Laureate founder Douglas Becker is now leading Cintana Education

A new education company launching in Arizona is led by an entrepreneur who played a key role in cementing Baltimore’s edtech legacy.

Cintana Education launched last month through a collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU). The public benefit corporation’s founder and chairman is Douglas Becker, who is the founder and former CEO of Baltimore-based Laureate Education, and a founder of Sylvan Learning Systems and computer-based testing center network Prometric.

The new Tempe, Arizona-based company came about through a collaboration between Becker and ASU President Michael Crow, according to a news release. The company’s goal is to bring expertise and new ideas from the university to institutions outside the U.S.

Through the company’s business model, universities will become part of the Cintana Network, which provides coordinated academic programs, and give students the chance to earn degrees across multiple universities.

It will also aim to partner with governments and private institutions to support “startup universities” that are focused on local needs.

“In an era where higher education remains the most powerful global lever for economic mobility, our goal is to empower selected institutions outside of the United States to achieve their ambitious goals for growth in scale and quality,” Becker said in a statement. “To do so, we will combine our experiences with the experience and resources of ASU to enhance academic quality and drive innovation.”

Becker has previous experience founding a higher education-focused, for-profit company in publicly traded Laureate, which created a network of universities that at one point reached students at over 200 campuses, as well as students online in 28 countries. (The company has been selling universities this year as it focuses on specific areas.). Becker stepped down from the role of Laureate CEO at the end of 2017.

In a statement, Crow said Becker “brings vast experience in the design and implementation of new models for higher education, and he shares our belief that innovation can unlock unprecedented gains in scale and quality for institutions around the world.”

Along with Becker, Cintana’s team is made up of Laureate leaders, the Baltimore Business Journal reported. Its current team page lists 10 alums of the Baltimore-based company.