Jonathan Grayer, who as chairman and chief executive officer of Kaplan Inc. helped turn a small test-preparation company into a $2-billion enterprise that operates dozens of colleges and the all-online Concord Law School, announced on Wednesday that he was planning to resign. He said he would pursue entrepreneurial ventures and philanthropy. It was under Mr. Grayer that Kaplan began its many ventures into higher education. In a 2002 interview with The Chronicle, he explained that the business of running colleges complemented the test-preparation business for which Kaplan was then better known. “The test-prep business is a one-time sale,” he said, while “the Kaplan Colleges is a ‘membership business,’” in which you have to prove yourself month after month. In addition to its extensive online-education offerings, Kaplan’s higher-education division operates 70 colleges in the United States and others around the world, and enrolls a total of about 100,000 students. In 2007 Kaplan’s overall higher-education operations generated revenue of more than $1-billion, of which $745-million came via federal student loans and Pell Grants. Kaplan is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Company, and now accounts for more than half of its revenues. In a news release, the company said that Mr. Grayer would be succeeded by Andrew S. Rosen, who has been overseeing Kaplan’s higher-education division. —Goldie Blumenstyk