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6. Monty O’Neal has had a thirty five year career which has included banking, corporate finance and venture capital. He most recently served as a Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch. Prior to that, he co-managed a $40 million expansion stage private equity fund in the Washington, DC area. Previously he served as the corporate financial manager for the American Export Group also located in Washington, DC where he arranged trade finance and foreign currency contracts. He was also a senior international investment officer for The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and where he structured global project financing.
He served on the Fairfax County Economic Development Board's small business council. He was selected in 1975 for the Export Import Bank of the U.S. fellowship program. He is an undergraduate of Auburn University. He has a MBA degree from Trinity College and a MIM degree from the American Graduate School of International Management. He has served on numerous boards of small businesses.
7. Rus Howard has over 25 years of experience in technology and hi-growth business development and has served on many boards and advisory councils in business and charitable organizations. He earned his MBA from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, where he focused his studies on Entrepreneurship, and managing innovation and technology. Mr. Howard interned with SROne the venture capital arm of SmithKline Beckman. Mr. Howard founded Phyton, Inc., a Biotech company that manufacturers high-value phyto molecules, and served as its CEO and Chairman. Phyton produced paclitaxel the active ingredient of Taxol, a multi-billion dollar anticancer drug sold by Bristol Myers.
Mr. Howard is a co-owner and officer of Silver Bullet Technology, a software company manufacturing and selling software for the banking and payment processing industry, where he has been primarily responsible for corporate and financial oversight as well as strategic planning. Prior to Silver Bullet, Howard served as president and CEO of BioWorks Inc., a biotechnology company he founded to develop, produce, and sell products that replace chemical pesticides.
His entrepreneurial endeavors led Mr. Howard to being named a finalist in Ernst and Young's 1996 New York Entrepreneur of the Year award sponsored by NASDAQ and USA Today. Mr. Howard has been a speaker and guest lecturer at Cornell and other educational institutions, and a featured symposium speaker presenting case studies on Capital Raising.
8. Randy Wingard is President of Wingard Enterprises, Inc., a strategic, financial and human resources management and consulting firm, advising and/or investing in early stage ventures involving medical technology, medical devices, start-ups and acquisitions/divestitures in timber and wood preservation, residential and commercial real estate development, plus growth management and employee development for a variety of service and manufacturing enterprises, including personal directional involvement in founding and formation of business entities.
9. Denise Browning is a new Principal of Browning Mecke & O’Neal, a local Investment Banking firm. Additionally, she is the Founder and President of Hunter Ventures LLC, a five year old business that invests in, assists with capital raising for, and provides financial consulting services to municipalities, real estate developers, and start up and small businesses. She is a licensed real estate salesperson in the State of Alabama. Ms. Browning was an interim Executive Manager of the Ceres Venture Fund, a $2.5 million early stage venture capital investment fund located in Chicago, Illinois during its formation phase.
Prior to that, Ms. Browning managed a $1.6 billion Non Rated Municipal Bond portfolio for Allstate Investments. Ms. Browning began her career at Continental Bank, where she was a Vice President for the Real Estate Group that lent nationally out of Chicago, covering most high growth markets. While at the Bank, Ms. Browning started in systems programming COBOL and IMS, sold bank financial services to her clients, and sold whole loans to domestic and foreign banks. Ms. Browning has an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, and a BS in Business Management - Marketing, from Purdue University. She is a volunteer for the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, a member of the Capital Formation Committee and the Technology Innovation Center creation committee. She is a member of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and consults with the Downtown Mobile Alliance. She serves on Boards including Smart Coast and Educators Resource.
10. Denise Browning, Principal, Browning Mecke & O'Neal LLC (251) 625-6291