About Donald Danks

While not formally schooled in developing, running, and growing business enterprises, Donald Dank’s natural abilities have rendered him incredibly successful in those pursuits.

The College Years

Always interested in the human anatomy — especially as it related to sporting activities — Donald graduated from UCLA in 1979 with a degree in Physiology. It was a choice that was to serve him well in his chosen career path.

Aside from scholarly pursuits, Danks played on the men’s basketball team for three of his college years. It was during that time that he formed a lasting friendship with famed coach Bill Walton — a relationship that endures to this day.

Applying the Principles of Sports

Since graduating, Donald Danks has applied his passion for sports to the business world. To wit, he has spent his entire career creating, developing, funding, managing and growing startup and early stage companies.

One of his earliest ventures was as the founder, Chairman and CEO of Advantage Life Products, a NASDAQ small cap company. Between 1986 and 1994, Donald successfully launched the number one selling retail smoking cessation brand, CigArrest. During his years at the company, he saw sales ramp to more than $30 mm annually.

Technology: Leading the Charge

From 1995 through 1998, Donald was the co-founder and President of Prosoft Training.com, also a NASDAQ listed company involved in Internet technology training, education and certification. He took Prosoft from startup to more than $30 million in annual revenues, and opened 40 high tech Internet training centers across the United States. Due to his inspired leadership, ProSoft’s market capitalization grew from $3 million to more than $375 million.

From January 2001 through November 2008, Danks was the co-founder and served as the Chief Executive Officer of iMergent, Inc., an ecommerce software company listed on the AMEX. During his time at iMergent, he helped build revenues from less than $10 million to more than $185 million, and and grew the company’s market capitalization from under $3 million to over $420 million.

Branching Out Into Healthcare

Between his technology enterprises, during the years of 1998 and 2001, Donald was the co-founder and led the funding and business development of Auxilio, Inc. This was a successful, rapidly growing company in the managed print services business for the health care industry, with current annual revenues in excess of $50 million.

Entering the Energy Industry

Danks also co-managed the formation of Headwaters, Inc. His roles included helping to raise the seed, Series A and B rounds of funding, recruiting senior management, and advising on all aspects of Headwaters business model, not to mention obtaining a listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Headwater currently has a market value of over $1 billion.

A Unique Set of Skills

In addition to raising more than $200 million in funding for his companies, Donald’s tasks have included assisting in the development of their business plans, facilitating in the recruitment of senior management and boards of directors, helping move the companies into the public markets, supporting the development of the public market for their securities by building substantial institutional ownership in their stock, gaining buy and sell side research and overseeing ongoing corporate finance needs.

Currently happily married with two children, Don has made his home in the Orange county-based town of Newport Beach, CA for more than 34 years.