Brian E. Mueller is an American academic and university administrator. He is the current president of

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. The university offers degrees in over 200 areas of study and is administrativel ...

and CEO of Grand Canyon Education. Mueller has been the President of the university since July 1, 2008, and a director since March 2009. Mueller is also the CEO of the

for-profit Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessari ...

publicly traded A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

Grand Canyon Education Inc that provides services to GCU. Prior to taking the reins of Grand Canyon University, Mueller was the president and a director of

Apollo Education Group Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. It is privately-owned by a consortium of investors including The Vistria Grou ...

, the parent company of the

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the Ac ...

. Mueller also held executive positions with the University of Phoenix Online including CEO, chief operating officer, and senior vice president. While in a leadership position, enrollment at the University of Phoenix grew from 3,500 to 340,000.

Personal

Mueller grew up in a middle-class family in Wisconsin with seven siblings. Mueller graduated from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

with a bachelor's degree in secondary education and a master's degree in education.

Career

Mueller's first job in higher education was at his alma mater,

. He was a professor at the university from 1983 to 1987 as well as the university's head men's basketball coach. Mueller was a high school teacher before heading to Arizona State University to enroll in a Ph.D. program, but got a job working for the

as an enrollment counselor in hopes to better support his family financially. Three years later, he was put in charge of marketing and enrollment. At the University of Phoenix he rose to a leadership role, as president, his team designed what the department of Education later termed as "predatory". Mueller was hired in 2008 at

when the university went to the public market for an infusion of capital investment to put towards the West Phoenix campus. Under Mueller's watch, the university's ground campus enrollment has jumped from about 1,000 to over 20,000 as of the fall of 2018. Enrollment in online programs is over 70,000. Mueller's goal for the ground campus is to increase enrollment to 25,000 and continue to expand the campus. Mueller finished fourth in the

Phoenix Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

's 2014 Businessman of the Year voting behind Michael Bidwill (

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

), MaryAnn Guerra ( BioAccel), and

Bob Parsons Robert Ralph Parsons (born November 27, 1950) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. In 1997, he founded the GoDaddy group of companies, including Internet domain name registrar GoDaddy.com, reseller registrar Wild West Domains, and Bl ...

(

GoDaddy GoDaddy Inc. is an American publicly traded Internet Domain name registry, domain registry, Domain name registrar, domain registrar and web hosting company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and incorporated in Delaware. GoDaddy is the world's fif ...

). On December 28, 2023 the Federal Trade Commission announced that it filed suit against Grand Canyon Education, Grand Canyon University, and Brian Mueller (the chief executive officer of both) for deceiving prospective doctoral students about the cost and course requirements of its doctoral programs and about being a nonprofit, while also engaging in deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, Brian Grand Canyon University faculty Concordia University Nebraska alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Educators from Wisconsin Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Concordia University Nebraska faculty