ACT

ACT

ACT was founded in 1960 by E.F. Lindquist, an education professor at the University of Iowa, building on his pioneering work in measurement and testing. Originally named the American College Testing Program, it was created as a nonprofit to provide a single standardized exam for college admissions that measured what students actually learned in school, positioning it as a more grounded alternative to the SAT. The founding wealth was intellectual rather than financial—rooted in Lindquist's research and development grants that capitalized the organization—and the firm remained a nonprofit tax-exempt entity for over six decades. ACT operates with a strategy that deploys its endowment to sustain and evolve its core assessment business. The organization manages a concentrated pool of assets, historically allocated across a conservative mix of fixed income, public equities, and real property, including its Iowa City headquarters campus at 500 ACT Drive. While not structured as a venture fund or a direct-investment shop, ACT's financial resources underpin its nationally scaled testing infrastructure and credentialing programs that serve millions of students annually across the United States. The recent transition to a for-profit model under Nexus Capital Management suggests an intentionally more commercial posture going forward. In October 2025, ACT appointed Steve Tapp as CEO, succeeding long-time leader Janet Godwin, who transitioned to a special advisor and board role. The organization maintains additional offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, and its leadership participates in professional networks including the International ACAC Executive Board. Adjacent vehicles include the ACT Center for Equity in Learning and the ACT Giving Program, which represent the organization's philanthropic and mission-adjacent functions that survived the conversion from nonprofit status. Total assets were recorded as $178 million in the most recent internal review prior to the Nexus transaction. ACT's structural differentiator following the 2024 deal is its status as a mission-driven testing monopoly—now operating as a public benefit corporation (PBC)—owned by a private equity firm. The Nexus Capital Management acquisition rewired the governance: Damian Giangiacomo and Evan Glucoft, managing directors at Nexus, both joined the ACT board, alongside Bethlam Forsa of Savvas Learning and Jamie Merisotis of Lumina Foundation. This blended board architecture pairs extractive private capital oversight with a legally mandated public benefit purpose, creating a hybrid organism uncommon in both the edtech and family office universes.