Cisco Systems and Kimberly-Clark Invest in Leadership Development with Groundbreaking Innovation Learning Experience

Innovator's Accelerator®, developed by Apollo Group in conjunction with elite academic and technology partners, addresses innovation gap in business today

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Apollo Group, Inc. today announced that more than a dozen companies, including Cisco Systems, Inc. and Kimberly-Clark have signed on to accelerate innovation within their organizations with its Innovator's Accelerator® leadership development experience.

Innovation is critical in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, and regularly identified by CEOs as the top priority for their company. Since launching earlier this year, hundreds of business leaders have participated in the Innovator's Accelerator® learning experience, representing companies across a broad range of industries including consumer products, entertainment, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, information technology, manufacturing, retail and telecom.

Innovator's Accelerator is a six-week online experience led by the world's leading experts on business innovation: Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University'sMarriott School of Management and Hal Gregersen of INSEAD. The three, who also co-authored "The Innovator's DNA" and consult with businesses around the world on disruptive innovation, bring together research and tools that help business leaders transform into innovators, ready to be the catalyst for change in their organizations.

"Accelerating the pace and impact of innovation is a number one priority in our organization, as finding ways to foster key skills across the enterprise can be difficult," said Sarah Freiburger, vice president of research and engineering, Kimberly-Clark. "Innovator's Accelerator provides a unique virtual learning environment where our teams can develop and apply key innovation skills that drive disruptive and fresh thinking."

The revolutionary online learning experience, co-designed with award-winning firm IDEO™, differentiates itself from traditional online offerings by surfacing dynamic content in a highly engaging, game-like environment that maps to how people work and learn today. Innovator's Accelerator's modular content can be consumed on any device through a simple web browser. Self-paced lesson plans coupled with virtual team learning and interaction helps emerging leaders build innovation skills quickly in parallel with their day job, while providing organizations with transparent talent development.

"In developing Innovator's Accelerator, we worked with the market leaders in both innovation and design to ensure we were providing a learning experience that engages and teaches busy business executives how to better innovate," said George Lichter, head of innovation programming for Apollo Lightspeed, a business unit of Apollo Group. "In just six weeks, a company can help change the way its employees think and bring ideas to life." 

More information is available at: www.innovatorsaccelerator.com.

About Apollo Group

Apollo Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: APOL) is one of the world's largest private education providers and has been in the education business since 1973. Through its subsidiaries: University of Phoenix, Apollo Global, Institute for Professional Development and College for Financial Planning, Apollo Group. Inc. offers innovative and distinctive educational programs and services, online and on-campus, at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. These educational programs and services are offered throughout the United States and in Latin America and Europe, as well as online throughout the world. For more information about Apollo Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, call (800) 990-APOL or visit the Company's website at www.apollo.edu.

SOURCE Apollo Group