Meet the Team
Shelby Scarbrough
Co-Founder & CEO
Email me at:
shelby@gse.mba
Shelby is a serial entrepreneur with a wide variety of interests.
Her first job after college was as a Presidential Trip Coordinator in President Ronald Reagan’s White House Office of Presidential Advance.
She was part of the team coordinating appearances for President Reagan, including the 1988 Reagan–Gorbachev Summit in Moscow, the Statue of Liberty’s Centennial Celebration with President Mitterand of France, and a meeting of the NATO Alliance in Brussels.
She went on to work in the U.S. Department of State as a protocol officer, and upon President Reagan’s death, she served as the Deputy Lead in Washington, D.C., for the State Funeral.
In 1990, she founded Practical Protocol, an international special events management organization focused on tailor-made programs for dignitaries worldwide.
In 1993, as a franchisee for Burger King, Shelby and her partner Ben Jarratt built ten restaurants in Northern Virginia and sold them in 2013.
With a passion for supporting the next generation of women entrepreneurs, Shelby co-founded the nCourage Entrepreneurs Angel Investment Group in 2010, creating the Award for Courageous Women Entrepreneurs for the Rice University Business Plan Competition. Today, nCourage’s portfolio includes about a dozen startups.
Shelby launched www.JoyJourney.Life, an e-commerce site dedicated to “All Things Joy” as a companion to her upcoming book, The Joy Journey.
Her book Civility Rules! has resulted in public speaking and media appearances focused on the importance of Civility in life, business, and democracy. She also writes a blog for Forbes.com.
In 2022, she led the effort to publish a biography of her pioneer aviator grandfather, Jimmie Mattern, called Undaunted. She began a publishing imprint called Vega Rising to publish a long list of books highlighting visionaries' lives.
Shelby earned her BA in English from UCLA and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management program (OPM47), where she was a graduation speaker and voted reunion chair for her class.
She was a Global Board Chairman for the Entrepreneurs' Organization (www.eonetwork.org), a board member of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (www.ffvf.org), and the Advisory Board for the International NGO Safety and Security Association (INSSA).
Dave Galbenski
Email me at:
galbenki@gmail.com
Co-Founder & Chairman
Dave is an entrepreneur, lawyer, author, and public speaker with global reach.
He is the founder of Lumen Legal, which he ran for 27 years before selling it to a top private equity firm in 2020.
His entrepreneurial achievements include being recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner and a two-time recipient of the Inc. 500 award, which celebrates the 500 fastest growing, private companies in the U.S.
Dave is a passionate supporter of building the next generation of entrepreneurs to innovate and create products and services that help to solve some of the world's biggest issues.
As the Global Chairman of the Entrepreneurs' Organization in 2008/09, he helped fuel the entrepreneurial spirit in over 40 countries around the globe.
His books include: Unbound (2009), Legal Visionaries (2013) and Make it a Great Day (2013).
In 2022, he and his wife, Lynn, launched the Living Liver Foundation (www.livingliver.com), which is dedicated to increasing the awareness of living donor liver transplant. He also became the first Entrepreneur Emeritus for the Edward Lowe Foundation which supports second stage entrepreneurship.
Dave has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Business Week, Law Practice Today, Journal of Legal Marketing, Crain's Detroit Business, LPO Watch, National Law Journal, Legal Management, Small Firm Business, Inc., and The National Post.
George Gan
Co-Founder & Distinguished Guest Lecturer
George is an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the IT industry in Malaysia, with operations in Southeast Asia and China. He was recognized as a leading technopreneur in the country, having successfully started and sold three IT companies.
He sat on the Board of two public technology corporations, including one listed on the Nasdaq. In the formation years of e-payments, George was on the Mastercard Advisory Board for e-commerce. In a joint venture with NTT of Japan, he started the largest e-commerce platform in Malaysia to provide e-procurement services to the government of Malaysia.
In 2019, George was appointed as the Chairman of DESP, a La Sallian learning community movement that provides Direct Educational Services to/with the poor.
Currently, George provides consultancy and training services to entrepreneurs. As a former member of the global board of directors and master facilitator for the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), he helps EO members and their companies, families, and forums live to their best potential.
George is a speaker, certified EO facilitator, and trainer. He trains globally for Strategy Summits, Forum and Mentorship.
He is also a certified EO trainer for Gazelles Inc. (Scaling Up) for the EO Accelerator program. George speaks on life curriculum leadership and runs strategy summit workshops for companies.
George is married to Joanne, and they have three children: Genna, Gavin, and Garey. George’s passion is his durian orchard on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He also has a collection of tropical fruit trees and palm species from all over the world. George is currently building a retreat destination at the durian orchard.
Eliot Gattegno
Academic Dean & Professor
Email me at:
dean@gse.mba
Eliot is the Academic Dean of the Global School of Entrepreneurship and a professor.
He also works with organizations such as Google Creative Labs, LEGO, and Continental, developing new programs that explore the space between technology, learning, and the arts and what can happen when they intersect.
Previously, he was a professor of business and arts at NYU Shanghai, where he was part of the Program on Creativity + Innovation.
He founded and served as the Inaugural Director of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Center for Innovation, Design & Entrepreneurship. He was a founding faculty member of the Shanghai Tech University School of Entrepreneurship and Management.
He was also a professor of business at Minerva Schools. His writings have been published in outlets ranging from Oxford University Press to Techcrunch, NBC News, and Quartz.
He studied at Harvard University and New England Conservatory and has a doctorate from UC San Diego.
Warren Rustand
Co-Founder & Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Warren has created, led, and grown many successful private, public, and not-for-profit entities and is passionate about family, entrepreneurship, public policy, and community.
Warren’s background includes the following: mentor, business strategist, advisor to CEOs and businesses globally, CEO of Providence Service Corporation (NASDAQ), Managing Director of SC Capital Partners, an investment banking group as well as Chairman and CEO of Rural Metro Corporation, a $500 million (NASDAQ) emergency services company and the Chairman and Interim CEO TLC Vision (NASDAQ), a $400 million Lasik eye surgery company.
He has served as Chairman/Director for more than 50 public, private, and not-for-profit organizations ranging in size from multi-billion-dollar companies to mid-size, early-stage, and startups.
He was selected as a White House Fellow and was the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce. He co-led the first-ever Executive Level Trade Mission to the former Soviet Union and was Special Assistant to the Vice President of the United States and the Appointments Secretary to the President of the United States.
Warren chaired the YPO/WPO public policy conference titled “Public Policy and the Private Sector” for 30 years in Washington, DC, and was the Global Chair of WPO, an organization of 10,000 CEOs in over 100 countries.
He is the Co-Founder and Chair of L3, a worldwide leadership group focused on one’s contribution during the second half of life. He is also the Co-Founder and Dean of Faculty/Learning at the Entrepreneurs' Organization's (EO) Global Leadership Academy in Washington, DC.
He has received the following honors and awards: The Visionary Leadership Award, a Distinguished Citizen Award, 25 Year Achievement Award, a Sports Hall of Fame, a Robshaw Leadership Award, Honorary Lifetime Membership in EO, All-American Academic Basketball Player, Member USA Basketball Team at the World Basketball Championships, Drafted by the Golden State Warriors, Merrill Freeman Leadership Award, and Father of the Year Award.
In 2021, he published The Leader Within Us, which focuses on the mindset, principles, and tools for a life by design.
Warren has an undergraduate and a graduate degree from the University of Arizona and is a frequent speaker on the subjects of leadership, business, family, and personal development.
Some of our
Distinguished Guest Lecturers
Greg Crabtree
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Greg is a speaker, author, entrepreneur, and financial expert. Greg's business focuses solely on the needs of entrepreneurs, helping them build the economic engine of their businesses.
Working with entrepreneurs nationwide in various industries, Greg has simplified financial reporting and empowered entrepreneurs to take ownership of their finances.
He pioneered a revolutionary metric for driving business profitability: measuring labor efficiency and developing simple benchmarks for company, team, and individual performance.
In 2011, Greg published his first book, Simple Numbers and Simple Numbers 2.0, Straight Talk, Big Profits in which he shares his core principles of how to turn a business into a wealth-building engine.
Greg's community service includes being a National Area Council Member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Board (2006 to 2009), the ALS Association of Alabama, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of North Alabama.
Greg is a frequent speaker and participates in the US State Department’s New Beginnings program for international entrepreneurs.
Andrew Sherman
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Andrew J. Sherman is a partner in the Firm's Corporate Practice Group and co-practice group leader of the Emerging Growth Companies & Venture Capital Group.
A recognized authority on business growth's legal and strategic aspects, Andrew’s practice concentrates on domestic and international franchising, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate counseling.
Andrew focuses his practice on issues affecting business growth for companies at all stages, including developing strategies for licensing and leveraging intellectual property and technology assets, intellectual asset management and harvesting, and international corporate transactional and franchising matters.
He has served as a legal and strategic advisor to dozens of Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of emerging growth companies across a number of diverse industries, including leisure and hospitality, food and beverage, retail, financial services, energy, manufacturing, health and life sciences, sports, entertainment, and music.
He has represented U.S. and international clients from early-stage, rapidly growing startups to closely held franchisors and middle market companies to multibillion-dollar international conglomerates. He also counsels on issues such as franchising, licensing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, capital formation, distribution channels, technology development, and mergers and acquisitions.
Andrew has written nearly 30 books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth, franchising, capital formation, and leveraging intellectual property, most of which can be found on Amazon.
He also has published many articles on similar topics and is a frequent keynote speaker at business conferences, seminars, and webinars. He has appeared as a guest commentator on CNN, NPR, and CBS News Radio, among others, and has been interviewed on legal topics by The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and other publications.
Andrew also serves as an adjunct professor in the MBA programs at the University of Maryland and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Andrew is a multiple recipient of the University of Maryland at College Park's Krowe Excellence in Teaching Award.
Mike Maddock
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Mike is an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker, a best-selling author, and a CEO Coach.
Mike will tell you that his purpose is “to inspire and empower curiosity.” His passion is to make people believe they can change the world and provide the tools, frameworks, and hard-earned wisdom to make a positive impact happen. Mike calls himself an Idea Monkey because he loves to solve problems with disruptive ideas.
This passion for problem-solving has driven Mike to establish seven successful businesses, including innovation and strategy consultancy Maddock Douglas, which has helped more than 25% of the Fortune 500 create and launch new products, services, and business models.
Mike co-chairs the Gathering of Titans Entrepreneurial Conclave at MIT and is past president of Entrepreneurs' Organization Chicago. Mike was the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) Chairperson in Chicago.
Mike, a doodler turned cartoonist turned author, has been using words and pictures to create smiles and build ideas his entire life.
Today, Mike is a contributor to Forbes and author of four bestselling books: Free the IdeaMonkey... to focus on what matters most!, Brand New: Solving the Innovation Paradox and Flirting With the Uninterested, Innovating in a Sold, Not Bought Category, and finally, Plan D––his latest book about how disruptors use their superhero powers to put a dent in the universe.
Byron McFarland
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Byron is an exit and equity compensation strategist who partners with business owners to grow their enterprise value by aligning senior management's and shareholders' financial interests.
After spending nearly three decades advising entrepreneurs, Byron knows what makes incentive plans attractive to sought after talent and how to retain and reward the people that are essential to create sustainable and transferable value at an exit.
Byron is also an avid trout angler, and his weekly LinkedIn series of Streamside Tip videos, which are shot on the banks of America’s rivers and streams, provide business leaders with practical guidance and valuable lessons from his experience as a trusted guide to entrepreneurs.
He has authored instructional documents on The Bankable Exit: How to Transfer Your Business to Your Management Team and Get Paid, as well as Designing the Performance Equity Plan and Employee Incentive Planning which are valuable resources in developing plans to retain and reward key employees.
He is a sought-after speaker for industry conferences and Entrepreneurs' Organization chapter and regional events. A former Marine, he and his wife, Terri, reside in Omaha, Nebraska. His son, Alex, is a small business owner, and his daughter, Katie, is involved in the family business, The McFarland Group.
Bob Shenefelt
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Bob is a visionary leader, entrepreneur, author, and coach.
His North Star (his why) is to elevate the entrepreneurial spirit
through self-mastery and connection using the disciplines
of iMatter and EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating
System). What Matters Most (his what) to him is to live,
laugh and love. His Great Gift (his how) is to listen for
opportunities for growth, simplify, connect, and inspire
action towards a greater future today.
He is the author of Unscatter the Chatter: Elevate Your Mind, Expand Your Impact and the co-author of the Will Book Series - What Matters Most: The Story of Will, That Was Then, This is Now: The Clarity of Will and If It Were Up to Me: The Legacy of Will.
He resides in Birmingham, Michigan, with his wife and two children, Grace and Nick.
Julia Langkraehr
Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Julia Langkraehr is a pioneering entrepreneur
who built three multi-million pound retail
businesses in three European countries and
now works with entrepreneurial leadership
teams to help them grow their businesses.
She founded Retail Profile Europe, which
pioneered the use of pop-up kiosks for start--
up retailers in shopping centers. In 2014, she
successfully exited the business and founded
Bold Clarity to focus on providing facilitation
and training for entrepreneurs and their
leadership teams.
Julia was the first EOS® (Entrepreneurial
Operating System) Implementer in the UK.
She combines her business and leadership
experience with her love of facilitation, working
with and helping entrepreneurs gain traction
and grow.
She facilitates workshops and retreats for peer
groups, including the Young Presidents Organization (YPO-WPO), Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), and Vistage.
She has worked with thousands of business
owners in 20 countries worldwide, and is a certified Kolbe consultant who provides insight into getting the best out of individuals and teams.