Great companies are built by great people
Our Founders
Austin Wright, MA
CEO, Cofounder
Harrison Butker
Cofounder
Our Leadership Team
Daniel S. F. Ambuul, JD
Senior Advisor
Christopher Cottrell, MBA, MPA
CEO, Cofounder, Shepherd’s
Samuel DeVries
Special Assistant
Managing Partner, Cofounder, MDK & Associates
Danny De Urbina
Associate
Gage Minick, MS
Senior Advisor & Managing Partner, APX
Zachary B. Morley, JD
Joseph Perez
Cofounder, Arimathea
Chief Product Officer, Cofounder, Shepherd’s
Nathan Price
Samuel Stachula
Summer Associate
Cofounder, Arimathea
David Ven Huizen
“We were not created for comfort, but for greatness.”
Our Advisory Board
Alyson G. Barker, JD
COO, Biomimetek
-
Mrs. Alyson Barker is the Chief Operating Officer of Biomimetek, Inc.
She is a a senior retail and consumer product company executive with a proven track record of assisting public and privately held companies to grow and operate their businesses while mitigating risk and maximizing shareholder value.
Alyson’s career reflects demonstrated success in leading significant M&A deals, large-scale transformational initiatives at both public and private companies, including founder-led start-ups and industry disrupters, brand protection efforts and the implementation of risk mitigation strategies.
Biomimetek, Inc., a biotechnology company that is changing the landscape of haircare through its patented K18-branded technology that reverses and repairs hair damage in just four minutes. As COO, Alyson oversees K18’s strategic initiatives, operations, innovation and new product development (including responsibility for its in-house scientists, partnerships and research initiatives with academic and industry scientists and oversight of clinical trials), human resources, regulatory, compliance, legal and corporate governance functions. K18 was recently recognized by Fast Company’s 2023 list of most innovative companies.
Before joining K18, Alyson served as President of DB Holdings Shops LLC, the largest operator of Drybar-branded shops in the United States, with 90 of the nearly 150 shops in the chain. As President, Alyson was the most senior executive in the company and had responsibility for the operational performance of its 90 shops. Prior to that, Alyson served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of Drybar Holdings LLC, with oversight and responsibility for the Company’s Technology, Operations, Human Resources, Legal, Construction, Real Estate, Business Development and Franchise teams. In her time with Drybar Holdings LLC, Alyson led a series of M&A transactions that resulted in the sale of the company’s Product division and franchise rights and helped grow the fleet from 45 to nearly 150 shops.
Alyson has a rich background in all aspects of brand protection, intellectual property and digital technology, dating back to the start of her career as an intellectual property lawyer. This background has enabled Alyson to lead a number of strategic licensing and partnership initiatives in the U.S. and international markets as well as providing leadership to her company’s eCommerce and Digital teams in transforming website and mobile capabilities, launching an industry-leading customer data platform and integrating an in-house customer service team with an off-shore provider.
Earlier in her career, Alyson was General Counsel at Lucky Brand Dungarees and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for The Wet Seal, Inc. (WTSLA). Under Alyson’s leadership at Wet Seal, the National Law Journal recognized the company as the Southern California Law Department of the Year for Corporate Compliance. Alyson started her career as an intellectual property attorney, most recently at Jones Day.
Alyson is also engaged in a number of faith-based and secular community and business initiatives, including serving as a member of the Board of Visitors for the Busch School of Business at Catholic University of America, the Board of Regents for J Serra Catholic High School, and as a Director of 6XHoyas Ventures LLC (an entity focused on elevating the culture through secular and faith-based initiatives and investments that recognize the beauty of the person and the value of faith in society) and is a Board member of her Legatus Chapter.
Gellert Dornay
Director, Ceylon Bancorporation
-
Mr. Gellert Dornay serves as Director for Ceylon Bancorporation, Inc., assisting the Management Team in strategic direction and governance.
Son of a Hungarian immigrant father and native Seattleite mother, Gellert Dornay was raised with 8 siblings and attended an independent Montessori preschool and grade school founded by his parents. Eager to maximize contribution, he was married, had attended three different universities, helped launch a boutique coffee roaster and welcomed their first child by the time he hit legal drinking age.
Dornay helped Java Trading Co. bring specialty coffee to the masses on three continents over his 15 year tenure, leaving shortly after a private equity sale in 2006.
As a practicing Catholic, Dornay developed a strong desire to promote human dignity through business, which led to co-founding Axia Home Loans in 2007. Homeownership contributes greatly to family and economic stability. Under Gellert’s leadership as CEO, Axia grew to fund over $1 billion annually, helping thousands of families become homeowners. Dornay is the only newcomer to successfully build a national mortgage bank during the Great Recession.
In 2016, Axia became the first 100% employee owned mortgage bank. Just as owners take better care of homes and communities, so do the hundreds of employee owners at Axia who now participate in company ownership and contribute to a stronger and more just and equitable economy.
Dornay continues the promotion of human flourishing through involvement on several nonprofit and for profit boards of entities focused on being forces for good in society. Some of these include: Life Legal Defense Foundation, Global Institute on Church Management, Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Nic Nac Naturals, Patmos Hosting, Portage Bank Holding Company, 1571 pb.
Gellert and his wife Elizabeth were blessed with 11 children and recently fled Seattle, relocating to the right side of the mountains in Spokane (Eastern Washington).
Stephen D. Minnis, JD
President, Benedictine College
-
Mr. Stephen D. Minnis is the president of Benedictine College in Atchison, KS.
A native of St. Joseph, MO, Mr. Minnis graduated from Benedictine College in 1982. He obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from Washburn University in 1985 and Master of Business Administration degree in 1993 from Baker University. He served as an Assistant District Attorney and as General Attorney, Director, regulatory policy at Spirit Corporation before becoming President of Benedictine College in 2004.
Since 2004, Benedictine College has seen unprecedented growth. The enrollment has increased from 1,000 students to over 2,000. Benedictine has built 11 new residence hall buildings; six academic buildings; has built new or renovated every dorm room, classroom and athletic facility on campus; a Marian Grotto; opened a campus in Florence, Italy; began a nursing program, an engineering program, and an architecture program making it one of few liberal arts schools and Catholic Schools in America with engineering and architecture.
During his presidency, Benedictine has for the first time been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of America’s Best Colleges and recognized by the Cardinal Newman Society as one of the top 20 Catholic universities in America. Under his leadership, the college has launched the Thompson Center for Integrity in Finance and Economics, the John Paul II Fellows, the Center for Integral Ecology, and the Center for Beauty and Culture. Recently, Benedictine College announced a new vision to Transform Culture in America.
Minnis was a contributing author to Inside the Mind: Achieving Success as a CEO (©2008 Thomson Reuters/Aspatore) and has given numerous talks on spirituality in the workplace and academic freedom to groups across America, including the Heritage Foundation, Legatus, and Catholic Charities. He was one of only five college presidents to be included on the Committee on Catholic Education Ex Corde Ecclesia Working Group in Baltimore in 2012 and he was invited by the Vatican to participate in the 2012 Pontificia Comisión Para América in Rome. In November of 2021, Caritas in Veritate (CiV) honored him as a distinguished leader in the international community and in the Church with the organization’s Papal Award.
Minnis is married to Amy (Kohake), a 1984 graduate of Benedictine College. The couple has three children and four grandchildren.
Jesse Sullivan, MBA
Founder & CEO, Alter
-
Mr. Jesse Sullivan is the Founder and General Partner of Alter, a global tech venture capital firm. He founded Alter with a desire to use entrepreneurship to combat global poverty.
Mr. Sullivan previously served on a counterinsurgency team in Helmand Afghanistan, where he advised US military and NATO strategy. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, he advised the Haitian Ambassador and for the largest refugee camp. He realized that while charity and military solutions are necessary momentary bandaids to stop the bleeding, the only lasting solution is to create millions of jobs so mothers and fathers can provide for the basic needs of their children. We need compassion with real results.
The core values in Jesse’s life are faith, family, and service. As a married father of 7, he a former Republican Candidate for Governor of Illinois. A member of the 2019 Presidential Leadership Scholars, he has a Masters in Global Governance from Oxford as well as an MBA from Stanford University.
