Michael Shanklin’s Background
My name is Michael Shanklin (feel free to call me Mike). I’m 37-years-old and married with two boys (6 & 2). My story begins in San Antonio, 1981, December 8th to be exact. I ended up becoming the oldest out of 6 boys (including 1 adopted brother, 1 stepbrother, 2 half brothers, and 1 full brother). I also had 2 sets of grandparents that were actively in my life, both coming from my father’s side (both divorced and remarried before us grandchildren were born.) I was in private schools for every year of my schooling except my freshman year of high school. Between 3rd grade and 10th grade I went to 6 different schools, so being an introvert wasn’t really an option. I had to find new friends at every school so being outgoing was a must.
Many of you know about my youth and flying across the country. If not you can quickly get caught up here. Flying was a wonderful part of my life, and my brother and I have considered purchasing a plane and sharing it to this very day. Someday we might jump on a good opportunity. I’ve always loved sports, and out of all subjects in school, math was my favorite. My parents separated and divorced when I was 8-9-years-old. My closest brother and I spent a lot of time together in California and Europe with our grandparents, as well as on the family farms back in Illinois. I didn’t just fly airplanes when I was 8, I also drove tractors! Ha! Both sets of grandparents were heavily involved in our lives and for that, I’m eternally grateful. At the age of 12 my mom wanted to get away from the heat of San Antonio and moved to Kansas City. The brother closest in age to me (Daniel, the other pilot) and I moved up to KC with our mom while my dad remained in Texas.
I was in Kansas City for 8th through 12th grade, graduating high school in 2000. I took 2 years out of college and worked as a manager for RadioShack. The day after 9/11 my mom was laid off along with numerous others. About a year later she found a job in the RTP area of North Carolina. I decided to move with my mom to North Carolina and to attempt to gain entry into universities out east. After returning to college, Campbell University awarded me the “Presidential Scholarship” for scoring high on my exams, and for carrying a 3.79 GPA through my first 2 years. I was also awarded multiple Dean’s List honors. Upon graduation with my Bachelors degree, I found myself working full-time while also going to MBA school part-time. I completed my MBA in 2010. While in school I helped run a bar-restaurant in a town about 5 minutes from Campbell U. While completing my last year of MBA school I become co-campaign manager for US Senate candidate Dr. Mike Beitler. I was also appointed “Political Director” of the LPNC. While serving these roles I also worked a supervisory position at the university business library. After graduating from Campbell I went back to a management role at RadioShack, but this time out in North Carolina.
I went from store manager to Sub-District Team Leader with responsibilities spanning 5 stores and had my eyes set on regional manager or higher. All of this time my father had been starting a brand new company, an IT security firm. He and I spoke and we realized that there was a place for me on the team. Around this time my wife Cheryl and I had our first child, a gorgeous baby boy named Bryson! I worked for my father’s IT security firm for around 2 years before securing a position working for a utility contractor in Minnesota. Over the last 5 years I’ve secured my Project Management Professionals (PMP certification), my Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) quality certification, my Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP) certification, my Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification, and my Hubspot Inbound Marketing certification.
I’ve been in the workforce from the age of 15 on up, so that gives me about 24 working years of my life. I’ve worked my way up from the lowest positions in a company and done my time on the front-line as well as the back office. With 10+ years of business management experience, my multiple degrees, and my 5 major, high-level certifications, the only question now is, what’s my next challenge to destroy? At least that’s the positive and optimistic attitude I always try to carry.
Summary:
- Born in San Antonio, TX in 1981
- Oldest of 6 boys
- Mainly private schooled and moved a lot
- Flew airplanes and drove tractors at age 8
- Moved from Texas to Kansas City, then a decade later to North Carolina
- Earned a near full-ride academic scholarship to his university
- Went on to earn MBA and BBA degrees
- Has 10+ years of business management experience
- Earned 5 major business certifications including PMP & CSSGB