Corinthian says president resigns

Corinthian Colleges Inc. said Monday that President and Chief Operating Officer Matt Ouimet will resign, sending the education company’s shares down as much as 6%.

The resignation is effective Oct. 31, and there are no immediate plans to fill the post, the Santa Ana company said.

The U.S. Senate has held hearings on whether for-profit colleges, which got $26.5 billion in U.S. government aid last year, misled students on their employment prospects after graduation. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, said Sept. 30 that he will explore “legislative changes” for the industry.

“For someone in senior management to be leaving the company such a sensitive time (and with the stock at such depressed levels) is obviously not good and suggests he lacked faith in his future at the firm,” said Trace Urdan, an analyst with Signal Hill Capital Group.

Ouimet joined Corinthian in January 2009, the college said. He came to the education company after holding executive positions at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and the Walt Disney Co.