Keynote
Scott Meadow
Clinical Professor of Entrepreunership, University of chicago Booth School of Business
Since 1982, Scott Meadow has been a principal investor in the private equity industry.
Scott Meadow is the Faculty Director of Global Initiatives and since 2000 has held the position of Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was awarded the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Phoenix Prize. He was designated by Business Week's "Guide to the Best Business Schools" (2003, 8th edition) and (2005, 9th edition) as one of the outstanding entrepreneurial professors in the country. Professor Meadow has taught 5000 students at Chicago Booth, in Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity, Commercializing Innovation (which he created) and the New Venture Challenge.
Scott has over 25 years experience as a general partner with four venture capital and private equity firms including William Blair Venture Partners, The Frontenac Company, The Sprout Group, and most recently with the Edgewater Funds, where he remains a Senior Advisor. Over the course of his career, Scott has approved hundreds of equity financings, been active in fundraising and has personally led, originated or created more than sixty investments including two dozen healthcare services companies, over a dozen consumer services and retail companies, as well as companies enhanced by the Internet. Scott has been recognized four times by Venture One as one of the outstanding healthcare investors in the industry.
Representative investments include Coventry Corporation, HEALTHSOUTH, Sunrise Assisted Living, Sunrise International, Managed Health Network, Aspen Education Services, Pathology Partners, Heritage Healthcare, MedPartners, The Sports Authority, CompUSA and Staples. Scott recently served on the board of directors of National Equipment Services (NASDAQ: NLEQ) during its emergence from Chapter 11. He currently serves on the Board of Advanced Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ADLS),Barrier Safe, GenerationOne and is an Advisor to American Apparel.
Professor Meadow earned his A.B. Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. (back to top)
LP Panel: Fundraising within the VC Community
Du H. Chai
Managing Director, Private Investments and Real Assets
Northwestern University
Mr. Chai joined Northwestern University in 2001 and manages the Private Investments and Real Assets portfolios for Northwestern University’s $6 billion Endowment. Mr. Chai is responsible for all aspects of these portfolios, which includes venture capital, buyout, real estate, natural resources, and timber investments. Mr. Chai serves on several LP Advisory Boards of venture capital and buyout funds. In addition, Mr. Chai manages a separate portfolio for Northwestern University’s Athletic Department, which consists of public and private investments. Prior to joining Northwestern University, Mr. Chai was at J.P. Morgan & Co in the Corporate Finance/ Mergers and Acquisitions Group where he focused on basic and consumer/retail industries. Mr. Chai received a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. (back to top)
Robert M. DeBolt
Managing Director, Mesirow Financial Private Equity
Mr. DeBolt is involved in all aspects of the private equity investment process and is a member of the Mesirow Financial Private Equity Investment Committee. In this capacity, Mr. DeBolt has responsibility for sourcing and due diligence of commitments to venture capital, growth equity, buyout and special situations partnerships. Mr. DeBolt is also actively involved in executing venture capital and buyout co-investments alongside Mesirow Financial's general partner relationships. Mr. DeBolt joined Mesirow Financial in 2004. Previously, he was a Principal with Adams Street Partners and an Associate Director with UBS Brinson Partners, where he was responsible for screening, due diligence and monitoring of private equity partnership investments. Prior to joining UBS Brinson Partners in 1999, Mr. DeBolt was an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Princeton University. (back to top)
Bradley M. Dorchinecz
Senior Vice President and Co-Founder, Private Equity Fund-of-Funds Group, Northern Trust
Bradley M. Dorchinecz is a Senior Vice President and Co-Founder of the Private Equity Fund-of-Funds Group at Northern Trust, which manages approximately $950 million in private equity fund commitments. He is responsible for sourcing and analyzing venture capital and buyout partnership investment opportunities in the U.S. and Europe. He previously was an investment professional at Mercantile Capital Partners, a venture capital and growth equity fund located in Northbrook, Illinois. Prior to Mercantile, Brad spent five years at Heller Financial (now a part of GE Capital), providing senior debt to middle market buyout funds.
Mr. Dorchinecz is on the Advisory Boards for Trinity Ventures and Open Prairie Ventures. He speaks frequently at industry conferences, including recent appearances at the IBF Early Stage Venture Capital Conference, Super Return, and the European Venture Capital Association Middle Market Buyout Forum.
Mr. Dorchinecz graduated with High Honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Finance and received his MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. (back to top)
Thomas Gladden
Adam Street Partners
Tom is a Partner primarily specializing in venture capital fund investments. He is responsible for managing relationships with several of Adams Street’s managers including Alta Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Summit Partners. He actively participates in all fund investment decisions at Adams Street.
Prior to joining the Firm in 2002, Tom worked for one year as an Associate with the Private Capital & Real Estate team at Duke Management Company. In this role, his responsibilities included screening and performing due diligence on investment opportunities and serving as a point person for existing fund investments. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the Youth and Family Resource Center in Chicago for almost six years, responsible for financial, administrative and programmatic operations. He also has over three years experience with APM Incorporated where he managed task forces in hospitals throughout the country that developed strategic plans, projected financial performance and negotiated contractual agreements.
Tom is a member of the Adams Street Partners Primary Partnership Sub-Committee and the NVCA. He sits on advisory boards for six private equity firms within the Adams Street Partners portfolio. (back to top)
Shea Goggin
Executive Director, UBS Private Funds Group
Shea Goggin joined the UBS Private Funds Group in 2008 and has responsibility for managing limited partner relationships in the U.S. Midwest. Shea is also actively involved in originating primary and secondary investment opportunities. Prior to joining UBS, Shea was a Principal with a boutique placement agent in Chicago, responsible for building general partner and limited partner relationships. Shea brings over seven years of private equity experience having worked as a principal private equity investor with ABS Capital Partners for almost four years, prior to joining a portfolio company CEO as part of the turnaround management team of a London and Chicago based operating company. Prior to ABS Capital Partners, Shea was an investment banker with Alex. Brown & Sons. Shea graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a concentration in finance. (back to top)
Turning Up the Heat: How Venture Capital Can Help Fuel the Economic Transformation of the Great Lakes
Frank E. Samuel Jr.
On his Brookings Institute Whitepaper
As a lawyer and trade association leader in Washington and a Federal and State official, Frank Samuel has dealt with recurring aspects of health care innovation, including public and private funding, entrepreneurship, venture capital formation, technology evaluation, and domestic and foreign government regulation. His most recent professional position was Science and Technology Advisor to the Governor of Ohio, where he was a principal architect of Ohio’s Third Frontier Project, one of the nation’s premier State initiatives to encourage economic development through support of applied research, technology commercialization and early stage capital creation.
Samuel currently serves on the National Advisory Council of the California Health Benefits Review Program and the Board of Directors of the Global Cardiology Innovation Center of The Cleveland Clinic. He chairs the Board of Directors of Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. He has served as a member of Institute of Medicine advisory bodies on biomedical technology issues and as a member of several biomedical company boards of directors. A graduate of Hiram College and Harvard Law School, his paper on venture capital in the Great Lakes region was published in January 2010 by The Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.). (back to top)
GP Panel: The Risks and Rewards of Driving Investing in New Corporate Growth
How Venture Capital Firms are Navigating the Waters Going Forward
Bruce Ettleson
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Bruce I. Ettelson, P.C., is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he leads the firm’s Private Funds Group. His practice focuses on structuring and forming premier private equity funds and their management companies, including billion dollar plus funds for AEA, American Capital Strategies, Energy Capital Partners, Golden Gate Capital, Irving Place Capital (f/k/a Bear Stearns), Madison Dearborn Partners, Nautic Partners, Paul Capital Partners, Summit Partners and Vestar Capital Partners. Mr. Ettelson has represented over 75 private equity firms in the formation of more than 200 private equity funds. He is also involved in the structuring and formation of private equity funds associated with commercial and investment banks, represents investors in making and monitoring investments in private equity funds, and represents private equity clients in general corporate counseling.
Mr. Ettelson was selected as one of "40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch" by The Law Bulletin Publishing Company and named as one of "The International Who’s Who of Private Funds Lawyers" by Law Business Research Ltd. every year it has been published. The Legal 500 U.S., in its 2009 edition, recognized Mr. Ettelson as one of eight leading lawyers in the Private Equity Funds category and noted that "clients describe him as ‘incredibly bright with lots of energy,’ but at the same time, ‘extremely careful and very thoughtful,’ with an ‘almost encyclopedic knowledge of private equity.’" Additionally, Chambers & Partners, the international legal publisher, ranked Mr. Ettelson first in Private Equity: Fund Formation in its 200 Chambers USA guide, calling him an "absolutely top-notch, dynamite attorney" who "always has his finger on the pulse of the market." (back to top)
Lon Chow
General Partner, Apex
Lon Chow is a general partner with investment focus in software applications and technology-enabled services. Prior to joining Apex, Lon was a partner with Mercer Management Consulting (formerly Strategic Planning Associates), where he developed and implemented growth strategies for clients in computing, media, and telecommunications industries. He also held various operating management positions with Pacific Telesis. Lon received an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Davis.
Lon currently serves on the boards of Advanced Equities Financial Corp., Analyte Media, ALI Solutions, Appolicious, CraftedFun, Current Analysis, Sittercity, and Timelines. He is a board observer of MEI Corporation.
Lon's outside board membership includes Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and Viewpoints Network
Lon's previous investments included ICON Solutions (acquired by AnswerThink), KnowledgeStorm (acquired by TechTarget), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft), Shoebuy.com (acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp), Thinque Systems (acquired by MEI), Tradex Technologies (acquired by Ariba) and WorldPrints (acquired by At Home). (back to top)
Keith L. Crandell
Co-Founder, Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
Keith Crandell is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners, a 24 year-old seed and early stage venture capital partnership with offices in Chicago, Austin, San Francisco and Seattle. During this period ARCH has co-founded or co-leads the initial institutional round of financing of over 110 companies. ARCH Venture Partners is currently managing its seventh fund and focuses on core technology spin-outs from leading universities and other research organizations in the United States.
Mr. Crandell serves as a Director of the National Venture Capital Association and is a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee. He also has been active with the IVCA since inception, recently serving as Chairman. Since 2004 he has served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Treasurer’s Fund, a fund-of-funds focused on Illinois private equity partnerships.
Prior to ARCH, Mr. Crandell worked with Hercules, Inc., a specialty chemical and polymer company. He holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago, an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Lawrence University. (back to top)
Jim Dugan
CEO/Co-Founder/Managing Directore, OCA Ventures
Jim Dugan is the Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of OCA Ventures. Prior to co-founding OCA Ventures in 2001, Jim oversaw the OCA Ventures Pledge Fund which made direct venture capital investments for the O’Connor Partners Investment Office. Jim has board responsibilities for Techskills, EdMap, Home Preview Channel, Midi, TJDM, Base 2 Capital, and Cleversafe.
Jim has over 17 years of corporate finance, capital markets, and venture capital investment experience. Prior to forming OCA Ventures, Jim traded derivatives at the Chicago Board of Trade and worked in corporate finance with Continental Bank. While at Continental Bank, Jim participated in the structured financing of companies ranging in capital size from $10 million to several billion dollars and in the formation of a $150 million subsidiary to fund mezzanine debt and equity financings.
Jim received a BA in Economics from the University of Rochester and earned his MBA (MM) from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management. In addition to his responsibilities at OCA Ventures, Jim is a founding member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association (IVCA), where he formerly served five years as Treasurer, Director and member of the Executive Committee. Prior to serving as Treasurer, Jim was the Chairman of the Legislative Committee for the IVCA, in which capacity he helped establish HB 3212 as Illinois law. (back to top)
Sona Wang
Managing Director, Ceres Venture Fund L.P.
Sona Wang possesses over 20 years of venture investment experience. Since 1987, she has raised three Illinois-based venture capital funds with over $100 million under management. Previously, she was an investment manager with Allstate Venture Capital, one of the oldest institutional venture funds with over $400 million invested. Her investment focus has been in information technology, business services, and healthcare. She serves on numerous corporate boards including Chairman of VIPdesk, Inc. and Chairman of TrafficCast International, Inc. Other current board positions include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Northshore University Healthsystems.
Prior to her career in venture capital, Ms. Wang was employed with Intel Corporation in key management positions in engineering, manufacturing and marketing.
She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University where she is the Chairman of the Advisory Board to the Innovations and New Ventures Office. She also serves on Governor Quinn’s Economic Recovery Commission as a committee chairman. Other civic boards include trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors.
Ms. Wang was the recipient of the YWCA Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship in 2001. She was recognized in 2004 and in 2008 as one of the "100 Most Influential Women in Chicago" by Crains Business Chicago, as Business Leader of Color by Chicago United, and identified as among Corporate Directors to Watch by Directors & Boards Magazine, 2008.
Ms. Wang graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and received an M.B.A., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. (back to top)