Victor Mitchell - Biography

Biography

Born in Edison, New Jersey, Mitchell attended San Diego State University, earning a bachelor's degree in finance in 1988. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Business College of San Diego State University.

In 1987, while in college, he started a transportation business, and, over the course of his career, founded and served as CEO and chairman of five companies: Advantage Advisory Service (1989–2004), Advantage Cellular (1991–1995), Advantage Wireless (1996–2004), Motion Telecom, (2002–2004), and Ricochet Networks (2003–2004). After selling Advantage Cellular to AirTouch (later part of Verizon) in 1995, Mitchell moved to Denver, Colorado in 1996 and founded Advantage Wireless, a wireless distributor. After expanding to 114 branded locations, Advantage Wireless was sold to private investors in 2004. Advantage Wireless, Inc. was named "Colorado Small Business of the Year" by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2000. Mitchell has also served on the boards of the Denver Metro Chamber and the Denver Better Business Bureau.

In 2003, Mitchell acquired control of Ricochet Networks, a data service provider that had suffered multiple bankruptcies. The follow year, after turning its first annual profit under Mitchell's leadership, Ricochet was acquired by Young Design, Inc. Mitchell was named by the Denver Business Journal as one of their "top 40 under 40" for business executives of Colorado, and was a finalist for Ernst and Young’s "Entrepreneur of the Year" recognition. Mitchell also returned to school to earn a Master of Public Administration degree in 2005 from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Currently a resident of Castle Rock, Colorado, Mitchell is married; he and his wife, Amy, have three children: Lauren, David, and Emily. He has been a member of the Castle Rock Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club of Castle Pines North, the Douglas County Senior Foundation, and the local nonprofit Ready to Work Strive, as well as Saint Thomas More Catholic Church and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education Advisory Committee. With his wife, Mitchell helped launch the Douglas County arm of Project Lifesaver, a project that provides tracking devices to Alzheimer's patients and others with a propensity for wandering. Mitchell is also an avid tennis player.

Politically, Mitchell chaired the Douglas County arm of the political committee opposing Colorado's 2005 Referendum C, and was a director of the Colorado Leadership Program of the Rockies. In 2000, he attended the Capitol Conference in Washington D.C. on behalf of U.S. Senator Wayne Allard.