Earl Blanks is a former owner of a Party City franchise. Prior to his involvement with Party City, Blanks had started a small consulting business, the Small Business Marketing Planning Center, which provided marketing consulting services to smaller companies that generated $3-5 M per year in sales. Prior to that experience, Blanks worked at Procter & Gamble for over 7 years. Earl Blanks received his undergraduate degree from University of Arkansas and his MBA from Cornell University.