Marshall Hays is an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. Raised in a suburb of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, Hays was a 1995 graduate of Trinity University, where he earned Bachelor of Science degrees in both accounting and marketing. He then attended

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

and earned his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 1998. While at SMU, Hays was the teaching assistant for the Electronic Commerce Class in 1996 while also founding his first business that same year, Hays Internet Marketing, Inc. Hays Internet Marketing is an interactive agency that provided

internet marketing The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

consulting and development for clients such as AT&T, Fujitsu, and Nextel. The company also owns and operates several popular web properties, the most famous ones include VirtualKiss.com, WhoDoYouLove.com, DatingFun.com, and VirtualStapler.com. Success of the dating advice related websites led to many radio interviews, 2 CNN appearances and Hays then becoming the co-host of a weekend radio show on 105.3FM in Dallas, Texas, in 2001. In 2004, Hays Internet Marketing stopped taking on new clients so that Marshall could serve as the Vice President of a

television production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and vi ...

. Then in 2009 Hays purchased 3 car washes in Dallas, Texas, renaming them Lucky Ducky Car Wash. Later in 2011 Hays purchased the lube shop next to one of the car washes. In 2012 Hays started up a gourmet food truck business, calling it Lucky Ducky Dogs – Fun with Meat. The popular food truck was a finalist for D Magazine’s Best of Big D in 2013. Hays moved to Virginia in 2017 and sold all the Texas-based businesses, so that he could start up Highlight Homes LLC, a

vacation rental A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term ''vacation rental'' is mainly used in the US. Oth ...

home business, buying and remodeling homes in Massanutten, Virginia and a beach house on the Chesapeake Bay. The business quickly became an

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...

Superhost, and premier partner of

Vrbo Vrbo ( ) operates an online marketplace for vacation rentals. It was originally known as Vacation Rentals by Owner or VRBO. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is owned by Expedia Group. History The VRBO website was created by David Clous ...

External links

Highlight Homes Massanutten Vacation Rentals websiteHays Internet Marketing website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hays, Marshall 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American television executives American television producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)