Don Paris, Founder, Chairman & CEO
Don began his career as a highly-successful entrepreneur over thirty years ago, after serving in the United States Marine Corps as a Marine Aviator. The successful sale of his first company, a medical device manufacturer, allowed him to move into the high tech world where he helped pioneer the development of a mobile credit card processing platform. This project led him to start a group of credit card processing and payments companies that have processed more than $8B in credit card transactions over the last ten years. As a father of four, Don is keenly aware of the importance of schools in the lives of our children. The death of his wife’s parents on 9/11 set in motion School Spirit Pays as a legacy for these two selfless individuals who dedicated their lives to educating children for more than thirty years.

David McKay, Founder & President
David has spent almost 30 years in the technology world, serving in leadership roles in sales, marketing, product marketing and product management organizations for several hardware and software companies. After developing a passion for brand building and product strategy development, David moved into executive leadership for major technology leaders including The Baan Company and WebEx. Prior to co-founding School Spirit Pays, David served as an executive communications consultant for firms ranging from startups to Silicon Valley titans such as Cisco Systems. David has volunteered his marketing expertise for a number local and national charitable organizations’ fundraising events, including the Human Rights Campaign, where he has served as Marketing Co-Chair for both the San Francisco and Dallas/Ft. Worth Steering Committees.

 

Board of Directors

Don Paris, Founder, Chairman & CEO

David McKay, Founder & President

Eric Mortensen, Co-Founder and Principal, Red Cliffs Group LLC
Eric's business career spans more than 40 years as a corporate executive turned entrepreneur. He has served as an executive in public and private companies, both domestic and international, including: Prudential Financial, Kasler Corporation, Mitsubishi Development Corporation, and for the last 10 years, Red Cliffs Group. Eric’s executive positions include CFO and VP Finance; Compliance Officer and Registered Principal; Strategic Planning, Business Development, and Operations; and with the Red Cliffs Group he is the Member Manager directing product development, production, and finance functions. He earned his BS from Brigham Young University and his MBA from the University of Southern California. Eric values education at all levels and the mission of School Spirit Pays.

Gaylon Neustel, Vice President, Lomas Santa Fe Group
Gaylon has been with the Lomas Santa Fe Group for over fifteen years. Some of the projects that he has been involved in are the development and construction of 47 single-family homes, an 18-acre industrial park facility, and the repositioning of a 10,000 sq. ft. restaurant site into a surgery center. He is currently responsible for the management and day-to-day operations of the Lomas Santa Fe Group's portfolio of properties, including lease negotiation, tentant improvements, and acquisitions and dispositions.

Kelsey Bruso, Ph.D., Distinguished Engineer, Unisys Corporation
Dr. Bruso has more than 30 years of experience architecting, developing, and deploying mission critical software and systems. He holds more than 40 patents in Database Processing, Internationalization, and mobile computing. On behalf of Unisys, Dr. Bruso works with some of the world's leading banks, insurance companies, airlines, and credit processing companies to help solve their complex enterprise applications challenges. Coming from a family of educators, Dr. Bruso believes passionately in education and supports the mission of School Spirit Pays.

Advisors

Thy Tang, Founder, BitsCube
Mr. Tang is a self-made, serial entrepreneur with CTO experiences ranging from founding small companies and startups to working with distributed teams in large, multinational corporations. He brings a wealth of experience in both business and technology disciplines, with specialties including e-commerce, payment processing, web/mobile applications, and cross-platform development. In a business development, Mr. Tang has an uncanny strength for simplifying processes and requirements, and communicating with business users and stakeholders to further their interests. In a technical environment, ne balances solid software engineering principles against the agility required when dealing with cutting-edge technology. He consistently delivers on both. With BitsCube, the company he founded four years ago, Mr. Tang has created an environment dedicated to innovation, and shaped his vision into a start-up incubator powerhouse.

Ken Druck, Ph.D., President, Druck Enterprises, Inc.
Dr. Druck is one of the nation’s pioneers in personal transformation, having broken fresh ground in male psychology, executive coaching, organizational consulting, parent effectiveness, healing after loss, and, most recently, the art of turning adversity into opportunity. Druck Enterprises, Inc. (DEI) is a leading coaching, consulting, and team-building firm with a broad base of clients including Microsoft, Pfizer, IBM, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the YMCA.

Contact Us Today

Created and designed by Dog Star Media