Penny Prenshaw

Bio: Professor of Marketing, Director of the Bachelor of Business Administration Program. Ph.D., University of Houston B.S., M.B.A., University of Southern Mississippi Teaching Interests: Consumer Behavior International Marketing Fundamentals of Marketing Research Interests: Consumer Behavior Marketing Education International Marketing Selected Publications in: Journal of Marketing Education Journal of Services Marketing Journal of the Academy of Business Education

Les Goff, Ph.D.

Bio: Les Goff is President and CEO of Noetic Technologies, Inc. In 2004 he founded Noetic Technologies, Inc. an early stage technology and Commercialization Company. Les worked 16 years with GE in various roles, Product Development, Global Technology Manager, Global Marketing Manager and Business Leader. He is a portfolio entrepreneur and has been involved in over 10 start-ups companies as an investor, CEO, COO, CTO and founder with several successful exits. He is also one of the first members of the Mississippi Angel Network and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Les developed the model and processes for Noetic Technologies, Inc. that received the 2010 Rucker Award for Innovation between a Public and Private entity. Dr. Goff received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi

Bill Rayburn

Bio: Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, FNC Co-Founder Bill Rayburn has served as chairman and CEO since the company’s founding. Initially, he tackled the responsibility of raising funds and establishing the banking relationships necessary to ensure FNC’s success. In recent years, his focus has shifted to leading the company’s organic revenue growth through strategic planning and the introduction of new solutions to the marketplace.

Currently, his efforts are aimed at strengthening processes to maintain fantastic client service, as well as growing and developing the talented management team at FNC. Prior to co-founding FNC, Rayburn co-founded two other successful ventures—a residential real estate development company, and a seminar and training company. He also served full-time on the finance faculty at the University of Mississippi for 12 years where he taught graduate courses in financial institutions and real estate investment analysis. Rayburn worked his way through graduate school selling enterprise telecommunications systems with a major firm. Active in both local and state-wide communities, Rayburn “gives back” by serving on the Girl Scouts Heart of the South Council board of directors (including serving as chair of the finance committee); the Boy Scouts Yocona Area Council board of directors (including serving as the District Fund-Raising Chair); the board of directors of the Oxford Ballet Association; and the board of directors of the Mississippi Technology Alliance. He is also an active supporter of 4-H in Mississippi. Rayburn holds a doctorate in finance from the University of Memphis, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and an MAI (inactive). He completed his undergraduate degree in business at the University of Southern Mississippi. An eternal optimist, his favorite phrase is, “Have a Fantastic day!”

Rich Sun

Bio: Richard A. Sun, CFA is the founder and owner of Sun & Co. and has been involved, often in a key role, with 25 startups and early stage companies as a consultant, investor, executive, founder or member of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board. He has personally invested in 13 early stage private companies. Since February 2011, he has been the Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer of Best Tech Brands, a startup marketer of fuel and oil additives that increase mileage by 10-30%. He was a banker for 22 years with Bankers Trust Company (now Deustche Bank), Goldman Sachs, First Boston (now Credit Suisse) and UBS, during which time he arranged or advised on over 100 transactions with a value of $11 billion, approximately 60% of which were energy related. From 1994 to 2001, he was a private equity investor with Emerging Markets Partnership, a $6 billion firm backed by AIG and the Government of Singapore. He received a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from New York University; he became a CFA charter holder in 2006.