Ryla Inc. President and Chief Executive Mark Wilson recently visited the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell College of Business as part of the RBC Bank Distinguished Lecture Series.

Wilson’s lecture was part of the new RBC Distinguished Lectureship Series at the USA Mitchell College of Business, the first lectureship at the Mitchell College of Business. The bank covers the costs of two annual lectures on banking or a related field.

Wilson founded the customer support and contact center business in 2001. He expanded the company to the Mobile area in 2009. Overall, the company employs 3,500, including 700 in Saraland.

Wilson’s philosophy regarding customer contact services is simple: provide “Excellent Interactions Every Time.” His commitment to this brand promise has allowed Ryla to grow into a nationally recognized domestic customer support and contact center with state-of-the-art technologies, a Fortune 500 client portfolio, more than 3,500 employees and revenues in excess of $20 million in less than six years.

Ryla has been named one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the country two consecutive years by Inc. magazine, and was named by the Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces as one of the Top Small Workplaces in the country. In 2007, Wilson celebrated the opening of Ryla’s second call center facility on its Kennesaw, Ga., corporate campus, making Ryla one of the top three largest employers.

Prior to founding Ryla, Wilson was a 15-year veteran at Dun & Bradstreet, the leading provider of global business information, where his career began at one of the company’s call centers. Over time, Wilson ascended to the level of assistant vice president and was ultimately tapped to manage one of its most successful contact center bureaus.

A native of Arkansas, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and management at Wilberforce University. He is a member of The Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and serves on the board of Kaiser Permanente Georgia.

Wilson lives in north Atlanta with his wife, Shelly, who serves as chief operating officer of Ryla, and their two children Ryan and Lauren, from whom the company derives its name.