The Apollo Group announced today that it had chosen a corporate insider, William J. Pepicello, as the new president of the University of Phoenix.

Mr. Pepicello will replace Laura Palmer Noone, who retired in May. Until now he was provost and acting president of Phoenix, the country’s largest private university, with about 250,000 students. In a news release issued by the company, Apollo’s president, Brian Mueller, said Mr. Pepicello had been chosen after a nationwide search. He was also nominated to serve on the company’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Pepicello, who holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from Brown University, has worked at Apollo since 1995, except for two years before 2002, when he was president of the University of Sarasota, another for-profit institution. During his stint there, Sarasota’s parent company, the Argosy Education Group, was acquired by the Education Management Corporation.

Separately today, the second-largest higher-education company, the Career Education Corporation, also announced a leadership change. In a news release, Career Education said its founder, John M. Larson, would step down as president and chief executive officer. Mr. Larson will remain as chairman of the board. The company, which now includes American InterContinental University and a number of business, culinary, and allied-health colleges, was founded in 1994.