PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS
LLC
EXECUTIVE BIOS
GLENN W. MILLIGAN
CEO & Managing Member
Mr. Milligan is a highly regarded CEO, executive, strategist, and nationally recognized entrepreneur. A creative visionary with exemplary leadership, strategic thinking, and motivational skills, he has over 30 years of exceptional C-level management, business, marketing, and governmental relations experience.
Mr. Milligan is a respected guardian of company resources, investor value, and bottom-line results. The largest company he founded grew to almost 1000 employees, sold for $611 million, and generated an ROI for charter investors of over 400:1. Mr. Milligan's companies have featured world-class investors, such as George Soros, William Farley, and Boston Capital Ventures. He also forged personal investor relationships with iconic Chicago business leaders, including Thomas J. Burrell, George E. Johnson, Frank B. Brooks, and Elzie Higginbottom. Milligan has established successful relationships with global financial institutions such as CreditSuisse-First Boston, BancBoston, Bank of America, ABN-AMRO, Bank of Montreal, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and the prestigious, Canadian boutique investment banking firm, NesbittBurns. These banking institutions have assisted Mr. Milligan in raising over $500 million in various categories of business financing.
Mr. Milligan and members of his family have created several notable patented inventions for the food, coal mining, and consumer appliance industries. His newly patented CrustGuard System invention is uniquely positioned to quickly become the "gold standard" in food quality protection within the burgeoning food delivery vertical.
He earned a B.S Degree from Bethel University, completed his Master’s coursework at Southeast Missouri State University, and earned eighty (80) hours in post-graduate studies at the AMA School for Presidents in Chicago and San Francisco with a focus in management, business, and marketing. Formerly, Mr. Milligan was a member of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce's Executive Board of Directors, Executive Board of Directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, recipient of the Chicago Christopher House's Annual Harold Blake Award for Outstanding Community Service, recipient of the annual Good Scout Award by the Chicagoland Boy Scouts of America,
named to the Final Four in Ernst & Young's annual "Chicago Entrepreneur of the Year" program, and included in Crain’s Chicago Business’ “Chicago’s 50 Most Influential Businessmen” and “Who’s Who in Chicago Business”. He was also a guest lecturer at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business, as well as its Alumni Association.
Mr. Milligan is an avid writer and enjoys travel, boating, and architectural design. He is married with five children.
DAVID L. JACOBS
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Jacobs is an energetic and accomplished executive with over 30 years of operational and leadership experience. A dynamic individual that has leveraged his early career experience in large Fortune 100 companies to demonstrated successes in over a dozen small and start-up businesses. In 2003, Mr. Jacobs founded Resource Partners Group Inc. (RPG), a business and technology consulting firm established to deliver comprehensive consultative services to private and public businesses and government agencies and organizations. Under his direction, RPG has experienced sustained growth over the years providing consulting services in the areas of telecommunications, customer experience and service delivery, business process optimization, and business advisory. Accomplishments under Mr. Jacobs’ leadership include building six customer contact centers, national and statewide telecom network builds, and establishing several new start-up business ventures.
Mr. Jacobs has extensive competitive telecommunications experience. Prior to starting RPG, he served as COO of a telecom next-generation soft-switch provider where he prepared the company for product certification and eventual sale. He also served as a technical Board Member at Chaos Media Networks, a video-on-demand technology and program distribution company serving the digital cable television market.
Mr. Jacobs served as Sr. Vice President of Customer Operations, and Vice President of Engineering and Technical Operations with 21 st Century Telecom Group, Inc. of Chicago where he played an integral part in the expansive growth in the competitive market resulting in the acquisition of the Company by RCN Corporation in 2001 for $600M. Recognized for innovative leadership practices, he increased market share, continually improving on the customer experience, while enhancing profitability and reducing operating costs. As part of the leadership team at 21 st Century, Mr. Jacobs also played a lead role in the merger and acquisition of a Chicago based ISP and two Chicago cable television providers, and the integration of the businesses into RCN Corporation. RCN was the nation’s first and largest facilities-based competitive provider of bundled phone, cable, and high-speed Internet services.
Prior to joining 21 st Century, Mr. Jacobs served several senior roles at Ameritech New Media, a subsidiary of Ameritech Corporation, providing residential cable television and entertainment services. New Media was a partner in the Americas digital television joint venture with Disney TeleVentures and four other Regional Bell Operating Companies. While at New Media, Mr. Jacobs was responsible for the role out of the cable television product over a newly constructed hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network. His responsibilities included systems integration, product development, implementation of the product platform, systems integration testing and overall program, and change management. Prior to joining New Media, Mr. Jacobs spent seven years in Ameritech’s network business unit and Illinois Bell Telephone in integrated planning, engineering, network operations, marketing development, and supplier management.
Mr. Jacobs started his career at General Motors Corporation as an engineer and production supervisor where he was responsible for the implementation of a progressive technology used in the manufacturing of engine blocks and cylinder heads.
Mr. Jacobs holds a Bachelors's degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration degree from DePaul University concentrating in Marketing and Finance. Mr. Jacobs is a member of the Western Society of Engineers and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.
Mr. Jacobs is an active leader and volunteer in the community. He has been actively involved in youth sports for almost 20 years. He has coached over thirty-five teams in youth football, baseball, and soccer. As a sports leader, Mr. Jacobs was president of Barrington Youth Football supporting 1,000 flags and tackle football athletes for 8 years, president of The Barrington HS Football Booster Club for 2 years, currently Executive Board Member for Barrington HS Boys Lacrosse and Executive Board Member and VP of Health and Safety for The Chicagoland Youth Football League (TCYFL) for the past 6 years. The TCYFL is the largest independent youth football league supporting over 8,000 athletes and 2,000 coaches. In 2018, Mr. Jacobs was voted on to the board of the Barrington HS Horseshoe Club tasked with facility planning and raising capital to support the growing needs of the school district.
Mr. Jacobs is a member of the Amita Health, Alexian Brothers Hospital Network Foundation Board Leadership Team responsible for the strategic and philanthropic support of the Health System Behavior Health and Women and Children’s Hospital initiatives.
Mr. Jacobs is married to Connie and has three sons. Brandon, Blake, and Alec.
ROXANNE B. JACKSON
Sr. Vice President
Ms. Jackson is a dynamic and accomplished professional with a vibrant, engaging personality. She received her formative education in the Chicago Public Schools. She earned both her Bachelor and Master's Degree from National Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, and obtained her law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois.
Ms. Jackson has amassed over twenty (20) years of senior management and human resources experience with numerous Fortune 500 companies, such as FOX, L’Oreal USA, and Mars, Inc. A highly regarded consultant, she has shared her career experience and business strategies with many companies, including Omar Medical Supplies, LLC, a global supplier of specialty products to the medical and food industries. She was also one of the early pioneers at 21st Century Telecom Group, Inc., where she created and led the entire human resources and personnel department for this 1,000-employee company.
Ms. Jackson has been the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding community service and is a member of various professional, civic, and religious organizations, including the Society of Human Resource Management, and the National Association of Women Executives. She is the author of two books.
In her leisure time, she enjoys reading, live theater, travel, and mentoring entrepreneurs on how to achieve their dreams. Ms. Jackson is married with three (3) children.