Published in Pegasus Magazine March 2010

Photo: Nu VIsions in Photography

When people tell Bob Cannon, ’93, he should be on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank, he politely disagrees. Sure, he runs an ingenious company called BungoBox, which rents reusable plastic bins rather than cardboard boxes for moving, but he says he’s doing just fine without the “sharks” (a.k.a. multi-millionaire busi- ness tycoons who potentially invest in smart startups).

Why the unfaltering confidence? Well, it goes back to his days as a liberal studies major at UCF, where he narrowed his focus in the fields of business and economics. “The well-rounded curriculum gave me a broad background for going into business,” says Bob. “It helps me relate to people, because I have been exposed to many ideas and concepts outside of typical business/economic theory.” And, he points out, professor Edward Sheridan, his former economics teacher, sparked the interest.

“I still remember sitting in class and applying his thoughts to ideas I was already having,” Bob recalls. Nearly two decades down the road, he thrives on using economic theory from the scientific perspective. “Typically you can model business plans and programs by applying economic ‘science’ to see if your ideas can or cannot work,” he explains.

Likewise, when it comes to seeing the big picture, Bob certainly gets it. In fact, he spends his waking hours rethinking the way Americans move from one location to the next. No small feat, indeed. In other words, he’s hoping that cardboard goes the way of the dinosaur.

With a glance at the stats, it seems Bob is on to something big. Consider this: An average American moves 16 times in a lifetime. If you use an average of 50 boxes per move, each person runs through about 800 cardboard boxes alone. And, sadly, Bob says, much of that ends up in a landfill. To him, and countless others, it just makes more sense to incorporate a reusable, environmentally conscious product over the alternative.

“Twenty years down the road, who knows, perhaps cardboard will be a thing of the past,” says Bob. While that remains to be seen, one thing is certain. Bob, simply put, is quite content with his post-college days. On top of running a business, he is also a licensed Florida real estate broker and has been a commercial real estate developer/ investor since graduating from UCF.

And there’s plenty of excitement at home, too. Bob, who lives with wife, Rebecca, and kids — Sarah, 8, and Trent, 6 — in Lake Mary, FL, is expecting twins this summer. When he’s not playing the all-important role of super-dad, he is likely swinging a golf club or globe trotting to his favorite locales, including Paris, where he got married in 2007.