BACKGROUND – JAMES R. McGONIGLE
(a) Stansbury Mining – became a partner of Dr. Frances Christiansen, head of geology at the University of Utah and past president of the world council of geologists, in 1975. In 1978, I negotiated a $100,000,000 deal with Martin Marietta that involved them building a cement plant in Leamington, Utah. As a result of this deal, the stock price went from a penny to a dollar in a little over one year. I left the company in 1980.
(b) Margate Ventures – I founded this company in 1984 and brought it public in 1985 as a “blind pool” at two cents/share. In 1986, I negotiated a deal that resulted in Margate acquiring the New Haven Foundry located in New Haven, Michigan. At the time of acquisition, the foundry was doing $35,000,000 per year in business. Over the next two years, the stock traded over one dollar per share. I left the company in 1987.
(c) Ventnor Corp. – I brought this company public in 1987 as a “blind pool” and in 1988 acquired proprietary wound healing technology. Then in 1991, I acquired the patents on a high-resolution ultra-sound scanner. In March of 1992, Ventnor was listed on the American Stock Exchange. At the time of listing, the stock had risen to six dollars and twenty-five cents from the initial public offering price of two cents/share, resulting in the company’s market cap going from $400,000 to $120,000,000. That meant that a $200 investment in September of 1987 was worth $62,500 in March of 1992! I left the company the next month.
(d) Aquasearch, Inc. – This company was formed by a group of marine biologists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Dr. Mark Huntley, the founder and CEO, asked me to join the company for the purpose of bringing them public in 1989. I brought them public as a self-underwritten deal at five cents/share. Their patented technology allowed this company to grow commercial grades of algae indoors for the first time ever. The applications were only limited by the imagination. I left in 1990 and the stock reached a high of one dollar and fifty cents. They moved their location to Hawaii afterwards.
(e) Longport, Inc. – I founded this company in 1993 and brought it public in 1994 through a SB2 registration with trading beginning at ten cents/share. Over the next nine years, my partner, Dr. Mary Dyson (a world renowned expert in ultrasound) and I, took intellectual property rights that originated in England and developed, patented, and secured FDA clearance to bring this ultrasound device to market. The stock rose to a high of four dollars and fifty cents per share when we secured the FDA clearance in 1999. There were many challenges along the way—to say the least. I brought in the former co-founder of QVC to take my place and I left the company in 2003.
(f) Help Soldiers.Org Program – I started a network in June of 2011 involving a free, anonymous, discount prescription card business to raise money for the Walter Reed Society (www.walterreedsociety.org) from revenue not donations. My daughter, Patty, has been the only person involved in the networking effort. Since inception, we have generated $503,481.50 in donations and were the largest donor in 2012 to the Society. As of September 30, 2019, we have generated 705,237 transactions while saving individuals $12,560,387 on their medication costs or 39.7%. In January 2015 we partnered with Walmart and created a Walmart/Help Soldiers free discount prescription card program where $1.00 is contributed to our Help Soldiers Rx initiative each time a person saves money on their medications. A few of our more significant donations are providing a new vehicle to the Home Of The Brave Foundation (www.homeofthebravefdn.org); providing a much needed specialty wheelchair for a 28 year old military dependent who is 100% disabled; and we were honored to be chosen to host/sponsor Christmas Dinner for our wounded soldiers and their families on Christmas Day at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, MD. Because of the success of that event we hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon for these same troops and the families. Also, in 2016 we partnered with the “Make A Wish” foundation to create an initiative that will provide “wishes” for seriously ill children of Veterans. We have already raised the necessary funds to grant the wishes of 4 children. In November, we acquired the documentary that tells the amazing story of an American hero that was recently nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. A trailer of that documentary can be found at our website www.helpsoldiers.org.
Help Soldiers hosted a holiday event at the Fort Belvoir medical facility for 200 wounded soldiers and their families on November 15th, 2017 and a children’s Christmas luncheon on December 20, 2017.
We sponsored an “Ice Queen” party for the children of our military stationed at Fort Belvoir on December 19, 2019 and on Christmas day (December 25, 2019), held a Christmas dinner and raffle for those soldiers, who, for whatever reason, were unable to go home to spend Christmas with their families and friends.
In January 2019, while vacationing in Key West, FL during the government shut-down, we learned that the Coast Guard was not part of the military and, therefore, were not being paid. We decided to sponsor a “Coast Guard Appreciation Day” which was filled with food, fun and prizes for both children and parents.
We have currently created a totally new program, “Operation: Key West” which will provide military parents, that have had to deal with losing a child, a 1 week, all-expense paid vacation at a location of their choice. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald Blanck, the former Surgeon General of the Army and former Commander of the WRNMMC, and Vice Admiral (Ret.) Harold Koenig, the former Surgeon General of the Navy, are the co-founders of this program. Our website is www.operationkeywest.com.
Help Soldiers recently passed the $12,000,000 mark in savings, while generating over $500,000 in donations---an achievement we are very proud of, considering our pharmacy discount card is both free and anonymous.
Jim McGonigle
700 Avondale Road, PH7
Wallingford, PA 19086
(610) 322-1889
BS Economics – Widener University
MBA Finance – Drexel University
Memberships--Mensa
(a) Stansbury Mining – became a partner of Dr. Frances Christiansen, head of geology at the University of Utah and past president of the world council of geologists, in 1975. In 1978, I negotiated a $100,000,000 deal with Martin Marietta that involved them building a cement plant in Leamington, Utah. As a result of this deal, the stock price went from a penny to a dollar in a little over one year. I left the company in 1980.
(b) Margate Ventures – I founded this company in 1984 and brought it public in 1985 as a “blind pool” at two cents/share. In 1986, I negotiated a deal that resulted in Margate acquiring the New Haven Foundry located in New Haven, Michigan. At the time of acquisition, the foundry was doing $35,000,000 per year in business. Over the next two years, the stock traded over one dollar per share. I left the company in 1987.
(c) Ventnor Corp. – I brought this company public in 1987 as a “blind pool” and in 1988 acquired proprietary wound healing technology. Then in 1991, I acquired the patents on a high-resolution ultra-sound scanner. In March of 1992, Ventnor was listed on the American Stock Exchange. At the time of listing, the stock had risen to six dollars and twenty-five cents from the initial public offering price of two cents/share, resulting in the company’s market cap going from $400,000 to $120,000,000. That meant that a $200 investment in September of 1987 was worth $62,500 in March of 1992! I left the company the next month.
(d) Aquasearch, Inc. – This company was formed by a group of marine biologists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Dr. Mark Huntley, the founder and CEO, asked me to join the company for the purpose of bringing them public in 1989. I brought them public as a self-underwritten deal at five cents/share. Their patented technology allowed this company to grow commercial grades of algae indoors for the first time ever. The applications were only limited by the imagination. I left in 1990 and the stock reached a high of one dollar and fifty cents. They moved their location to Hawaii afterwards.
(e) Longport, Inc. – I founded this company in 1993 and brought it public in 1994 through a SB2 registration with trading beginning at ten cents/share. Over the next nine years, my partner, Dr. Mary Dyson (a world renowned expert in ultrasound) and I, took intellectual property rights that originated in England and developed, patented, and secured FDA clearance to bring this ultrasound device to market. The stock rose to a high of four dollars and fifty cents per share when we secured the FDA clearance in 1999. There were many challenges along the way—to say the least. I brought in the former co-founder of QVC to take my place and I left the company in 2003.
(f) Help Soldiers.Org Program – I started a network in June of 2011 involving a free, anonymous, discount prescription card business to raise money for the Walter Reed Society (www.walterreedsociety.org) from revenue not donations. My daughter, Patty, has been the only person involved in the networking effort. Since inception, we have generated $503,481.50 in donations and were the largest donor in 2012 to the Society. As of September 30, 2019, we have generated 705,237 transactions while saving individuals $12,560,387 on their medication costs or 39.7%. In January 2015 we partnered with Walmart and created a Walmart/Help Soldiers free discount prescription card program where $1.00 is contributed to our Help Soldiers Rx initiative each time a person saves money on their medications. A few of our more significant donations are providing a new vehicle to the Home Of The Brave Foundation (www.homeofthebravefdn.org); providing a much needed specialty wheelchair for a 28 year old military dependent who is 100% disabled; and we were honored to be chosen to host/sponsor Christmas Dinner for our wounded soldiers and their families on Christmas Day at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, MD. Because of the success of that event we hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon for these same troops and the families. Also, in 2016 we partnered with the “Make A Wish” foundation to create an initiative that will provide “wishes” for seriously ill children of Veterans. We have already raised the necessary funds to grant the wishes of 4 children. In November, we acquired the documentary that tells the amazing story of an American hero that was recently nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. A trailer of that documentary can be found at our website www.helpsoldiers.org.
Help Soldiers hosted a holiday event at the Fort Belvoir medical facility for 200 wounded soldiers and their families on November 15th, 2017 and a children’s Christmas luncheon on December 20, 2017.
We sponsored an “Ice Queen” party for the children of our military stationed at Fort Belvoir on December 19, 2019 and on Christmas day (December 25, 2019), held a Christmas dinner and raffle for those soldiers, who, for whatever reason, were unable to go home to spend Christmas with their families and friends.
In January 2019, while vacationing in Key West, FL during the government shut-down, we learned that the Coast Guard was not part of the military and, therefore, were not being paid. We decided to sponsor a “Coast Guard Appreciation Day” which was filled with food, fun and prizes for both children and parents.
We have currently created a totally new program, “Operation: Key West” which will provide military parents, that have had to deal with losing a child, a 1 week, all-expense paid vacation at a location of their choice. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald Blanck, the former Surgeon General of the Army and former Commander of the WRNMMC, and Vice Admiral (Ret.) Harold Koenig, the former Surgeon General of the Navy, are the co-founders of this program. Our website is www.operationkeywest.com.
Help Soldiers recently passed the $12,000,000 mark in savings, while generating over $500,000 in donations---an achievement we are very proud of, considering our pharmacy discount card is both free and anonymous.
Jim McGonigle
700 Avondale Road, PH7
Wallingford, PA 19086
(610) 322-1889
BS Economics – Widener University
MBA Finance – Drexel University
Memberships--Mensa
Recent Interview by Alignable.com of Founder of Operation: Key West