New Tuition Benefits Management Company to Locate in Coralville

CAEL and ACT form new Tuition Benefits Management Company

CAEL (the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) and ACT have jointly created a new company, EdLink LLC, on September 2, 2009. EdLink is the nation’s largest provider of tuition assistance management services, expanding upon the services previously offered by CAEL. John Zappa, formerly CAEL’s senior vice president for learner services, has been named as EdLink’s CEO.

ACT and CAEL each own 50% of the new company. EdLink expects to process $200 million in education funds over the next year and to serve an active population of almost 800,000 employees across the country. The new company is located in Chicago with several satellite locations, including one under development in Coralville, Iowa, not far from ACT’s headquarters in Iowa City.

EdLink, headquartered in downtown Chicago, will open operations in Coralville, Iowa, this fall.  The company expects to initially hire 10 to 20 employees to expand customer service operations. The National Career Readiness Certificate, powered by ACT’s WorkKeys, will be required and used as part of the hiring process. The Iowa City Area Development group, Iowa Department of Economic Development, and the City of Coralville were all involved in persuading the company to locate in Coralville. Iowa Industrial New Jobs Training will be provided by Kirkwood Community College, a long-term partner with ACT on several projects over the past several years.