Born in Israel, Shaul Zislin received a degree in economics from the University of Calgary and moved to Florida in 1991 to begin a journey of entrepreneurship. Shaul joined Surf Style, a clothing manufacturing company, and quickly became a partner and instrumental in the chain’s development of a retail strategy. Since that first endeavour, Shaul has branched out to become a prominent developer of high-density resort developments, a major owner and board member of a bank, and is an investor in a number of other enterprises. Shaul founded The Hangout restaurant in 2008 on a beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Hangout features family style dining and hosts an entertainment facility that features live music nightly. This was Shaul’s first encounter with the music world, and led him to conceive the idea for the Hangout Music Festival as a vehicle to increase tourist traffic in the area. On May 13 2010, the inaugural Hangout Music Festival was held while the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was brewing in the Gulf Coast waters. Later that summer, while dealing with lingering effects of oil spill, Shaul presented to BP and local authorities a plan to use music concerts to stimulate a crippled tourist market. The series of free to the public Concerts For The Coast were a huge success and featured Jimmy Buffet, Bon Jovi and Brad Paisley. Over 100,000 attendees flocked to the concerts and to the coast to witness the conditions first hand and became ambassadors of good will to the Gulf area. In May 2011, the second annual Hangout Music Festival sold-out all 35,000 tickets and established itself as a legitimate and unique music destination.