Gary Palin, a senior lecturer and executive director of the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, is one of seven individuals in a joint entrepreneurial venture that has raised more than $2.4 million from investors with interest in the company’s GPS technology to track people and pets.
Palin joins with Thomas Collopy, Robert DiRomualdo and Dennis Eck as directors with Securus Inc. Collopy is vice president of engineering at Qualcomm Inc.; DiRomualdo is founder and CEO of Naples Ventures and is former CEO of Borders Inc.; and Eck is the nonexecutive chairman of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrances Inc. David Tomick, the former CFO of Spectrasite Inc., is chairman of the board.
Founded in 2008, Securus is headquartered in Cary, N.C., and includes Palin’s former student at N.C. State University, Christopher Newton, who serves as president and CEO. He, too, is on the board of directors, as is Lewis Sheats, vice president of operations for the company.
The company markets its hardware and software platforms to college students, though it has also delved into markets involving young children, pets, special needs populations and law enforcement. On its website, the company estimates that the GPS markets will be valued at $75 billion by 2013.
“The response from public and private schools has been tremendous,” Newton said. “Everyone knows that personal safety and security is a concern for the institutions, parents and students. We are happy to be serving this market with the first-of-its-kind solution.”