I was born in Massachusetts, part of a typically large Italian-American family. When I was 7 my family moved to Florida so my father could start an ultimately successful business in Oakland Park.

As a high school student, I attended Boca Raton Community High School where I competed on the wrestling team and served as captain of the school’s debate team.

I had varying interests in school and used free time to the fullest. I spent summers bicycling from Oregon to Los Angeles, scuba diving and studying marine biology in the Florida Keys, and attending a wilderness school in Wyoming which teaches horsemanship and survival skills. In addition my family are active outdoor sports enthusiasts, and I once hiked a portion of the Appalachian trail in Maine with my father.

Following High School, I attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where I wobbled between majoring in computer science and business. Mardi Gras and the Jazz & Heritage festival helped me select business. Don’t be critical, you have no idea what it is like to try to study in that town)

In the spring of my Junior Year, I was accepted into a study abroad program organized by Tulane University’s School of Economics and The AB Freeman Business School. The program included study at Cambridge University in Cambridge England. While there, I also worked as an intern for British Railways collating and analyzing data and generating reports of operational and market research data that senior management used in strategic planning. Credits from the program and the internship allowed me to graduate from Tulane in only 3 ½ years with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. To which all my friends said I was crazy, tossing my cap only six weeks before Mardi Gras 1992.

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