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Michael Lucas

Key innovator in track and trace technology and supply chain.

Automotive | AI | Blockchain | Consumer Safety

Key innovator in track and trace technology, and expert in consumer safety, Michael Lucas has built his career around providing unique technological solutions to critical industry problems, ranging from supply chain and inventory control to consumer protection and advertising. Through his experiences, Lucas helped develop a substantial patent portfolio and facilitated numerous strategic business acquisitions. Michael is the founder and former CEO of Frequentz (acquired by RfXcel), co-founder and former managing director of PartProtection, former Chairman & CEO of TradeMotion and Parts.com, and current President of Unisone Strategic IP, Inc.

Michael embarked on his entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 9 while working at his father’s Chevrolet dealership in Oregon. He started with washing cars and progressively worked his way into new roles to learn the business over successive summers. During this informative period, Michael developed a passion for automotive and has pursued various business opportunities in the industry, which are visible today.

After graduating high school, Michael entered the manufactured housing industry and launched Lucas Homes at the age of 18. Michael tapped into the existing customer traffic at the family dealership and within one year became one of the top 10 dealers recognized by manufacturers. Expanding upon this success, Lucas acquired his largest land purchase off the I-5 freeway in Woodburn, Oregon where he opened his second dealership location until the successful sale of the property to Wal-Mart. Lucas Homes was Michael’s first taste of independent success and embolden his entrepreneurial spirit.

After the tragic loss of his father, Michael pivoted his focus in his early twenties from real estate back to automotive dealerships, entering a new position as General Sales Manager for a Toyota dealership in the South East. Within the first 60 days, Michael increased new vehicle sales by nearly 200%. This was a result of him radically changing outdated sales operations and working closely with the ad agency. Lucas accepted a new role with the agency of record and became the automotive executive for the agency’s newly formed automotive division. In under 6 months, Lucas accepted his new role as Vice President and grew the division by securing several of the top 20 automotive groups and thus expanding the client base nationwide.

Working in advertising expanded Michael's creative faculty. It encouraged him to think laterally, solving client problems in unique ways. He developed a keen interest in problem-solving broadly and eventually formed a company that specialized in optimizing operations through innovative and emerging technologies. With exposure to various industries, Michael began to identify broad and critical issues in the supply chain that he wanted to solve.

He quickly established a series of technological innovations, including the first automated inventory control system leveraging the internet (US Patent 6,996,538). It was through these inventions that Frequentz became an innovative company in 'track and trace'.

Michael drove Frequentz into a period of hyper-growth. During this period, Michael instigated discussions with IBM to acquire its Infosphere traceability division. Frequentz acquired the division in 2012 and merged it with its existing traceability servers to form the company's highly successful IRIS offering. These efforts expanded organizational presence beyond domestic boundaries with operations opened in Europe, Australia, and Japan. Following the acquisition, Michael sought private equity in a Series A round raising $15 million. Under Michael’s leadership, the company grew to a valuation exceeding $70 million.

Michael was forced to stepped away from Frequentz in an attempt to save the SaaS automotive software company that suffered a major data breach in 2014, which put the entire corporate reputation at risk. Michael had built a highly successful digital conglomerate that included Parts.com, TradeMotion, and PartProtection. This was complicated period of his entire career. Despite several setbacks he was able to achieve a sale of two of the largest brands to The Reynolds and Reynolds Company in late April of 2017.

Following the sale of these companies, Michael sought to create a consumer safety and digital communications platform that could help protect consumers from cyber-crime and thus protect businesses from future data breaches. The goal was creating a business model that could protect consumer data through privacy-preserving software while providing a dynamic security application for each user. Michael pursued this vision with his partner, Tyler Luck, a young entrepreneur along with key industry leaders to form the next generation disruptor for advertising industry.

Although Michael is a serial entrepreneur and enjoys the pursuit of building highly successful businesses, he believes that life is more than just business. Family is very important to him and Michael shares three sons, Dylan, Garrett and Blake with his former spouse, Julie. He is also a passionate philanthropist where from 2012 until 2020, Michael has served in his capacity as a Board of Director and Cabinet member for Ocean Discovery Institute. He continues to share his passion for the environmental and promotes protection of our oceans. Michael has helped numerous individuals pursue their passions in business or individual goals. He is also a party to www.usinventor.org fighting to restore rights to inventors and innovators of small businesses in America, following recent changes to US patent legislation.