»Our Team

I’m a serial entrepreneur with 30+ years of sales and marketing leadership experience in tech startups. I’ve had 2 successful exits, one with TestDrive, a patented try before you buy software store, which was acquired by communications giant, R.R. Donnelley & Sons. The second was Audio Highway, a patented internet audio platform that preceded the iPod by 10 years! The team took this company IPO in 3 years. Another startup was backed by E&Y with $7m in funding but did not launch. The last is an ongoing interest. 

In between, the startups, I did a stint for PROS, an AI revenue and pricing software solution, and was their first female VP of Sales. Also, I helped a small professional services company turn into a SaaS project management solution, Project Insight, and still serve on the Board there.

In 2023, I decided it was time to return home to my roots in academia, to give back to the next generation of entrepreneurs. When I was in my 20s, I pursued a Ph.D. and took another path into business. Yet, I promised to return one day – and that day arrived in June 2023.

Now, I serve as the Director of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics, and teach entrepreneurship as an Associate Professor at Chapman University. We were blessed to have received the CalOSBA grant designating our center as the Accelerate California Inclusive Innovation Hub. This allowed us to open our doors to the wider southern California community of founders. Our initial grant has inspired others to give to our cause, and now we have raised $2.2 million (feel free to join the movement)!

We have launched 8 programs that support underserved communities like female founders, veterans, people with disabilities and more to utilize entrepreneurship for economic empowerment.

I enjoy public speaking and writing on my Substack - Phi Beta Kappa Philosopher.

Every day, we are ‘doing the work’ and grateful to be able to give back!

Mario is like a Swiss army knife, with a versatile skill set and a broad range of experiences including leadership of multiple start-ups, program management at Microsoft, and chief information and marketing officer roles.

He is a proven international leader recognized for assembling cross-functional teams and implementing robust business intelligence strategies, harnessing data-driven insights to shape key decisions and drive process enhancements. Mario is an accomplished Stanford Product Design graduate and innovative problem solver with a passion for excellence.

As someone who lives in the community, Mario is enthusiastic about helping run the operations at the Center and see the positive ripple effect it has across the area and beyond.

Kiara Hastings is a junior at Chapman University, pursuing a major in Business - Real Estate and a minor in Law & Liberal Arts, with a strong passion for entrepreneurship and venture capital. She works as a project manager at the Leatherby Center, guiding a team of student interns to empower a community of entrepreneurs. Her specialty lies in events, where she sees through the process from start to finish and liaises with alumni, partners, and sponsors. She finds purpose in helping people actualize their dreams. 

Kiara is also active in professional initiatives on campus; including Chapman’s Entrepreneur Organization, Pre-Law Society, and serves on the executive board of Chapman Real Estate Association. Her ambition helps drive her pursuits within the Leatherby Center and beyond.

The Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics is a prominent center for entrepreneurial education at Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business and Economics. Our Center was founded with a $3 million endowment by Ralph W. Leatherby in 1995. 

Ralph Leatherby was an Orange County businessman and patriarch of the philanthropic Leatherby family. He served as chair of the Advisory Board of the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics in the 1980s. Later, he was a trustee of the then-named Chapman College. Ralph was the first Director of the Center in 1995.  

Ralph was born in 1925 in a small farm town in Iowa. He served in World War II as a member of the U.S. Army infantry. He founded the Leatherby Insurance Company in Fullerton, California. Later, he founded UniCare Insurance, which was at one time the largest insurance firm in Orange County. 

Today, the Center plays a vital role in empowering the next generation of talent to have an entrepreneurial mindset and participate in the global economy.