Chairman Of The Advisory Board
Arthur Benjamin was born in NYC and lived in that metropolitan area until leaving to attend Clark University in Massachusetts. Since then he has lived in numerous cities throughout the USA, England, Colombia (SA) and for a short time in Spain. Currently, he lives in Delray Beach (FL), Dallas (TX) and Salt Lake City (UT).
His life has been both interesting and diverse. He has been an internationally celebrated photographer, married briefly to a member of the British Royal Family and has had numerous entrepreneurial successes after leaving the world of Fortune 500 business.
Mr. Benjamin has over three decades of experience in marketing and sales, two in school marketing and operations, and an equal number of years in corporate management. Prior to joining Datamark in 1993, his employment history included executive and sales positions at CBS, Group W, Major Market Television and Connecticut Public Broadcasting. He has started several companies, grown them, and sold them as well. He has been responsible for operations as diverse as the publication of a regional magazine, a TV production company, an ad agency, a media buying service and several colleges. He has also led civic efforts including sharing responsibility for a $13 million capital campaign and co-developed a number of local real estate subdivisions.
Mr. Benjamin was the Chairman & CEO of Datamark, Inc., the nation’s largest comprehensive marketing company exclusively for colleges and proprietary schools and amongst the top 20 direct marketing agencies in the U.S. until 2005. He served as its President and thereafter Chairman & CEO having joined it in 1995 after serving on its board of directors for two years. In just 10 years, Mr. Benjamin successfully grew the company by over 2,000 percent. He was also Executive Vice President of its public parent company, eCollege, after it acquired Datamark, a technology corporation that creates the online educational platforms for numerous colleges and universities.
Mr. Benjamin joined ATI, a nationally-accredited group of private postsecondary schools and colleges, as its CEO & President in April of 2005, after serving on its board of directors, and currently serves as its Vice Chairman & CEO. Since then, he has dramatically expanded the depth and breadth of the management team, improved processes, and begun new initiatives the achievement of the future growth of the company. ATI expanded, in just the first twelve months, from eight to fifteen campuses under his leadership.
In 2006, he along with two partners founded EdExperts, a new comprehensive marketing company specializing in colleges and proprietary schools and employing unique best-in-class partnerships. Just last year, it grew 300%.
Late last year, in 2007, he was instrumental the creation of American Institutes, a group of private postsecondary schools training in the allied health fields. Primus Capital Funds joined Randy Proto (who will serve as its CEO), a life-long partner of Mr. Benjamin, and a group of investors including Mr. Benjamin (who will serve on its board) in the enterprise.
Mr. Benjamin graduated from Clark University and subsequently completed advanced coursework at Burklyn Business School. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Management from Colorado Technical University.
Mr. Benjamin is a former Commissioner of Higher Education for the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT), former chair of the Utah Central Region Workforce Council, The Living Planet Aquarium, and Women Beyond Cancer; a former member of the Utah State Workforce Investment Board, former trustee of the Career College Foundation (AKA Imagine America Foundation) and former board member of The American Heart Association and the L.A. Film School Foundation.
He currently serves as a board member of Franklin Templeton Bank & Trust, ATI Enterprises and the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges (FAPSC). He also serves on the advisory committees of The Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, No More Homeless Pets, The Utah Animal Adoption Center, and The Image Reborn Foundation. He is co-chair for the steering committee of FAPSC and on the steering committee of The Imagine America Foundation.
Mr. Benjamin also founded, and currently serves as a trustee of The Butterfly Effect Foundation. Additionally, he is the annual keynote speaker of the Hugh O’Brien Youth Organization in Utah and maintains serious philanthropic commitments to the American Heart Association’s Annual Heart Ball, the American Heart Association’s Annual Heartwalk, the Wasatch Humane Society’s Annual Fur Ball, Image Reborn’s Annual Dinner/Dance, and No More Homeless Pets’ “Strut Your Mutt” Annual Walkathon and “Save A Stray Soiree”.
In 2004, he led the way in the launch of the 10,000-square-foot Living Planet Aquarium Experience in Salt Lake City (named after his late wife, Gail Benjamin), which was visited by almost 300,000 people in its first 18 months of operation, and he has been instrumental in facilitating the just-opened Salt Lake Animal Adoption Center, with a central garden named after his late wife, Gail.
Arthur believes that, in George Bernard Shaw’s words, life is no brief candle but sort of a splendid torch that we’ve got hold of for the moment, and he’s committed to making it burn as brightly as he can, while its in his care, before passing it on to future generations.