Instructors - Business Plan Certificate Program

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David Gray
Dr. Derrick Huang
Gary Carlin
Jeanne T. McConnell
Ralph M. Parilla

David Gray
Mr. Gray is an aggressive and entrepreneurial business builder, manager and senior executive.  With almost two decades of leadership, he brings an extensive array of skills to his endeavors.  Starting his career as the only associate in the newly formed Structured Finance Group at John Nuveen & Co., the nation’s leading municipal bond firm, Mr. Gray was responsible for generating and analyzing financial opportunities, structuring and negotiating transactions, creating marketing materials, and ultimately managing and closing deals.  He was one of the youngest-ever bankers at the firm to bring in his own deals, including transactions which were beyond his mandated area of structured finance. 

In the mid-1990’s Mr. Gray elected to leave Nuveen to put his financial acumen to work in the entrepreneurial arena.  Using his professional contacts in the private placement and venture capital fields, he raised all of the requisite funds to acquire a digital publishing company.  As its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Gray built this acquisition into Numina Corporation, which became the largest digital publishing company for study-aids specifically geared for law students.  Mr. Gray sold Numina to a division of the world’s fourth largest publishing company, Harcourt Brace & Co. in 1996.

Mr. Gray next focused his attention on the Internet industry.  In 1997, he became Chairman and CEO of WizeUp, Inc.  He used his expertise both in structured finance and publishing to transform WizeUp into the world’s largest academic digital publishing company, with 14 offices in the U.S. and five branches worldwide.  Among his venture capital partners in this enterprise were The Bank of New York Capital Partners, Sycamore Ventures (Citibank Ventures), and TFG Ventures - Europe’s largest venture capitalist.  WizeUp licensed its materials from the world’s largest academic publishers, including Pearson, Thomson and McGraw-Hill; and Barnes & Noble served as one of the company’s principal sales partners.  Under Gray’s tutelage, WizeUp was the grand prize winner for the Silicon Alley’s Venture Backed Company of the Year in 2000.  Mr. Gray’s achievements at WizeUp were recognized on the nation’s TV networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, and in a number of articles in leading newspapers and magazines, including: Business Week, The New York Times, Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, and USA Today.  WizeUp was eventually sold to a strategic partner in 2003.

Mr. Gray’s most recent activities have been focused on Gray Publishing & Media, Inc., a company he founded in 2004 again for the distribution of study supplement materials for the legal market. Under his leadership, this enterprise raised sufficient capital to finance its first acquisition and has already created strategic partnerships with some of the largest content and distribution companies, such as LexisNexis, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Mr. Gray has been a key-note speaker at numerous industry conferences and conventions. Additionally, he was a featured guest panelist at the annual CES show in Las Vegas in 2001. Gray sits on for profit and not-for-profit boards and continually assists new companies with their strategies, business plan developments and capital raising efforts. He attended the University of Florida and Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Dr. Derrick Huang

A physicist by training and marketing strategist by profession, Dr. C. Derrick Huang is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Information Technology and Operations Management, College of Business, at Florida Atlantic University, where he teaches, researches, and consults on technology management subjects.  Prior to joining FAU in 2002, he held executive-level positions in the area of marketing and strategic planning at high-tech and telecommunications companies for almost ten years.  He received Ph.D. from Harvard University.  Dr. Huang’s research activities center on the business value and risk management of technology in organizations and, in particular, the link between the investment in information technology and the execution of business strategy.  Most recently, his research focuses on the economics and management of information security investments and the strategic impact of information technology outsourcing.  His work is published in leading technology management journals as well as by Harvard’s Program on Information Resources Policy.  At FAU, he teaches Information Technology Management and E-Business Development courses in the MBA programs, as well as Management of Information Systems, an undergraduate business core course.

Gary Carlin

Gary Carlin has over 25 years of business experience both in large corporations and small businesses and running his own entrepreneurial practice.  Gary was the Vice President of Marketing for Hasbro Toy Company, helping  spearhead Hasbro’s move into the Interactive games business including online gaming, PC gaming and video console games.  He also has started several successful small businesses in the areas of toy invention, consulting and real estate investing.  In addition, Gary has an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a BA degree from University of South Florida.    

Jeanne T. McConnell

Jeanne McConnell is a large corporation graduate/drop out where she grew up in the information technology and financial disciplines, created productive, cost effective operational systems that supported product and services businesses.  After joining one Fortune 200 business, she became an “intrepreneur” where she built a creative document management consulting practice reaching across many business units for products and services and serving major financial and manufacturing clients.  When the Fortune 200 business decided the business wasn’t one they wanted to continue, McConnell became an entrepreneur building the practice into a $ multi-million, profitable business.  She sold that business and joined the dot Com excitement building several small businesses into profitable services companies.  During that time, she found teaching to be a rewarding time for give back to students and future business magnates and has used much of her time to help mentor many to success especially in the areas of project management/team building and entrepreneurship.

Ralph M. Parilla
Ralph M. Parilla, Jr. is the President of Parilla & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in Management Training and Human Resources consulting. His experience includes several years in Human Resources positions at Motorola and Gould. He also worked as the Southeast Vice President of the Employers Association of Florida. Parilla's experience includes fourteen years at Motorola, where he worked in a variety of assignments in divisional, corporate and international operations. Since starting Parilla & Associates in 1986, he has conducted training programs and made convention and seminar presentations for client organizations in a variety of enterprises such as state, county, and municipal government, computers, machine tools, health care, telecommunications, agriculture, aviation, biological products, country clubs, electronics manufacturing, printing, retailing, and construction. These programs have ranged from first level supervisory courses through CEO level seminars.
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Steven Sponder
Steven Sponder is a judge in the 2010 FAU Business Plan Competition and a lifelong entrepreneur. At age 22, Sponder launched his first business and his startups have raised over $10 million from U.S. and European Venture Capital firms. Five years prior to the first Web browser, Sponder (a restaurateur at the time), developed a proprietary architecture for delivering industry-tailored business content and e-commerce transactions via analog phone lines. He subsequently sent a business plan to Microsoft, and the company selected Sponder to be a strategic content partner for the launch of MSN - The Microsoft Network. Microsoft’s top executives (including co-founder Bill Gates) demonstrated Sponder’s innovations during keynote speeches. At his latest startup, Vplenish Nutritionals, Inc., Sponder (while a tenant in the FAU Research Park), conceived of a proprietary, patent pending nutraceutical formulation - resulting in the first 100% zero-taste, zero calorie, clearly dissolving multi-vitamin powder which can accompany any food or beverage without changing the flavor. Vplenish® goes to market in Q1 2010 in packets similar to Splenda®, Equal®, and Sweet-n-Low®.
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Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane
Has 15+ years international and domestic experience with mega cap (revenue range of $2 to $30 Billion) industrial and hi tech companies, leading financial strategies and transforming company structure and management. Charlotte is the founder and president of Nvestcom, a capital markets consulting firm that provides strategic counsel to companies across all industry sectors. Nvestcom specializes in investor relations, capital raising, and board advisory services. Affiliations: President-Elect of ION (InterOrganization Network), Board Member of the Dean’s Executive Council for FAU (Florida Atlantic University) School of Business, and Board Member of WEL (Women Executive Leadership). Professional publications: “Earnings – Navigating in Choppy Waters” Financial Executive Magazine, June 2008, “Earnings Season is around the corner: It’s all about Managing Expectations”, Financial Executives International, January 2008, “How to raise money and keep your investors happy once you get it”, Medical Innovations in Business, scheduled for January 2010.
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