columbia, at the universities in Mexico, and
we had business in South Africa, in London, in the UK,
in Spain, in Greece at some point, so we were
all over the world. But I always had this curiosity
of being able to work in the US for the
(04:26):
US and really being able to see how much I
could translate from my own experience to be competitive in
the US market, which always attracted me significantly. So in
twenty twenty two, again by coincidence, I was approached again
by another head hunter and he presented me this opportunity
(04:46):
with the American public university system, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Was immediately attracted to it for different reasons.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
The first one being that it's you know, full at
American university working specifically for the US, but also because
of their mission. You know, they have this military background.
My father was in the military in Portugal, of course,
so I always had a lot of respect for people
that serve the countries and I was very intrigued by
(05:15):
American public university systems. So I decided to take the
job and I started in September of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And here I am.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You mentioned the mission statement of APUs. Let's go into
that a little bit. What makes it so unique.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's very unique.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You know, not a lot of people know about the PUS,
but the reality is that it's one of the ten
largest universities in the United States. I think we're number
nine or ten right now. We have about ninety thousand students.
But the university was founded by a veteran with the purpose,
the original purpose of serving the military. So that's sort
(05:53):
of our DNA how it was created, and until today,
the large majority of our students are military veterans. However,
in the last years and this is something that I've
been sponsoring and championing with my team, is that we
know that we have a very high quality education, it's
very affordable, and we thought, well, why can't we offer
(06:14):
these also to non military people that would benefit from
the same quality education for a very affordable price, you know,
in this online environment that is highly flexible.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So we've been we started some efforts to offer our
products our.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Services to non military students, especially to their families, the
extended families of the military. And nowadays almost twenty percent
of our population now is sort of quote unquote civilians,
non military students. So we are still very unique in
the sense that we are very you know, military centric centric,
(06:51):
but we are expanding also to other audiences, and we
are also expanding internationally, which is very exciting as well,
because I know there's a because of my background, I
know there's a high demand and a high interest for
American education outside the US. The US is still the
sort of scene as the number one player in the
world in terms of education. A lot of people like
(07:13):
to come here, but they can't. You know, it's expensive,
you have to visa problems, you know, the immigration you know,
if you have a family. It's very hard for you
to put your life on hold for two years and
say and I'm going to go.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
To the US.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
So we are taking American education to them, and we
have a very competitive price point. So we're very excited
about that. That is something new that we're just starting.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You mentioned also about online, and that's what makes the
school unique because you can pretty much whenever you have opportunities,
you can sit down and work.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah, we are one other percent online. Most schools, particularly
after COVID, they moved also to an online environment environment,
but of course they offer this will offer traditional education.
My view is that it's not that online is better
or worse than traditional education. Is more about what the
(08:06):
expectations and the needs of the students are. So we
serve a lot of as I told, a lot of
military students, but we serve a lot of adult learners
that you know, they have a family, that their life,
they've worked, so it's very hard for them to take
a traditional education path and say virtually impossible. So online
offers that flexibility that you can study, you know, after hours,
(08:26):
you can study during the weekend. If you didn't learn
something that you feel I don't really understand this, you
can always.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Go back and relearn it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So there are a lot of advantages of studying online.
And this is not to say that traditional education again
is better or worse. I think both of them can
be equally good or equally bad, depends on the university.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And this is something that is rapidly changing.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
This online reputation is to be not very appreciated, but
I think that that is rapidly changing and people are
understanding that is actually the same level of quality is
just in a different format of delivery.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Do you feel that reputation has changed, because originally when
you sit an online school, people kind of stepped away
and said, well, but you're fully accredited, and it's we are.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Fully accredited by HLC, the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits
some of the most reputable universities in the United States.
And I feel it's changing because I don't think that
the delivery methodology defines the quality of a university. The
(09:32):
quality of the university is the quality of the universe.
What I mean by this is, let's say, let's take
an example of let's say Harvard, Right, So if Harvard
offers an online program and they offer a few you know,
people will assume that that's high quality because it's Harvard, right.
So what I mean by this is that either the
university has quality or it doesn't, and the delivery methodology
(09:55):
is the same. It's like you can have an appointment
the doctor and you can be talking to the doctor
face to face or you can be talking to the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Doctor through a computer. It's still the same doctor.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So the doctor is going to be able to look
at the same blood exams and the same you know,
it's going to be able to assess you either through
a computer or face to face sort of in the
same way. It's still the same doctor. So that doesn't
make the doctor better or worse. And that's my point
with education is if the education with the cuality of
the university is good and the delivery methodology shouldn't matter.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And basically, at your school, you can start any time.
Programs start once a month, you can work on your
own time. There's no set schedule. Talk to me a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, we've you know, again one of these sort of
interesting coincidences that happened because we've built our school to
serve the military originally, so it's very flexible. We start
classes every month because we wanted to offer that flexibility
to the service members and then we translate that to
quote unquote non mute students. So you can start classes
(11:01):
every month. We have monthly starts. You can take course
per course, or you can take you know, several courses.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
At the same time. It's really up to you. If
you need to put.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Your studies on hold for one or two months, that's
not a problem at all. So it's incredibly flexible and
very much adapted to the audience that we serve, which
are working adults and working and.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Professionals.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
You were talking about that being working professionals. How does
that kind of make a classroom different even at being
online for a student and the staff, because you learn
from each other.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Well, I actually think it's better, you know. I You
know again, I don't don't. I never like to compare
with traditional education because I never want to pass the
image that I'm saying that it's better or worse. It
really depends on what your expectation is. But as a
professional myself, like if I would do an MBA now,
(11:56):
for example, I did mine Amakoba.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That's if I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Do an m I would much rather be in a
classroom where everyone as a career as experience. You might
have some highly ranked military people, you might have some
you know, senior managers. I would much rather be in
a classroom like that where I feel that I could
learn from my colleagues than being a classroom full of
(12:20):
you know, twenty four years old, right, because I feel
that I could learn and get the experience, you know,
share that experience. So again I think it's it's great,
and it's also an advantage of APOS which our professors
are faculty. A lot of them are practitioners, meaning that
they have a real job and then they also teach,
(12:40):
so it's not just sort of this theory, you know,
the theoretical academic experience, but they teach based on their
real experience, and I think that's very valuable for the students.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Let's talk about the degrees and the various certificates that
you all offer as well, because it's a wide range.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Almost almost I think we have more than two hundred
programs now, all the way from certificates to associates, bachelors, masters,
and doctoral programs in all areas. I mean, we have
almost everything that is possible to have in an online format.
Of course, we don't have you no you know, law
(13:20):
degrees or med degrees, you know, things like that that
are not possible to offer you. But everything else we have,
and we keep expanding our portfolio. We just launched some
really cool certificates. We're about to launch them right now
in quantum computers, robotics AI. So we are trying to
keep up with, you know, the changes, and trying to
(13:41):
be at the forefront of offering really innovative programs for
our students. But if you go to our website ap
Us dort Du you will find a very deep, wide
range of programs and and in you know, in businesses,
are humanities, CyberSecure, I mean everything, We have almost everything.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Earlier you talked about the financial situation, how this is
a very affordable school. You also offer a law for
our veterans. Give me a little bit more information about
both of those.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
So, the United States government as a benefit for military
members which is called tuition assistance, and what that means
is that they pay two hundred and fifty dollars per
crede hour to any service member that wants to study.
So our philosophy has always been too much that price
(14:38):
to sort of no out of pocket costs where the
student can get the benefit the tuition assistance and study
quote unquote for free, meaning no out of pocket cost
for the student. So the military students, the undergraduate military students,
they can literally study for free, for free in the
sense that you know the government is paying, but they
don't have to put any.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Out of pocket costs.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
And the graduates to and st they have to pay
a very small fee of eighty five dollars of course,
and that's it. So why the reason why I'm saying
this is because contrary to other universities, our university, the
cost structure was created to serve those students. So our
cost structure was made based on the revenue that we
(15:20):
get from those students. That two hundred and fifty dollars, right,
So it's very hard for a university where the standard
let's say price per crede our tuition is eight hundred dollars,
let's say, which is very common, it's very hard for
them to say, okay, and I'm going to offer these
to fifty because our cost structure is not aligned with that.
(15:41):
So for us, it's very easy to sort of expand
that benefit that affordable tuition to other audiences that are
not military. For example, you mentioned veterans. We have a
specific discounts grant for veterans where they get ten percent
off in undergravit and fifteen percent off in GRAVIT student
(16:02):
credit programs. And then we have another great benefit, which
is if you are in a military family or if
you're in a veteran family, even if you're even if
the military or the veteran are not students with the PUS,
I'm going to give you the same price that I will.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Give a military or a veteran person.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So let's say you are married to a service member,
You're going to get to fifty you know, and that's
sort of very hard to match.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I mean, I would be you know, it's very hard
to find.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Out there where you, as a civilian can study for
twelve fifty hours per CREADIL. So that's why I'm saying
that we were lucky in that sense that we built
our cost structure around the income that we receive, and
now we are able to expand that affordability to other audiences.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
If that makes sense, It does.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
It makes complete sense. In a few minutes ago, you
mentioned one of the USB a buzzword AI, artificial intelligence,
and you really have, as you mentioned, offering a program
in AI studies. How has the APUs really kind of
embraced AI.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, we were one of the first ones actually to
be very open about AI and I would divide into
sort of categories. The first category is like what do
we do with AI and your operation? And the second
category is like what do you teach about AI? Right,
so on the first category, we have embraced AI for
student services, for career services, for mental health, for content creation.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And we continue to do so.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You know, we are implementing our chatbots, you know, twenty
four seven virtual tutors inside the classroom where the students
have always someone in a machine, but someone to talk to.
So we were one of the first ones to fully
embrace it and to change our academic policy actually to
say that it's okay to use AI in the classroom
(17:48):
and we are fine with using I in the assessments
and everything for as long as you disclose it. So
you have to disclose it that whatever you used, So
we never try to fight it. We always try to
say always from the perspective of being a school that
teaches professionals because my logic, our logic, the provost logic
is Okay, if I'm teaching a professional, most likely that professional,
(18:13):
once he or she graduates, e or she will use AI,
you know, in the real world, in the real world.
So why should we prevent that you're doing this service
to the students if we say, okay, I don't allow it.
You actually want to encourage and prepare the student to
be ready for what is the real world. So in
terms of operations, we've been one of the first first
(18:36):
ones out there adapting AI, but also in terms of
teaching AI. So we we are about to launch our
Bachelors in AI, a certificate in AI.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
We are working on our Masters in AI.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
We are about to launch certificate in quantum Computers, which
is not necessarily I, but it's you know, connected. We're
launching a certificate in Robotics, which again is not necessarily
but it's very connected.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And we have a really.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Cool initiative that we're launching now with in Q one
meaning as we speak, which we made. We have this
partnership with mi T where we're using some of the
content of some courses of mi T to be able
to offer that content to our students. So it's uh,
(19:29):
it's uh, it's it's an agreement where we can we
can use the content that they have in some courses
and then we are going to offer that MIT content
inside the APUs classes to the APS students at the
APS price point. So that's something that we're very excited about.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I'm going to focus on you a little bit more again,
So you mentioned it a little bit earlier about your
business background. How does your expertise in the business world
then transition to help the student from APUs.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah. I'm usually I don't really like to talk much
about me, but.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I always say that I'm a different president in the
sense that not better or worse, but certainly I'm not
the traditional university president that you know, an academic career
and three PhDs and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I came from the business world, and you know, aftern
my MBA, I still want to do my PhD. I'm
going to work on that and I've been in education
now for you know, almost fifteen years. So, but certainly
my background is different than most presidents, and I think
the benefit of that has been that I have very strong,
(20:48):
very strong opinions about branding and how you position your institution,
and I think that's incredibly important because there are more
than four thousand colleges and universities just in the United States,
and it's very easy for you to look exactly the
same as others. Right there's four thousand of them. So
(21:10):
we've been working very hard to improve the value of
our brand, to how differentiate ourselves, how we communicate to
the market, how we expand our presence online in terms
of social media and things like that. For example, in
twenty twenty two, we had about three hundred thousand followers
on our social media and now we're more than one million,
(21:31):
So you know it's working that you know, we're getting
our name out there. I also say that, of course,
my background in marketing helps, you know, to understand the
dynamics of the market works in general. We have a
great marketing team, so I try not to get in
their way, but I'm just saying that, you know, I
think that that background helps as well. I always say
(21:54):
that marketing is sort of building the bridge between what
you have and what the consumer wants to consume. So
you have to find a way to build that bridge
between what you're trying to offer, what someone wants to buy.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And I think that in many.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Cases in education and in other products as well, but
in education, the marketing is very tactical.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
And not very exciting.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
So again, connected with the brand, we try to communicate
a lot of the benefits of the university, the benefits
for students. We try to use a lot of real people,
real families, how they transform their lives, make it very
emotional in the sense that, Okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
What it's going to do for you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
These are real cases, are real examples of how education
transforms your life. So I think having that marketing background helps.
And also I would say that I'm very driven by
having great talent around me. So I always try to
build great teams, and this is no different here. We
(22:57):
have a team of great people. I always say that,
you know, there's no great organization without great people, and
the opposite is also true, right, So I would say
that those are the main differences that I have versus,
you know, lost a more traditional university president.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
You were talking about real people, real stories. Tell me
some of these success stories through.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
The Oh my god, we have so many, you know,
we it's interesting because we have sort of everything, you know,
we have the student that their their ambition is really
you've got some sort of mid level management job and
take care of their family, you know, and watch their
(23:37):
kids growing up, and you know, and the ambition professional
ambition is just okay, I want a stable.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Job, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
And then we have people that you know, that become
incredibly relevant in their field of expertise. For example, the
Chief Medical Officer of NASA.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Is a graduate from a US.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
The current Chairman of the Chief of Staff, which is
the the most important position in the military in the
United States and I can say in the world, is a.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Graduate of APUs. And it was also faculty.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
By the way, at some point, you know, the first
woman that that flo the Tenderbirds is a graduate from EPs.
So we have all these examples of like high performance
over achievers, but we also have examples of you know,
quote unquote normal people that they just want to establish
a good life for them. So for example, commencement last year,
(24:32):
which we do every year on May in Washington, d C.
And it's a very large event with eighteen thousand people.
Last one, so there was this graduate he came, you know,
I was talking to him and he said that he
left the military and his words not mindset, and I
was super lost.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And then you know, I found the PUS and I
graduated cybersecurity and east words he said, and now I
don't know what.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
To do with the money because I've been so successful. Right,
you know, good problem to have. But I don't know
exactly what that means in terms of, you know, how.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Much money is it? But but for in it was
a lot. But that's really what matters, right, And so
we have a lot of these stories of like pretty
much like my family. You know, to be honest, like
you know that you are able to transform your life
and to achieve things that you otherwise would not be possible.
I always, you know, I tell this this story, but
(25:27):
it's true because think about my parents. They were born
in a village with where my grandparents did not know
how to read, they did not know how to write.
You know, they were farmers. They're very humble people. If
my parents would not have had access to education, probably
I would still be living in that village, right, and
(25:49):
I would be you.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Know, a fisherman or and there's nothing wrong with that.
But I'm just saying that.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
My life would be vastly different, vastly different, and certainly
I would not be here in the US. I'll not
be here talking to you. Certainly I would not have
the send that I have right now, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Certainly my life would be completely different. And that was
all because of education. So education impacts.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Things in ways that are very hard to predict, and
that they are very powerful for it. But it's very
hard for people to realize because you really have to
go back in time and say where did it start.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
It's almost like this butterfly.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Fact, like you have to go back and back and
back to the point of where everything started. And the
point for me in my life where everything started was
when my parents decided to go to college. And this
was even before I was born, So they transformed my
life even before I existed. And that's what I think
happens with a lot of our students, which we have
(26:41):
a large percentage of students, and I don't know how
much it is right now, but let's say at least
twenty to thirty percent of our students are probably first generation,
and I know that their families and their lives are
going to be transformed as well. And that's really cool.
That's really satisfactory to me to see that we you know,
we played the small role in doing that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Earlier we talked about how APUs has been evolving. How
do you continue to evolve? Where do you see the program,
say in a decade or so.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, we've been evolving in different ways.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
So one is being programmatic, trying to expand our portfolio,
as I said, having these more of cutting edge programs,
and being at the forefront of offering programs that typically
a university like Hours would not do.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Let's say, for example, if you take quantum computers, you know,
you probably expect MIT to offer that, or you know,
or Stanford, but certainly probably not APS. So we try
to be at the forefront of offering this type of
edgy inno very programs, but for a price point that
is very affordable. So we want to continue doing that
and expanding the portfolio that way. We want to expand
(27:50):
our presence, as I said, in the US outside the
traditional military audiences. Although we want to continue being the
leader that's already na will never change, but we also
want to expand internationally. And this is an effort that
we're just starting right now. And you know, we're starting
in Mexico, Columbia. We have some plans in Europe, in
(28:12):
the Emirates, so I think that's going to be very successful.
And maybe you know, in three or four years when
we talk again, I'm sure that we're going to have
thousands of students.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Outside the US.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So that's exciting for us, and we want to continue
to grow. I mean we, as I told you, we
are now number probably number ten, number nine in terms
of size. You know that we're in the top ten
of the largest universities in our states, and I would
like to continue to climb that that ranking and hopefully
get to an even more impressive result.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
If you could define your own legacy as a leader,
what do you want it to be?
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know, when I think about leadership in my case,
I don't know you, but when I think about great
people that I work with or that I work for,
it's always about how much I developed myself and how
they made me feel. Right, did they made me feel?
Did I was I supported? Was I empowered? Was I
(29:16):
did I feel that I was growing, that I was
explanding myself, that I was learning?
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So I would like.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
To be remember, you know, for the people that work
with me, by the people that work with me as
someone that had a positive impact in their careers, and
that's someone that they feel that they, you know, they
are better professionals after.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Working with me than they were before, and.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
That the experience has been positive and rewarding. So I
think that's the job. You know, the job of leadership
is really to develop others. That's the main job. I
would say, probably not the only job, but one of
the most important jobs is to develop the ones that
work with you and for you, and hopefully they will
be able to acknowledge that that's what I what's.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Your final takeaway for our listeners about the American public
university system.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I take aways to you know, if you are interested
in going back to school or if you're interested in
pursuing a new degree, I would encourage you to go
and take a look because it's a really good school.
We have very affordable prices, we have really high quality,
and although it's not a name that traditionally is out
there as others, he is not a name that is
(30:26):
as known as sort of as other names. I would
say that it's a great option to consider, and I
would recommend to go to our website and take a
look of all the things that we offer and you
might be positively surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Our website is apos dot tdu.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
All right, thank you so much for joining us here today.
New know Fernandez, the president of the American Public University System,
and thank you for joining us on our CEOs. You
should know series.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs, you
should know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Bank for Communities, M and T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrive, because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
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