Mark J. Brenner

Mark J. Brenner is an American executive businessman in the higher education industry. He is best known in the media for defending the for-profit education industry and suing Sallie Mae in 2002 over the issue of student loan consolidation.
Brenner is currently the senior vice president at the Apollo Education Group, the company that owns the University of Phoenix. He directs and manages external communications, government affairs, public relations and community investment.
Defending the for-profit education industry
In the media, Brenner is best known as the public face of the University of Phoenix and an assertive defender of the university and for-profit education institutions.
In June 2015, The Center for Investigative Reporting requested an on-camera interview with University of Phoenix officials. In an email that became public, Brenner criticized the center for its earlier reporting about the enrollment of military veterans at the university. Brenner wrote: "After risking life and limb defending the very freedom your storytellers enjoy in weaving their false narrative, military students earned the benefits afforded them under the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill., and have chosen to pursue their education at University of Phoenix. They do not deserve the slights, the belittled commentary and demeaning polemic inherent in your Center’s stories. Against steep odds, their hard work, resilience, and educational accomplishments should be celebrated, not questioned." In response to criticism in a local Illinois publication, Brenner wrote an opinion article in the publication: I invite oakpark.com readers and letter writers to consider our work at Apollo before engaging in a misinformed, ad hominem debate about the role of for-profit higher education in this country and the ways in which it is regulated by federal and state governmental bodies.
On July 30, 2012, The Hill newspaper published an opinion article written by Brenner. In the article, he wrote that the University of Phoenix and for-profit colleges provide higher education for the 70 percent of America's students that the U.S. Department of Education classifies as "non-traditional." Non-traditional students are those for whom a traditional four year-university does not work. Brenner wrote that the University of Phoenix provides a path to a college degree for those non-traditional students. Examples he wrote include working parents, men and women returning from the military, and people who are the first to go to college in their family.
Sallie Mae lawsuit over student loan consolidation
Before working for the University of Phoenix, Brenner worked as the executive vice president, chief legal officer and chief spokesman at the College Loan Corporation (CLC), a private sector education lender with $10 billion in student loan assets. He was responsible for oversight over the company's government relations, compliance and regulatory programs. Additionally, CLC alleged that Sallie Mae broke the law by enticing colleges with free software in exchange for colleges steering students to lenders that sell loans back to Sallie Mae. CLC sought an injunction and $200 million in damages.
At trial, Sallie Mae won the lawsuit in a jury verdict in June 2003 in the Eastern District of Virginia. However, Brenner and CLC appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. Brenner filed a brief in the appeals case, where the appeals court judges vacated and remanded the ruling of the trial court.
Career
After high school, Brenner attended Siena College where he earned a B.A. in political science. He earned his law degree from Albany Law School.

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