Danny Ray Arnold

1. Born in Winnsboro, LA and raised outside of Monroe, LA. 2. Grew up and worked on a pecan plantation that also grew cotton and some soybeans and corn. 3. First job: 8 years old, carrying water to hands who were hoeing cotton, $0.15 per hour, ten hours per day – I was rich! 4. As a teenager, I developed a career aspiration: to work in an air conditioned building, wear clean shirts all day, and avoid having to scrub under my fingernails EVERY day. So, going to college was quite attractive to me. 5. Attended Louisiana Tech University beginning in 1966. Accounting major. Married my high school sweetheart after the freshman year, commuted to Tech after that (42 miles each way), and worked on the plantation. 6. Graduated in December 1969 and took an auditing position in Houston. Peggy had our first child two weeks after I graduated. 7. Six months after graduation I received a letter from Uncle Sam – he had a senior trip planned for me that was not expected – I got drafted (May 1970). My “tour of duty” was in Korea – I was trained to operate various missile-related radar scopes. 8. After leaving the Army, I entered the MBA program at Louisiana Tech and graduated in 1972 with a Finance concentration. 9. Entered the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program at Tech in 1972 and graduated in 1976. Marketing major with minors in Management, Finance, and Economics. 10. Employment in higher education: a. 1975-76: McNeese State University, Assistant Professor. b. 1976-79: Stephen F. Austin State University, Assistant Professor. c. 1979-94: Mississippi State University, Professor and Associate Dean. d. 1994-2003: New Mexico State University, Dean. e. 2003-09: Frostburg State University, Dean. f. 2009-10: Missouri State University, Dean. g. 2010-12: Stephen F. Austin State University, Dean. h. 2012-16: Rollins College, Department Chair & Interim Dean. i. Retired for the first time. j. 2016-17: Eastern Washington University, Interim Dean. k. Retired for the second time. l. 2019-20: Florida Gulf Coast University, Interim Director of the Resort & Hospitality Management program. m. Retired for the third and FINAL time. 11. Published over twenty textbooks and manuals, mostly in strategic management, leadership, and marketing. 12. Published over 200 articles and papers covering most of the various business fields. 13. Have always been an avid reader of fiction. In my 12 months “on the ground” in Korea, for example, I read 132 books from our base’s library. Looking back, I had a pattern of reading in a genre until I could not find anything else that appealed to me, which could take several years. For example, I spent about 5-6 years reading nothing but science fiction. Other genres that I spent several years on include, action/adventure, FBI/CIA/spy, and western. 14. Bad Cat Jones is my first venture into writing fiction. The basic outline for the book had been bouncing around in my head for about fifteen years, but I could never find time to start. Then COVID happened. When things began to tighten up in early 2020, my first writing venture actually involved creating a Remembrances manuscript for our grandchildren. The premise was that they know us as grandparents, but do not know us as people. So, I crafted a series of short “campfire stories” from all years that I could remember – over 850 stories! In hindsight, that was great “practice” for jumping into fiction writing.