Russell Moon founded PerioSciences in 2008 as his third entrepreneurial venture. Following his undergraduate degree at SMU, he worked in the field of finance. His first entrepreneurial business was Crescent Bankers Mortgage. Within two years, Crescent opened branches in Arlington, Texas and New Orleans, employed 40 people and achieved sales of $25 million. Mr. Moon sold the company to a financial clearinghouse in 1994. That same year, he and Alden Pinnell co-founded a skin care distribution company. SkinCeuticals developed and marketed stable, high-end topical antioxidants. The company’s chief medical advisor was Mr. Pinnell’s father, Dr. Sheldon Pinnell, who at the time was the chief of Dermatology at Duke University.
After years of building the skin care enterprise, they sold SkinCeuticals in 2005, in what was honored as the “Deal of Year/Southwest” award from The Deal finance and business magazine. Russell Moon and Alden Pinnell were named “Entrepreneurs of the Year/Southwest Division” by Ernst & Young in 2003.
Fresh from his success with SkinCeuticals, Moon applied his expertise with topical antioxidants to another venture. In early 2008 he enlisted the resources of a major dental university to determine how the anti-inflammatory effects of antioxidants on skin cells would translate to the oral environment. After two years of intensive research, development and testing, Moon’s new corporation, PerioSciences LLC, released its first antioxidant-based oral care product in January 2011. Research and development on new products are continuing.
