ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Venture Capital Association elected three new officers, re-elected three more and presented awards to top Michigan entrepreneurs at its annual meeting last week.
The new directors are Teri Willey of Arch Development Partners, Chicago; Mahendra Ramsinghani of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Lansing; and John Meilner of Bridge Street Capital Partners, Grand Rapids. All will serve three-year terms.
Three current directors were re-elected. Raj Kothari of Seneca Partners, Birmingham; and Jim Plonka of Dow Chemical, Midland, were elected to three-year terms. Mitch Mondry of M Group, Birmingham, was re-elected for one year. Mondry also was re-elected president. Jason Burr of Arbor Partners, Ann Arbor, was re-elected treasurer; and Mike Bernard of the Dykema Gossett law firm, Detroit, was re-elected secretary.
The MVCA presented its first Outstanding Entrepreneur Award to Roger Newton, founder, CEO and president of Esperion Therapeutics; and Tim Mayleben, COO of Esperion; for their success with the company. Esperion was sold to Pfizer this year for $1.3 billion, by far the most successful exit strategy for any Michigan technology company.
Other awards included:
Investment Success of the Year Award, presented to Tom Porter, general partner of EDF Ventures; and Tom Kinnear, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan; for their investment and guidance of IntraLase Corp., which went public in October 2004, and made both funds millions of dollars.
?One of our goals is to recognize and publicize successes in Michigan,?? Mondry said. ?We want to do that as much as we can to show we have some great entrepreneurs in Michigan.?
Following the elections and awards ceremony, MVCA members had an exciting and energetic discussion about how to increase deal flow in Michigan and how the group can create and nurture more quality opportunities within the state, Mondry said.
Some of the ideas included working more closely with Michigan?s universities and corporations to nurture technology spin outs. Another way could be to have investors in the community work together more and share resources and ideas.
?If we work better together we can make sure more companies are seen by more investors and become funded,? Mondry said.
The MVCA also decided to create a database of management talent looking for opportunities among start up technology companies. He said portfolio companies need top notch management with proven track records to succeed.
“The MVCA achieved a major milestone last year with the creation of the Venture Michigan Fund, which will provide up to $150 million of fresh capital to be invested in Michigan companies,” Mondry said. “Now the focus shifts to ensuring a solid and growing pipeline of exciting companies that can attract investment capital.”
