In March 2007, Gary McCullough joined the company and served as CEO until November 2011, when Steven H. Lesnik assumed the role of interim president and CEO. Lesnik was the former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education. In 2009, Career Education purchased the right to operate Le Cordon Bleu schools in the United States and Canada. In April 2013, Scott Steffey—a veteran of Strayer Education Inc. and former vice chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY) system—was named as Lesnik's permanent replacement.