LEADERSHIP
Gary Hayes
Executive Director
Gary is a seasoned financial executive with over 40 years of experience across multiple industries. He is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Scale Finance LLC, a leading provider of part time CFO and Controller support and transaction advisory services to small businesses across North and South Carolina.
Gary relocated to North Myrtle Beach in 2017 and is focused on growing the Coastal Carolina market for Scale Finance. Prior to starting his own business Gary held senior financial management roles with several companies large and small from 1975 to 2004, providing financial leadership in raising growth capital, managing multiple acquisitions, and successfully managing turnaround efforts when needed.
Gary is a member of Triangle Angel Partners in Raleigh, NC, a committed angel fund working out of its second fund. In addition, he has been very active in the start-up community in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, having been a CFO for three different start-ups on a full basis and multiple part-time CFO assignments as part of Scale Finance. He worked with the Council of Entrepreneurial Development as a volunteer, taught the Fast Trac Tech class for over 10 years, and was a Board Member for 4 years.
Gary is currently working with eMYRge as a volunteer and mentor at the HTC Aspire Hub.
Mckean Nowlin
Director of Operations
Mckean Nowlin received her Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 2007. She then received a degree in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu in Miami in 2009. Since moving to Myrtle Beach in 2010 she has become a kind of utility infielder, working as a private tutor, Adjunct Professor of Economics, and creator of a culinary program for returning citizens.
She has been involved in the entrepreneurial community in the Grand Strand since 2016. The experience of starting her own company back in 2017 gave her firsthand experience in how early-stage companies work and the funding activities needed to support them.
She has always been an early adopter of and advocate for new technology. In the past that meant as a consumer, but she is now moving into a support role as an angel investor. In the same vein, she sees GSAN as an exciting opportunity to diversify the local economy and looks forward to working with investors and tech companies alike. With her economic and technical backgrounds, she sees herself as a facilitator between investors and entrepreneurs.