Jerrad Tausz

Jerrad Tausz has spent more than 20 years in the higher-education sector. The bulk of his career — roughly 21 years — was at the University of Phoenix and its parent, Apollo Education Group, where he ultimately served as Chief Operating Officer of Apollo Professional Development and the University of Phoenix. During that tenure he held leadership roles across "virtually every facet of the business" and helped grow the online and ground-campus platform to more than $4 billion in annual net revenues across 200+ campuses and learning centers, later helping restructure the business ahead of its private-equity sale.

After Apollo/University of Phoenix, Tausz remained in career-focused education, moving into the coding-bootcamp space. He served as Chief Operating Officer of The Iron Yard and later as Chief Executive Officer & President of Fullstack Academy (which also operates the Grace Hopper Program). Fullstack Academy was acquired by Zovio; the company subsequently named a new CEO in July 2023, indicating Tausz's operating tenure there has concluded.

Alongside his corporate roles, Tausz is an entrepreneur and owner-operator, holding several businesses in the Wellness and Family Entertainment Center spaces in the Kansas City and Omaha markets. This operator background — scaling education platforms and running wellness/entertainment businesses — maps directly onto Maxim Partners' two investment verticals of education and wellness, which is the basis for his Industry Partner role.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Iowa and a Master's degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix.

• Invests through Maxim Partners, a Chicago-based lower-middle-market private equity firm whose principals have worked together since 1996, exclusively targeting education and wellness companies.
• Maxim's stated approach is to establish "value-enhancing partnerships with entrepreneurial companies," positioning itself as "a catalyst for meaningful and positive change" rather than a pure capital provider — bringing operational expertise, mentorship, and industry networks.
• Deal types skew to growth equity and majority-stake acquisitions of established, founder-led businesses (e.g., its 100% / majority acquisition of Stratum Nutrition).
• As an Industry Partner, Tausz's value-add is operational: his lane is education (career/higher-ed, bootcamps) and wellness/nutrition/fitness, where he can advise or help operate portfolio companies rather than write early-stage checks.