Stephen Beard was appointed chief operating officer in 2019.

In his role as chief operating officer, Stephen is responsible for the vision, leadership and financial performance of Adtalem Global Education’s Financial Services vertical.  In addition, he leads the company’s strategy, corporate development, government and regulatory affairs, investor relations, communications and civic engagement activities, and mobilizes a variety of operational and corporate initiatives to accelerate Adtalem’s global performance. In both capacities, Stephen provides strategic counsel to the CEO, senior management team and board of directors. 

Stephen joined the organization in 2018 as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary before taking on the responsibility of chief operating officer in 2019 and responsibility for the Financial Services vertical in 2020. Prior to Adtalem, Stephen was executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSII), where he directed global legal operations for the company and oversaw a variety of enterprise-level functions including strategy and corporate development. 

Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Stephen was in private practice with Schiff Hardin, LLP in Chicago, where he was a member of the firm’s corporate and securities group, advising public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate governance matters. 

Stephen began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank Sullivan, Jr. (ret.), associate justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. 

Stephen is active in a variety of community and civic matters and currently serves on the board of venture philanthropy fund A Better Chicago. 

Stephen received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a juris doctor degree from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University – Bloomington and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.