Michael Barber - Professor of Theology, Scripture and Catholic Thought.

Michael is currently completing a Ph.D. in Theology at Fuller in Pasadena, CA, writing a dissertation on the Historical Jesus and Sacramental Eschatology under the world famous scholar, Colin Brown. He has an M. A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville and received his B. A. in Theology and Philosophy from Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of several books, including, 'Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today' (Emmaus Road, 2006) and most recently, 'Genesis to Jesus: Studying Scripture from the Heart of the Church' (Servant, 2007), a Bible study co-authored with Kimberly Hahn. He is a Research Fellow for the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, founded by Dr. Scott Hahn. Barber is also the host of 'Reasons for Faith Live' a radio show heard nationwide each Friday at 11am PCT on EWTN’s Radio Network.

Professor Barber has been granted the mandatum by Robert Brom, bishop of San Diego as an ecclesial recognition of Michael's posture and commitment to teach always in communion with the Church. Read more about Michael on his 'Singing in the Reign' blog. Back to Top

Derry Connolly - Professor of Business

Until recently, he represented the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) on the Executive Board of CCAT – the Center for the Commercialization of Advanced Technology, and headed up CCAT CEO mentoring services.

He teaches Applied Innovation at the Von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at UCSD.

Prior to JP Catholic, Derry worked full-time as the Associate Dean of Continuing Education at UCSD Extension, leading a program with 40,000 part-time adult students, 125+ full time staff (academic and administrative), 1500+ part-time Instructors. Derry spent 15 years working in industrial Research and Development with IBM and Kodak.

He holds 8 US patents and has numerous technical publications. He has a Ph.D. from Cal-Tech in Pasadena, CA and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. from University College, Cork, Ireland. Back to Top

Tom Dunn - Director of Digital Media Production and Professor of Film Production

Tom began his professional career over 17 years ago on the Paramount Studios lot working for Entertainment Tonight in the post-production department. Since then he has gone on to produce, direct, write and edit hundreds of television commercials, documentaries, sports and entertainment programs and news stories. He has worked for local and national cable television networks, independent production companies and a local broadcast affiliate.

Tom is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards for television production, including 4 Telly Awards and a Cable ACE Award.

Tom served for 2 years as vice-president of the Orange County Chapter of the Media Communications Association International. He received his BA in Television, Radio and Film Production from California State University, Long Beach. Back to Top

Jeremy Durant - Adjunct Professor of Business Development

Jeremy has 10+ years of business development experience working in industries such as banking, golf manufacturing, corporate training, and media production. His most recent position is Director of Business Development for Millennium Creative Group, which is based in Carlsbad, CA and New York City. Millennium is a creative agency specializing in broadcast, web, and in-store video. The company’s clients include: Epson, Sony, Pepsi, and Adobe.

Jeremy holds a BA and MBA. In addition, he and his wife Kara are currently starting a design agency of their own called Bop Design, providing branding, print and web design for fledgling companies.

Paul Escandon - Adjunct Professor of Digital Media

Paul started his first company in California at age 15 very early in the Internet boom. After years of web and graphic design, he moved into digital media, film and television. After an internship in L.A. with a top Hollywood producer and traveling to Sri Lanka where he documented the post-tsunami aftermath, he started his own production company Oremus Productions, which produces commercials, music videos, corporate and event videography. Paul has works full-time as an editor, motion graphics artist, and colorist for a local cable television network.

Paul, a cradle Catholic, brings his many talents and love for the Christ into the classroom. In his early teens, he developed an interest in Christian apologetics and worked for a time at St. Joseph Communications in Covina, CA. Back to Top

Martin Harold - Adjunct Professor of Story

Martin has a BA in Political Science and an MBA from Franciscan University. He was the Founding Editor of and a regular contributor to Lumen Vincens - a Franciscan University literary magazine.

In Martin's story classes, students learn what constitutes a compelling story and he supplements the classroom learning with guest lectures, in seminar style, from a diverse group of seasoned industry professionals. These professional will visit campus and present to the students their perspectives on the ingredients of a compelling story.

Guest speakers include Film and TV screenwriters, animators and video game developers, newspaper and magazine writers. Back to Top

Dominic Iocco - Professor of Business

Dominic was founder and CFO of a company that was a pioneer in the highly lucrative, and heavily patent protected inkjet cartridge business. Having developed some key intellectual property in the form of trade secrets around a novel cartridge refilling process, they were able to rapidly grow the business supplying inkjet cartridges to the wholesale market. Their company was acquired in 2007 by the world’s largest aftermarket inkjet and toner company. He also orchestrated the rescue of a failed PayPal competitor that had received over $14 million in venture capital. He was able to successfully stabilize and sell the operation.

Dominic, in addition to his role at JP Catholic University, serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at San Diego’s CONNECT. In this role he is helping other entrepreneurs build their companies.

Dominic holds a BAA and an MBA. He was honored as a Regional Finalist for the 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.Back to Top

Jerry Jackson - Professor of Business

Jerry’s 30-year career has included executive management positions at both small and large privately owned and publicly traded consulting firms. He’s overseen the growth and transformation of firms involving hundreds of staff and $100s million of revenue. An engineer by education, Jerry has also pioneered the use of innovative technologies to treat water, wastewater, and hazardous wastes. His projects have been recognized as “outstanding” by professional organizations, and he’s accompanied the US Secretary of Commerce in international trade missions, and has testified before Congress on applicable legislation.

Jerry holds a BS, MS, and PhD in civil engineering, is a licensed professional engineer, and has been on the faculty at five universities in the United States and overseas. He is an avid runner, surfer, sky diver, and pilot. Back to Top

Alan Lane - Professor of Finance

Prior to joining JP Catholic as CFO, Alan was President and COO of Southwest Community Bancorp. Before that Alan was CEO of Financial Data Solutions, Inc., a recently divested subsidiary of Southwest Community Bancorp. Prior to joining Southwest Community Bancorp, he was President/CEO of Business Bank of California until the bank's sale to Union Bank of California in early 2004.

Alan has served as President/CEO or Chief Financial Officer of both manufacturing and retail companies, ranging in size from $10 million to $50 million in annual revenues.

Alan is also a member of the Board of Directors of Natural Alternatives International, Inc., a leading formulator and manufacturer of nutritional supplements headquartered in San Marcos, CA. Alan has a BA in Economics from SDSU. Back to Top

Christopher Riley - Professor of Film

Is considered the most authoritative figure for the official screenplay format of Hollywood. -IMDB

Chris is a screenwriter whose first film, After The Truth, an award-winning courtroom thriller written with his wife and professional partner, Kathleen Riley, sparked international controversy in 1999 when it was released in Germany. Other credits include 25 To Life, a dramatic thriller for Junction Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures; The Other White House, a political thriller for Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Intermedia; Aces, an action-adventure romance for Paramount Pictures; and a screen adaptation of the book Actual Innocence for Mandalay Television Pictures and the Fox television network. A veteran of the Warner Bros. script department, Riley is the author of The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style. From 2005 through 2008, he served as director of the acclaimed Act One Writing Program in Hollywood. Chris holds a BS in Telecommunications from Oral Roberts University and was a National Merit Scholar.

Act One trains Christians of all denominations for careers as writers and executives in mainstream film and television. Back to Top

Bo Ryu - Professor of Technology
With over 15 years of experience, Bo has been at the forefront of cutting-edge technology development through various government-sponsored research projects. He is currently serving as Director for the Networking and Systems Research Group at Argon ST, a defense contractor company. He is responsible for managing internal research projects, pursuing new Government programs, and performing various Government- and industry-sponsored projects in the areas of mobile ad hoc networking, sensor networks, satellite networking, information assurance and network security. He has served as principal investigator (PI) for various advanced research projects from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force. Prior to joining Argon ST, he served as the head of Network Analysis and Systems department at HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories). He was one of the youngest department heads in the history of HRL (appointed at the age of 29). He is author/co-author of over 40 publications, and holds 3 U.S. patents issued. He received two performance awards for his technical achievements on DARPA’s Adaptive C4ISR Node program, and is a recipient of a Meritorious Award from Raytheon in 2001 for technical performance recognition. Ryu received his M.S and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and B.S. from Korea Institute of Technology (now part of KAIST). He is a proud father of seven children. Back to Top

Nathan Scoggins - Adjunct Professor of Film

Nathan is both a writer and director who most recently directed the independent feature 'The Least of These' starring Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy) and screen legend Robert Loggia (Big). Two of his short films have just received DVD distribution by Lionsgate. Nathan is a graduate of Act One and is an effective speaker and teacher. He's also a leader in the Christian community in Hollywood, chairing Premise, a group of Christian writers, producers and directors from all denominations who gather each month to pray for one another and for Hollywood. Nathan holds a BA from Wesleyan University. Back to Top

Maria Rangel - Adjunct Professor of Art

Maria, a native Southern Californian, pursue art as a career after graduating with a B.A. from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. She also holds a B.F.A. in fine arts from the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, CA. Maria is a professional fine artist, specializing in drawing and painting. She also works part-time as a digital architectural illustration artist. She has grown in her insight and technique throughout her studies and has gained much inspiration from her time spent at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Maria’s art can be seen on her website www.rangelstudios.com and at various locations throughout Southern California. Back to Top

Ed Snow - Adjunct Professor of Business

Ed, a co-founder of JP Catholic University, is the vice president of engineering for DriveCam. In this role he is responsible for product research and development. He ensures that products are designed to meet quality and market objectives, maintains economical production methods and recommends changes, reviews and approves estimates and proposals.

Ed previously served as founder and president of Time-To-Market Engineering Inc. TTM is a consulting firm based in San Diego, Calif. that specializes in high-risk problem solving and product development for the embedded software market for such prestigious clients as HP and Cymer. They were primarily focused on new product development and first generation platforms. He has experience in all phases of new product development from product definition, technical investigation, design and implementation through to first customer shipment.

Ed earned a Masters in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Computer Engineering from UC San Diego. Back to Top

Jonathan Velasco - Adjunct Professor of Business Law

Jonathan is registered patent attorney with over 10 years of experience protecting the intellectual property rights of companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 companies to early-stage companies. Currently Jonathan is patent counsel with QUALCOMM Incorporated, providing legal counsel in various wireless technologies including client counseling, patent procurement and prosecution, acquisition analysis, and infringement analysis. Prior to joining QUALCOMM, Jonathan headed the patent prosecution group of Kyocera Wireless Corp. as Sr. IP Counsel, where he developed a growing domestic and international patent portfolio. In addition to his corporate counsel experience, Jonathan has worked as an associate with a number of law firms, practicing in all areas of intellectual property law, with a particular emphasis on U.S. and foreign patent protection in a wide variety of technologies. Jonathan received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of California at Irvine and his J.D. from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, and is currently pursuing his MA in Theology with Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Distance Program. Back to Top