Chris Sloan is the co-chair of the Firm’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group, focusing on corporate structure and governance, venture capital financings, M&A, contract law, and IP protection for early-stage, high-growth businesses. He advises technology and healthcare companies on complex IT transactions and emerging technologies like AI, digital health, and blockchain.
Dr. Charleson S. Bell, PhD is a modern day polymath, pioneering and drawing from multiple fields and bodies of knowledge to solve many of the world's current problems. A multi-talented man of Faith, Dr. Bell not only excels in Innovation and Research but also the arts including Creative Writing and Music/Film Production. Unifying and uplifting others, either through innovation or art, is his passion.
David Blittner is chair of the private equity transactions group and a partner in the New York office. David is a seasoned corporate transactions attorney with over 30 years of experience practicing in New York. He advises private equity sponsors in connection with acquisitions, dispositions and financings. He has deep experience steering leveraged buyouts and dispositions of public and private companies, as well as minority investments, public recapitalizations and restructurings.
As founder and CEO of ZIRUS, David oversaw the development of a host based antiviral drug platforms. David was the Head of the Biotechnology Patent Group at Needle & Rosenberg as the group rose to national prominence through its association with the NIH, NIAID, and the CDC. He was also a co-founder of Georgia Venture Partners and a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors at Maxia Pharmaceuticals, where he directed the strategy of the drug patent portfolio before it was acquired by Incyte Pharmaceuticals.
Rebecca Silberman is an Investment Director on the Venture Team at RA Capital Management. Rebecca's primary responsibilities include identifying compelling opportunities for new company creation and investments in early-stage companies, as well as advising RA's portfolio companies. Rebecca has a BA in Biology from Colgate University and a PhD in Biology from MIT.
An internationally renowned political scientist, management scholar and visionary leader, Diermeier is Vanderbilt’s ninth chancellor.
Vanderbilt named Diermeier chancellor in late 2019 after an extensive search by the Board of Trust. In May 2024, the Board of Trust extended Diermeier’s contract until 2035 “as a demonstration of our confidence in Chancellor Diermeier’s leadership and to support the realization of his long-term vision for the university.
Padma Raghavan is the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation and Chief Research Officer, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University.
Gary has 25 years experience as a General Partner of institutional VCs. Peat’s primary focus throughout has been a seed lead investor in B2B Saas in the South/Southeast. Starting with Council Capital’s debut fund in 2000 in Nashville, Gary was a General Partner for 3 funds at Council Capital focused on seed and early stage B2B Saas serving health care. Prior to Council Capital, Gary was Principal at Stonehenge Partners. There he made his first seed stage investment, SecureTax.com, which was acquired by Intuit in 1999 and became Intuit’s Web Turbotax.
Joe brings 15+ years of experience scaling technology companies to Front Porch and is our primary contact for all tech-focused fund partners and direct investments.
Blake Patton is the founder and Managing General Partner of Tech Square Ventures where he leads investments in enterprise software, marketplace, and platform technology companies. Under his leadership, the firm has invested in more than 100 early-stage companies and launched Engage, an innovative corporate innovation and enterprise startup accelerator program.
