April 16-18, 2008
Speakers
Featured Speakers
Michael G. Cain
Managing Member
Wilmington Investor Network, LLC
Michael G. Cain is the founder and managing partner of the Wilmington Investor Network, LLC (WIN), an angel investment pledge group he formed in July 2004. Since its inception, WIN has invested in 9 deals over several rounds totaling more than $5,000,000. WIN has lead two of those deals with term sheets and has partnered with Emergent Growth Fund of Gainesville, Florida. WIN has also partnered with or led rounds with Springboard Capital, Savannah Angels, and Charleston Angels. In 2007 Wilmington Pharmaceuticals a co-investment of WIN and Emergent Growth Fund announced a $7.5 M drug licensing deal with Salix Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh. In addition, Wilmington Pharmaceuticals will be entitled to an undisclosed royalty on estimated sales of greater than $100 M per year after the drug receives FDA approval and goes on sale now anticipated for first quarter of 2009.
He is a member of the Board and Treasurer of the Angel Capital Education Foundation Inc, a non profit angel research and education foundation originally created and funded by the Kauffman Foundation. He remains Vice Chairman of The Atlantis group a fully invested angel group based in Durham, NC.
Dennis Gillings, Ph.D., CBE
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Quintiles Transnational Corp.
Dr. Dennis Gillings began providing statistical consulting and data management services to pharmaceutical clients in 1974 during his tenure as professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Quintiles arose from his consulting activities and was incorporated in 1982 with 10 employees. He serves on several boards and councils, including the UNC School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Council; the Graduate Education Advancement Board of the Graduate School of UNC-Chapel Hill; the University of Southampton Board of Trustees; the Judge Business School Advisory Council; the Scottish Enterprise Advisory Council, and ICAgen, Inc. He formerly served as the founding Chairman of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations, a Washington-based trade group formed in 2002. With nearly 30 years’ experience in drug development applications and theory, Dr. Gillings has provided expert consultation to numerous companies and health organizations, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Dental Research and the Institute of Medicine. He served for more than 15 years as a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from the University in May 2001. He was honored by the Queen as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2004 for services to the Pharmaceutical Industry. He was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Southampton University in 2006.
Mark G. Heesen
President
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
As President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen is responsible for setting the strategic direction for all Association activities, including public policy efforts, research initiatives, educational programs, and member services. In this capacity, Mark works closely with the NVCA professional staff and Board of Directors to demonstrate the positive impact of venture capital investment on the United States economy. Under his direction, the NVCA has created numerous value-added sub-groups including the CFO Task Force, Strategic Communications Group, Corporate Venture Capital Group, Medical Industry Group and Human Capital forum, all of which are dedicated to supporting NVCA membership in uniquely critical areas.
As a spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to present the overarching venture capital perspective to a wider audience. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, appears regularly on CNBC, and is consistently quoted in the press in stories concerning venture capital trends.
Since 1991, Mark has worked on behalf of the NVCA to enact a wide range of policies that benefit the venture capital and entrepreneurial communities, including a significant capital gains differential, securities litigation reform, numerous SEC and FASB accounting issues, immigration reform, and a streamlining of the FDA and CMS approval processes, among other issues.
Prior to coming to the NVCA, Mark was an aide to a former Governor of Pennsylvania and was Deputy Director for Federal Funds reporting to the Texas Legislature. Mark received a law degree with an emphasis in taxation from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.
Jonathan Rowe
Program Director
Center for Business and Economic Services
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Jonathan Rowe has been involved with the founding and growth of two technology startups and has also worked as a project manager for IBM Global Services on large scale networking projects in the U.S. and Europe. He helped build the entrepreneurship program at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and has taught undergraduate, graduate, and executive entrepreneurship courses in the United States, South Africa, Greece, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia. Jonathan is currently the Program Director of the Center for Business and Economic Services at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and an Entrepreneurship Professor.
Featured Panel Session Speakers
W. Barnes Hauptfuhrer
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Chapter IV Investors, LLC
Barnes is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chapter IV Investors, LLC, an investment firm he founded in February 2006. He previously served as Co-Head of the Corporate & Investment Banking Division of Wachovia Corporation, formerly, First Union Corporation (“First Union”), a financial services corporation, from September 2001 to May 2004 and served as Senior Executive Vice President of Wachovia Corporation from February 2002 to May 2004. Prior to the merger of Wachovia and First Union, Barnes served as Co-Head of the Corporate & Investment Banking Division of First Union from January 2000 to September 2001, Co-Head of Investment Banking from January 1999 to December 1999 and as a Managing Partner of First Union Capital Partners, a private equity investment group within First Union (which he founded) from April 1988 to December 1998. Barnes also serves as a director of National Gypsum Company.
James A. Mason, Jr.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Parish Capital Advisors, LLP
James is a Managing Partner based in Chapel Hill, NC. He previously served as Director of Private Investments for the Duke Management Company (“DUMAC”), where his portfolio comprised approximately $2 billion of commitments representing over 200 investments. Prior to DUMAC, James was at Houlihan Lokey, Bowles Hollowell Conner and First Chicago. He holds a BS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Northwestern (Kellogg).
About Parish Capital Advisors: Parish Capital Advisors, LLP provides a full service private equity solution for institutional investors in a fund-of-funds format and currently manages $1.6 billion. With offices in Chapel Hill, NC and London, the Partnership makes private equity investments primarily in experienced managers of early stage venture capital funds and small and middle-market buyout funds as well as opportunistic investments including co-investments in companies and the purchase of secondary interests.
Sallie Shuping Russell
Managing Director of BAA
BlackRock, Inc.
Russell is managing director of BAA, a unit of BlackRock. She was previously a principal at Quellos Private Capital Markets until it was acquired by BlackRock in October 2007. She graduated from Carolina with an A.B. in English and political science in 1977 and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1983. Her University service has included the University Board of Visitors, the Board of Advisors of the School of Public Health, a Trustee of the Endowment Fund, a director of the UNC Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Foundation Investment Fund, Inc. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the UNC Health Care System. Russell was a general partner with Intersouth Partners, an early stage venture capital firm, and a founding member and vice president of the Duke Management Company, where she was responsible for the private investment portfolio and an assistant vice president of Duke University. She also was vice president at McMillion/Eubanks Capital Management in Greensboro, and was a consultant with Cambridge Associates in Boston prior to returning to North Carolina. She formerly served on the Boards of Commonfund Capital, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development Board, and as a trustee of St. Mary's School.
Mark W. Yusko
Co-Founder, President and Chief Investment Officer
Morgan Creek Capital Management, LLC
Mark W. Yusko is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser formed in July 2004 to provide investment management and advisory services based on the University Endowment Model of investing to wealthy families, individuals and institutional investors.
Morgan Creek currently has $9.3 billion in assets under advisement in non-discretionary accounts, discretionary funds and joint ventures. Morgan Creek provides an “Outsourced CIO” solution to clients in need of a comprehensive investment solution, as well as a suite of manager-of-manager products to assist clients in building investment programs based on the University Endowment Model. MCCM provides best-in-class thinking about Asset Allocation, Manager Selection and Portfolio Construction through advisory relationships and discretionary investment vehicles. Currently, Morgan Creek offers five discretionary funds: Morgan Creek Fund, Morgan Creek Partners, Tiger Select Opportunity Fund, Tiger Select Absolute Return Fund and Tiger Select BRIC Plus Fund. Additionally, Morgan Creek has formed joint venture partnerships with Salient Partners and Hatteras Partners to provide comprehensive investment solutions through a series of SEC registered investment vehicles.
Prior to forming Morgan Creek, Mark served as the Chief Investment Officer for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 1998 to 2004. Mark, and his team, founded the UNC Management Company (UNCMC) in July of 2002 to provide comprehensive investment advisory services to the University including strategic and tactical asset allocation, investment manager selection, manager performance evaluation, spending policy management and performance reporting. The Management Company was also responsible for providing Cash Management and Planned Giving Management services as well as aiding in the commercialization of University technology and real estate development projects. UNCMC also provided outsourced investment management services to select schools within the UNC System. Total assets under management were $1.5 billion, $1.2 billion of Endowment and $300 million of University working capital.
Prior to joining UNC, Mark was the Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office, where he joined as the Assistant Investment Officer, in October of 1993. He worked with the Chief Investment Officer in all aspects of Endowment Management including asset allocation, investment manager selection, manager performance evaluation, spending policy management and reporting to the Board of Trustees. Mark was primarily responsible for portfolio construction and was actively involved in establishing and building strong programs in real estate, private equity and marketable alternatives.
At both Notre Dame and at UNC, Mark co-founded the Applied Investment Management course where a select group of students actively managed a live equity portfolio. The class focused on the integration of academic investment theory and the practical investment management process, and has enjoyed tremendous success since inception. Mark received his Bachelor of Science Degree, with honors, in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 and a Masters of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago in 1987.
Mark is an active speaker on investment topics ranging from asset allocation to manager selection, with a particular emphasis on the integration of alternative investments into traditional portfolios. Mark is an Advisory Board member of a number of private capital partnerships and alternative investment programs and has served as a consultant on alternative investments to a select group of institutions. He is currently a Board member of the MCNC Endowment, The Weaver Foundation and Carolina Meadows.
Steve Nelson
Managing Director and Partner
Wakefield Group, L.P.
Steve Nelson joined Wakefield Group in October 1999 as Managing Director and Partner. He established the venture capital firm’s Research Triangle Park, NC office. Steve joined Wakefield after 19 years of executive and general management experience in technology, software and Internet-based businesses. During the last three years of his business career before starting at Wakefield, Steve was at Quokka Sports, a digital media company, in several executive capacities. Quokka raised over $140m in capital and successfully completed an IPO in July, 1999. Steve served as chief executive of a joint venture company between NBC Sports and Quokka Sports, NBC/Quokka Ventures, LLC.
Prior to Quokka, Steve served as a Vice President with Informix Software, based in Menlo Park, CA. His first business experience was 14-plus years at IBM, ultimately as Vice President and General Manager in San Francisco.
Steve is a former member of the board of directors at Constella Group, recently sold to SRA International (SRX) for $185M. He is currently a board member at Motricity, APEX Analytix, Integrian, Near-Time, rPath, FrontStream, RxMedic, Liquidia (where he also served as CEO), and BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina. He is past Chairman of North Carolina’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), is currently a Foundation board member at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, sits on the Investment Committee for the Triangle Community Foundation, and is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the State Treasurer of North Carolina, helping oversee the State’s $77B investment portfolio.
Steve received his B.S. degree in Business from Wake Forest University.
Find out more about past Venture conferences and their line-up of speakers and presenting companies: