Mike McQuary
Encyclopedia
Mike McQuary is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Wheego Electric Cars and is a Partner in Ellis, McQuary & Stanley, a merchant bank, both based out of Atlanta, Georgia. He is the former President of EarthLink
EarthLink
EarthLink , is an Internet service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It claims 1.94 million subscribers.- Business :EarthLink provides a variety of Internet connection types, including dial-up, DSL, satellite, and cable. Both dial-up and high speed Internet access are available...
& MindSpring
MindSpring
MindSpring Enterprise was a major Internet service provider headquartered in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Mindspring merged with EarthLink on February 4, 2000, with the company retaining the EarthLink name...
and the ex-CEO of Brash Music.
His career path has run the range of company experience as he followed nearly a decade of work at corporate giant Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
Corporation with eight years as an entrepreneur at start up ISP MindSpring Enterprises.
Education and early career
McQuary was born in Washington DC on October 26, 1959 and as a child lived in Arlington, VA; Holliston, MA; and Rochester NY. He graduated from Midlothian High School in Richmond VA in 1977. McQuary received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1981 where he was on the varsity wrestling team. McQuary's first job was selling paper cups for Lily-Tulip Inc. in Southern California. While doing this, he attended Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
nights and weekends to get his Masters of Business Administration degree. In 1985 he went to work for Mobil as a sales rep in the Chemical Division, and was subsequently promoted through a progression of management jobs in sales, marketing, new product development, and operations.
MindSpring
McQuary helped develop the concept behind the Internet Service ProviderInternet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
MindSpring
MindSpring
MindSpring Enterprise was a major Internet service provider headquartered in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Mindspring merged with EarthLink on February 4, 2000, with the company retaining the EarthLink name...
with his friend Charles Brewer, who launched the company. As one of thousands of ISPs launched in this time frame, they believed that a true competitive advantage could be created by managing the company based on a set of guiding principles that they referred to as the Core Values and Beliefs. The CVB's empowered employees to take action on customers' behalf and established a unique and exciting work environment that became a model for Internet start ups. McQuary joined the company as executive vice president of sales and marketing in 1995 when they had service only in Atlanta with 20 employees and 1000 customers. A few months later he was named President and COO of MindSpring and in that position everyone in the company (except Charles) reported to him. McQuary helped lead MindSpring through 4 public offerings and established MindSpring as the second largest ISP in the world, behind AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
, and ahead of noteworthy competitors such as Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Prodigy
Prodigy (ISP)
Prodigy Communications Corporation was an online service that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services, including news, weather, shopping, bulletin boards, games, polls, expert columns, banking, stocks, travel, and a variety of other features.Initially subscribers...
, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, and all of the Regional Bell Operating Companies(RBOCs). MindSpring acquired and integrated over 50 ISPs during this period including Netcom, Sprynet and PSINet's consumer division. MindSpring also won every award given for quality of service including the JD Powers and Associates Award for best ISP. MindSpring was the first (and one of the few) Internet Service Providers that was profitable. In 1999 MindSpring merged with EarthLink, and McQ became President and served on the Board of the combined company. After having triplets, McQuary left EarthLink to spend more time with his family and pursue his other goals. At the time of his resignation in May 2002, EarthLink (NASDAQ:ELNK) was a $1.5 billion revenue company with 5 million subscribers and 5000 employees offering services that included dial up, DSL, cable, and wireless access and web hosting.
Brash Music
In October 2002, McQuary formed a music services partnership called Brash Music (originally called Sixthman) that is dedicated to breaking the adversarial paradigm of the music business through the same value based culture management that was successful at MindSpring. Brash Music is an independent record label with distribution through ADA (Warner Music Group). Artists on Brash Music have included Jump Little Children, Aaron ShustAaron Shust
Aaron Michael Shust is an American Contemporary Christian Music artist on the Centricity Music label. Shust was named the songwriter of the year at the GMA Dove Awards of 2007, and his song "My Savior My God" received the Song of the Year award.-Biography:Shust grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, The Damnwells
The Damnwells
The Damnwells are an indie rock band originally from Brooklyn, New York The band formed in 2001 and has released four full length albums, Air Stereo , Bastards of the Beat , and One Last Century...
, and Anthony David
Anthony David
Anthony David is Professor of Cognitive neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, part of King's College London.Professor David studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, subsequently training in neurology, then psychiatry...
.
Other activities
In 2003, McQuary formed Ellis, McQuary & Stanley (EMS), along with Bert Ellis and Bahnson Stanley. EMS is a private equity investment and consulting firm based in Atlanta. McQuary also was the CEO of UNS (Usenetserver) an Internet Usenet Service that EMS bought in 2004 and sold in 2006. He was also the owner of the Madison Grill restaurant in Midtown AtlantaMidtown Atlanta
Midtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
from 2001 to 2008.
McQuary has served on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of NARAS (Grammys), and Inner Strength (Atlanta at-risk teen support) and recently served on the Board of Managers of the University of Virginia Alumni Association.
RTEV
McQuary was the CEO of RTEV from April 2007 until June 2009. RTEV is an innovation-driven and environmentally-conscious manufacturer of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The company's two product lines are Ruff & Tuff recreational) and Wheego (street). Under the leadership of McQuary, RTEV become a leader in the integration of advanced technology components that distinguished the brand from other EVs and was the first EV company to deliver affordable LSVs (Low Speed Vehicles) to the marketplace through a national dealer network. Privately held, RTEV was based in Atlanta, GA with distribution points in Winnsboro, SCWinnsboro, South Carolina
Winnsboro is a town in Fairfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,599 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Fairfield County. Winnsboro is part of the Columbia, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area....
; Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
; and Long Beach, CA
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
.
Ruff and Tuff Electric Vehicles Inc. (RTEV), a leading manufacturer of recreational electric vehicles, in June 2009 announced the spin-off of Wheego Electric Cars.
Electric vehicle company RTEV is focusing on battery-powered ATVs (ATEVs). RTEV and Shuanghuan Automobile Company have formed a partnership to produce and market affordable all-electric cars for sale around the world.
Wheego Electric Cars
Wheego Electric Cars Inc. was formed as a spin out from RTEV in June 2009 with McQuary as CEO. Its first automobile was a two-seat compact car that was launched in the United States in August 2009. It was marketed exclusively by Wheego under the Wheego WhipWheego Whip
The Wheego Whip is an all-electric city car originally developed as the electric version of the Chinese Noble by Shuanghuan Automobile and RTEV . The production version, called Wheego Whip LiFe, was presented at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show and is sold in the United States at a price of before...
name in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and by Shuanghuan Automobile
Shijiazhuang Shuanghuan Automobile Co
Shuanghuan is a Chinese automobile manufacturer established in April 1988. In 2002 ShuangHuan has bought the state owned automobile manufacturer Red Star.-Models:...
as the E-Noble in the rest of the world. The car is capable of speeds of 95 km/h (59 mph). In the US it was launched as a low-speed vehicle (LSV), 25 mph (11.2 m/s) or Medium Speed Vehicle, 35 mph (15.6 m/s), depending on local state regulations, until it passes US Department of Transportation safety crash requirements, which is expected sometime in the 4th quarter of 2010. The low-speed version will feature dry cell
Dry Cell
-Dry Cell's formation:Part of the band formed in 1998 when guitarist Danny Hartwell and drummer Brandon Brown met at the Ratt Show on the Sunset Strip. They later met up with then-vocalist Judd Gruenbaum. The original name of the band was "Beyond Control"....
sealed (AGM
AGM
-Military and navy:* Air-to-ground missile, a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft* Artillery Gun Module, an air-portable self-propelled howitzer...
) lead-acid batteries
Lead-acid battery
Lead–acid batteries, invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté, are the oldest type of rechargeable battery. Despite having a very low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, their ability to supply high surge currents means that the cells maintain a relatively large...
with a range of 80 kilometers (50 mi) on a single charge.
The Wheego Whip LiFe is a highway-capable version with a lithium iron phosphate battery
Lithium iron phosphate battery
The lithium iron phosphate battery, also called LFP battery, is a type of rechargeable battery, specifically a lithium-ion battery, which uses LiFePO4 as a cathode material.-History:...
pack. The Whip LiFe began selling in April 2011 and became the fourth all-electric highway speed street legal car for sale in the U.S. after the Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
, Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf
Nissan introduced its first battery electric vehicle, the Nissan Altra at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. The Altra EV was produced between 1998 and 2002, only about 200 vehicles were ever produced, and it was mainly used as a fleet vehicle for companies such as...
, and Smart ED
Smart ED
The Smart fortwo electric drive is a battery electric vehicle version of the Smart Fortwo micro car. This electric car was formerly known as Smart fortwo EV...
.
Wrestling Coach
McQuary is an assistant wrestling coach at Marist SchoolMarist School
Marist School may refer to:In the United States:* Marist School * Marist High School * Marist High School * Marist Catholic High School In other countries:...
, where he coaches prodigy Quinn Mohan. Along with John McGrath and Fred Kemp he was one of the founders and coaches of the Pittsford NY Youth Wrestling Club in the late 1980s.