To Email a member of the leadership team, click on their name
Bob Barker
Founder & CEO
Newport, RI Office
6/17/1964-4/5/2012
Bob Barker founded Barker Educational Services Team (BEST) in 2006. Prior to founding BEST, Bob has served a variety of roles during his 20 year career with the University of Phoenix. He began his career after graduating from Arizona State University. During his first year with University of Phoenix, Bob worked as an Admissions Advisor. It was in this role that he learned the importance of putting the students’ needs first. As a result of his success as an Advisor, Bob was promoted to be the first enrollment trainer for UOP.
Subsequently Bob worked in a variety of locations in various leadership roles. In 1999, Bob was tapped to lead all UOP Campuses, The College of Financial Planning and the business departments for UOP Corporate in Phoenix. In the fall of 2005 Bob retired as the Executive Vice-President of UOP and a Senior Vice-President of its holding corporation Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ APOL).
As the higher education regulatory rules were being changed, Bob determined that it made perfect sense to create a company that helped educational institutions succeed. More importantly, Bob created a company with a culture that is service driven. BEST students and clients are treated with the respect and professionalism that has allowed the company to thrive in a very competitive marketplace. His greatest source of pride was seeing BEST’s client students achieve their academic, personal and professional aspirations.
To learn more about Bob please visit the Robert H. Barker Memorial website.
Todd G. Prince II
President
Scottsdale, AZ office (Corporate headquarters)
Todd G. Prince II acts as BEST’s President and has been with the company since October 2006. In this role, Mr. Prince manages enrollment/finance models, client relationships and the strategic vision of BEST. Mr. Prince is a results-oriented professional with excellent problem solving skills. His expertise lies in finding solutions for procedural and operational issues. He possesses an ability to determine root causes as well as develop solutions to meet the needs of both the customers and the organization. Todd credits his Six Sigma Black Belt Certification for helping him to be an organizational problem solver.
Prior to joining BEST, Mr. Prince was a top performing National Corporate Liaison at Grand Canyon University for approximately three years. Mr. Prince still is an Instructor at Grand Canyon University for the Applied Management degree program. Mr. Prince received his bachelor’s in business management from University of Phoenix in 2004 and his M.B.A./Six Sigma degree from Grand Canyon University in 2006. He currently resides in Gilbert, Arizona, with his wife, Sandra, and four active children.
Pete Morton
Executive Vice President
Newport, RI office
Pete joined BEST as the company’s first employee in 2006. At that time Pete served as the Director of Enrollment for Iowa Central College Online. In this role he helped BEST establish its marketing initiatives, design and implement a CRM and build BEST’s enrollment team. After a year in this role Pete was asked to represent BEST in the creation of a company that would provide marketing and advertising solutions to colleges throughout the United States. Pete helped the new business to generate over $400,000 in monthly sales revenue in the first year of the company’s existence. Exposure to interactive marketing led Pete to develop an interest in interactive marketing, search, and SEO. Pete and the BEST team study these topics daily and are constantly refining their marketing methodologies.
In early 2010 he was again asked to change focus and he returned to BEST to help the company retool the enrollment operations for a Client in Ohio. Pete loves the higher education space and helping colleges to build effective enrollment and student service departments. Pete holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, he lives in Newport RI with his wife and baby daughter.
Dave Tarner
Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Scottsdale, AZ office (Corporate headquarters)
Dave Tarner currently holds the position of Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with BEST. Since joining the BEST team in 2007, Dave has played an active role in enrollment, financial aid, and student service operations. He is an expert in operational efficiency in higher education, specifically the integration of complex processes across departments to ensure a smooth student experience. Dave’s philosophy is that college coursework should be challenging, but enrolling in college should be easy. In his current role, Dave’s focus is the management of the BEST marketing strategy including organic online lead generation, paid search marketing, and social media brand development on behalf of BEST’s client colleges. Dave’s creativity has driven unprecedented growth in lead generation, brand awareness, and return on marketing investment for BEST’s partners.
Prior to joining BEST, Dave was a financial services advisor and entrepreneur in Phoenix, Arizona. Dave earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Business from Arizona State University in 2002, and is currently working towards an MBA from Mississippi State University.
Rick Mead
Vice President of Academics
Scottsdale, AZ office
Rick has been working with BEST since 2008 in various roles. In March of 2010 Rick took over as the Director of Enrollment and Student Services. Since that time, Rick has worked diligently to increase enrollments for the company, streamline processes, and track persistence and retention with our partner schools. He has worked in tandem with faculty and staff to ensure that high levels of academic quality are maintained throughout a student’s tenure and to respond to any student challenges that might arise.
Before joining BEST, Rick worked with several for profit institutions as well as several Universities in California. Rick earned a Bachelors degree in 1998, and his Masters in 2009. He is currently working towards his Ed.D at Northern Arizona University.
Brynn Yousef
Enrollment Manager
Scottsdale, AZ office (Corporate headquarters)
Brynn began her career with BEST as an Admissions Advisor (AA) in 2009. She quickly demonstrated her proficiency at working with students as well as her leadership qualities. After a year at BEST, Brynn transitioned into a Team Lead position. As a Team Lead, she continued working with students while also helping to create new training modules, coach team members, interview new hire candidates and boost team morale. Recently, Brynn was promoted the Admissions Manager for BEST where she has continued to prove her ability to grow enrollment and exceed client expectations. In this role in she facilitates weekly performance coaching with her team as well as performance reviews, training and new hire mentoring. She is an instrumental part of BEST’s office culture as well and has a proven ability to deliver results. Brynn’s attention to detail and ‘student’s needs first’ focus has contributed to BESTs success. She currently works with several BEST clients and has overseen daily enrollment activities during a period of consistent growth.
Prior to working at BEST, Brynn attended St. Mary’s College of California and Grand Canyon University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. During her time as a student Brynn took online classes. This experience has proven instrumental in helping Brynn to manage her team and understand the challenges facing her students.