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Alan E. Hall
Alan E. Hall (born March 22, 1945) is founder, chairman and former CEO of MarketStar Corporation, a global outsourced marketing and sales company owned by Omnicom Group OMC and is the founder of Grow America, a national company. Mr. Hall is also a public speaker, author, and a national columnist for such publications as Forbes, Harvard Business Review and the Deseret News.

Hall founded MarketStar in 1988 and the company now has approximately 2,500 employees worldwide serving clients in more than 20 countries on six different continents. Mr. Hall founded Grow America in March of 2012.

Businesses and Positions
Grow America, Inc.
 * Founder, 2012, Ogden, Utah. Grow America is a national company with a mission to create jobs and lift local economies. Grow America aligns the partners, mentors and capital that entrepreneurs need to create and grow tomorrowís successful companies. As an organization, Grow America has five components: competitions, e-commerce tools, curriculum and educational tools, community support, and charitable giving. Grow America is home to Grow America Springboard, Grow America's regional business competitions to reward and support entrepreneurs. Grow America Springboard events allow entrepreneurs to compete for cash awards and business services to help them create new jobs and lift local economies. The Springboard program's first community program is in Utah, launching in 2012. The organization ultimately hopes to expand the program to communities in all U.S. states.

MarketStar Corporation
 * Founder and CEO, 1988-2005 (17 years), Ogden, Utah. From 2005 to present, he continues to serve as Chairman. MarketStar Corporation, a global outsourced marketing and sales company with a focus on assisting high technology companies increase sales through the small to medium business sectors.After selling MarketStar to Omnicom in 1998, Mr. Hall assisted Omnicom management in acquiring channel sales businesses nationwide. The company employs several thousand employees and generates billions of dollars in sales for its marquee clientele, including Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Sony, Intel, Verizon and Research In Motion (RIM). MarketStar is owned by Omnicom Group (OMC).

Mercato Partners
 * Co-Founder, Cottonwood Heights, Salt Lake City, Utah, Mercato Partners, a top performing growth equity venture capital fund. Its focus is to invest in high growth technology companies that need additional funding and expertise in marketing and sales. Current portfolio companies include: Skullcandy, Fusion-io, Control4, Cymphonix, Mediconnect, CradlePoint and Stance.

Island Park Investments
 * Angel Investment fund that invests in early stage Utah technology companies, Ogden, Utah

Weber State University
 * President, Board of Trustees, August, 2007 to Present, Ogden, Utah

Utah Technology Council
 * Chairman of the board, 2008 to present, Salt Lake City, Utah

Other Positions
 * Alan Hall is the founder of Grow Utah and co-founder of Junto Partners. He is a member of Wells Fargo's community advisory board, a Director of MediConnect Global, Inc., and a founding board member of World Trade Center Utah. He also sits on the Board of the Intermountain Health Care Foundation and serves as a board advisor to Control4 and Fusion-io. He was the Utah Co-Chairman of Romney for President.

Philanthropy
Hall Foundation
 * The Alan and Jeanne Hall Foundation, a private charitable organization, was incorporated in the fall of 1999. He and his wife Jeanne are the chairman and president of the Hall Foundation. The mission of the foundation is that ìthere be no poor among us. Since its inception, the Foundation has made numerous grants to charitable entities in the state of Utah and to non-profit organizations in Latin America. In 2004, the Foundation was honored during Utah Philanthropy Day as the recipient of the Next Generation of Giving Award. Mrs. Hall is a former high school counselor and currently serves as the president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weber-Davis. She also serves on several non-profit boards of directors.

Awards

 * Named one of "Utah's 25 Most Influential People, 2011" by Utah Business Magazine
 * 2009 Mountain West Capital Network Entrepreneur of the Year recipient..
 * Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award

Writings
Hall contributes to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, the Deseret News and the Standard-Examiner.

Education
Weber State University BA, Psychology, 1963-1969

Brigham Young University MBA, 1970-1972. Served as class president.

Personal
Alan and Jeanne Hall are the parents of six married children and fifteen grandchildren.