Meet Our Founders

President + Co-Founder: Marco Smith (r)

President and Co-founder of Sons of the Sun Inc. Marco Smith is a natural leader and innovator. He is earnest, full of integrity and driven to see surmountable results. Smith was born and raised in Dallas Texas raised with the use of old fashioned principles and values. Upon completion of High school in 1996 from Skyline in Dallas, Smith proudly served in the U.S. Air force for four years.

This noble commitment granted him the opportunity to travel abroad while serving his country. Smith later pursued a Degree in Computer Networking that would lead him into a professional career within the Information Technology field. He participates in several volunteer capacities including feeding the homeless and mentoring adolescents to name a few.

Smith has personally grown weary of seeing the unfortunate plight of the city’s young males increase year after year. With the increasing rates of low performance in school, drop outs, incarceration and death among the city’s young male population he strives to be a driving force behind the change that is necessary.

“It’s my personal belief that I am a part of the last generation that was raised in a similar fashion to the one that came before it. The old fashioned child rearing that my parents were a part of. Somewhere we dropped the ball,” says Smith.

Smith has taken a fervent hands-on approach with the development of his Non-Profit Organization, Sons of the Sun Inc. The conceptualization of this organization will help ensure that a firm foundation is laid and a fair opportunity is made available for the next generation of fatherless young men.

 

Vice President + Co-Founder: Dr. Gerry L. Brown, Jr.(l)

A Dallas native, Gerry Brown was born and raised in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, TX. During his primary schooling he was afforded the opportunity to enter the vanguard school at K.B. Polk Elementary. This intervention placed Dr. Brown on a path that eventually led him to Skyline high School. There he began learning the fundamentals of engineering. Upon graduation from high school, Gerry was awarded an academic scholarship to Florida A&M University, where he studied Electrical Engineering.

Upon completion of his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, family obligations required that he return home to help care for an ill mother. Shortly afterward, Dr. Brown began working as Project Manager for Project RIO where he worked to reduce recidivism by reintegrating ex-offenders into the workforce.

Compelled by the realization that our youth, if left unguided, fall victim to preventable pitfalls, in 2004 Dr. Brown enrolled in the School of the Scripture, where he obtained a Doctorate in the field of Religious Education in 2007. During this time, he also began to volunteer as a youth minister at his local church.

As a product of a single parent home, Dr. Brown understands firsthand the challenge of maturing into a responsible man without a constant positive example. It is for this reason that he dedicates resources and energy toward impacting the lives and outlook of our youth through Sons of the Sun, Inc.