Oakleigh Thorne

Oakleigh Thorne served as Chairman and CEO of eCollege.com [NASDAQ: ECLG], a leading provider of outsource information services to the fast-growing postsecondary education industry, from May of 2000 until July 2007, when the company was sold to Pearson PLC for $537m.

Thorne is a founder of Blumenstein/Thorne Information Partners, LLC, a private equity and venture capital firm focused on the information industry, and serves as Manager of Thorndale Farm LLC, the entity that oversees investment of the Thorne family assets.

Prior to founding these entities, Thorne was CEO of Commerce Clearing House, Inc. (CCH) a leading provider of tax and business law information, software, and services for accounting, legal and business professionals. CCH was sold in January 1996 for $1.9 billion to Wolters Kluwer, a Dutch publishing company.

At CCH, Thorne was largely credited with leading a series of strategic electronic product and reengineering initiatives that began in 1991 and moved the company from being a traditional, print-based publishing and service bureau tax return processing company to become an innovative provider of electronic information and software tools. These initiatives led to a 4x increase in market capitalization of the company by the time of its sale.

Thorne was the fourth generation of his family to be associated with CCH. His great, great grandfather purchased the company’s predecessor, Corporation Trust Co. in 1902, establishing a 94-year commitment to CCH by the Thorne family.

Prior to joining CCH in 1986, Thorne received his MBA from Columbia University. Before business school he was a newspaper reporter at the Boston Globe and the Baltimore News American. He received his BS in journalism from Boston University in 1980.

Thorne, a resident of Millbrook, NY, is Chairman of Trout Unlimited and is a member of various charitable boards, including The Dutchess Land Conservancy and the Dutchess Day School. He also serves on the boards of Datamark Inc., Gogo and ShopperTrak Corporation, which are three of his family’s other investments.

Thorne is an avid polo player and Boston University Terrier hockey fan; his other hobbies include fishing, shooting, skiing and running.