Founders
Vikash and Juli Sanyal started Life's Building Blocks in 2003 during a period of monumental change in their lives. Juli had just gone through a liver transplant and Vikash was in the process of selling his golf club company. Ready for a fresh start and a more meaningful life pursuit, Vikash was looking forward to making his dream of helping children develop strong character a reality. Having spent years coaching young kids and observing interaction between elementary age children at school and at play, Vikash and Juli felt passionately that there was a need for character building products that would be fun for kids and easy for parents to use.
In order to do this, Vikash and Juli partnered with character development and game development experts who also shared their passion for promoting character development at a young age. They discovered that it was vital that kids learn these important character lessons at a young age and were soon joined by equally concerned professionals who couldn't wait to begin creating a line of products which would make their shared dream a reality.
"We feel strongly that spending time teaching our children kindness, courage, persistence, honesty etc., is just as important as teaching them reading and writing and math and sports and music. We can't wait to see the impact these programs will have on children across the country as they learn some of these valuable life lessons in the safety of their own home."
Vikash and Juli Sanyal currently live in Southern California with their 3 children, Jessica, Lauren and Shawn, and their dog Velvet.
Management Team
Vikash Sanyal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Mr. Sanyal's previous business experience has been in the golf industry. He was the founder and CEO of Never Compromise Golf, the world's fourth largest putter manufacturer, which was eventually sold to Cleveland Golf Company. Before that he was the Vice President of Marketing for Odyssey Golf, the world's largest putter manufacturer, which was eventually sold to Callaway Golf. Mr. Sanyal's entrepreneurial experience has prepared him well to lead the pursuit of this opportunity. His direct experience with overall business development and specifically the areas of capital raising, building quality management teams, product development, marketing, operations management, forming strategic alliances, and sales distribution, will allow him to utilize this knowledge for Life's Building Blocks, Inc. In addition, his entrepreneurial background has taught him the importance of cash flow management, and running a company as efficiently as possible. Having played key roles in building start up companies into industry leaders, he is familiar with the concept of being smaller and maximizing resources to take advantage of opportunities. Mr. Sanyal received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and an MBA from California State University at San Marcos.
Darren Alexander, Chief Financial Officer - a CPA with over 16 years experience managing the financial matters of corporate entities. Mr. Alexander received a BS degree from UC Berkeley in 1989 and then spent 9 plus years working at Arthur Anderson and PricewaterhouseCoopers managing audit & tax engagements for both public and privately held corporations. He has since spent 6 plus years in the private sector, first managing several business units for a Fortune 100 public utility in San Diego, and more recently serving as Corporate Tax Director for the 7th largest student loan provider in the nation with over $9 Billion in assets.
Nick C. Gianis, Chief Sales Officer - a former Vice President of Sales and Marketing for ivpcare, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical services company. He joined ivpcare in 1996 as a Territory Sales Manager and when Mr. Gianis was promoted to Vice President of Sales and Marketing in 2001, ivpcare had sales revenue of $58M. When Mr. Gianis resigned in July of 2006, the company had surpassed revenue of a $100M. While Mr. Gianis has strategic management expertise, he also has direct experience with the implementation of focused regional distribution strategies. Mr. Gianis' skills with regards to communication and relationship building will be key resources in the building of the Life's Building Blocks distribution system. He received his BS Degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University.
Rick Rubel, Director of Character and Moral Development - Captain Rubel has had two Commands, including Program Manager, in charge of the $54 Billion Aegis Shipbuilding Program, the largest program in the Navy. He then went to the U.S. Naval Academy as the Director of Engineering. While in that job he also served as Chairman of the Admissions Board and taught the Core Ethics Course. After retiring from the Navy, he was appointed to his current position as the "Distinguished Military Professor of Ethics" at the Naval Academy. In this capacity, he has taught the Core Ethics Course for eight years, serves as the director of the Core Ethics Program, and is involved with the Character Development Program. He has published cases in the International "Journal of Military Ethics". Captain Rubel co-edited and co-authored "Case Studies in Military Ethics" (Person Publishing, 2004). Captain Rubel is currently on the Maryland State Board for Character Education. He is also leading a team that will travel around the world to conduct Ethics and Character training for 800 Navy Chaplains.