Stephen Shank

Founder of Capella Education

Stephen Shank founded Capella Education Company, the parent company of Capella University, in 1991, and served as CEO of the company until his 2009 retirement. He remains on the company’s board of directors. Shank is also co-founder and a director of the Shank Institute for Innovative Learning. Prior to founding Capella, Shank served for 12 years as chairman and chief executive officer of Tonka Corporation. During this time, The Wall Street Transcript twice recognized Shank as the industry’s most outstanding chief executive officer. Shank began his career as an attorney with the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa, a Master of Arts from The Fletcher School, a joint program of Tufts and Harvard universities, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.