2U, an Arlington education technology company rife with significant changes over the past two years, has named an executive known for helping turn a private education-focused company profitable as its next CEO.

Effective Jan. 27, Kees Bol will take on the company's top leadership post after previously leading London, U.K.-based online educational services provider Boundless Learning.

The company also announced that Matt Leavy, who served as an executive vice president of operations at multinational publishing company John Wiley & Sons Inc., as its next chief operating officer.

Bol succeeds Matt Norden, who became interim CEO in October 2024 following the departure of Paul Lalljie, allowing Norden to return to his CFO and chief legal officer positions. Lalljie served as CEO for 10 months after replacing 2U co-founder Chip Paucek, who also resigned from the company's board in November 2023 as part of his departure from a company he helped establish in 2008.

2U said Bol is credited with turning Boundless Learning into a growing and profitable standalone company following its spinoff from multinational educational publishing and services provider Pearson PLC in July 2021. Prior to Boundless Learning, Bol oversaw marketing, enrollment and retention for Pearson’s K-12 virtual school division.

Before Pearson, Bol served as a chief marketing officer at Strategic Education, formerly Strayer Education, and led initiatives cited with growing enrollment and improving institutional performance. Prior to that, he held senior roles in marketing and operations at McLean's Capital One Financial Corp.

"His deep industry knowledge and consistent record of building great education service organizations make him an excellent fit to lead 2U into its next phase," 2U Executive Chairman Brian Napack said in a statement. "I’m looking forward to working with him to accelerate 2U's evolution and innovation so we continue doing what we do best–enabling both institutions and learners to thrive in a rapidly changing world."

Bol joins 2U during a pivotal time for the company, which provides online educational resources for courses and degree programs at universities across the country.

The departure of Lalljie came at the same time that 2U shifted its headquarters from Lanham to Crystal City. The move followed its September 2024 emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a process that turned it into a private company after a decade as a Nasdaq-listed public company.

The company has faced years of financial challenges, a costly $800 million acquisition of Harvard-and-MIT-born online education company edX Inc., along with allegations of poor services in some of its programs — claims it has staunchly refuted.

Last August, we reported that 2U had “further reduced its occupancy” at its Lanham facility, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. But it did not specify by how much it had reduced its space, saying only that it “took steps to reject several operating leases in connection” with the Chapter 11 on July 25.