Dennis J. Keller

Co-Founder and Director Emeriti

Dennis J. Keller is Co-Founder and Retired Chairman and CEO of DeVry Inc., and currently serves as Director Emeritus and Senior Advisor.

DeVry's purpose is to empower its students to achieve their educational and career goals. DeVry (NYSE: DV, member S&P 500 Index) is a global provider of educational services and the parent organization of Advanced Academics, American University of the Caribbean, Becker Professional Education, Carrington College, Carrington College California, Chamberlain College of Nursing, DeVry Brasil, DeVry University, and Ross University Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. These institutions offer a wide array of programs in business, healthcare and technology. DeVry’s institutions serve students in secondary through postsecondary education and professionals in accounting and finance.

Keller co-founded Keller Graduate School of Management in 1973, and served as CEO until 2004 and Chairman until he retired in 2008.  In 1987, Keller Graduate School of Management acquired from Bell & Howell the assets of the DeVry Institutes of Technology.  Renamed DeVry Inc., the combined company completed an initial public offering in 1991.

He is a director of Nicor Inc.  He is a trustee of the University of Chicago, and a member of the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Leadership Council. 

Keller serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the African Wildlife Foundation, Vice Chairman of the Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo, and a trustee of the Mpala Wildlife Foundation.   He also serves as a trustee of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation. 

In 1963, Keller received his undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton University, where he was a National Merit Scholar.  His master’s degree in business administration was received in 1968 from the University of Chicago, where he was a Graduate School of Busi¬ness Fellow.  Keller, a resident of Oak Brook, Illinois, is married and has three sons and seven grandchildren.