Investors-in-Residence

Investors-in-Residence

Investors-in-Residence

The Investor-in-Residence (IIR) program provides mentorship and coaching to University of Chicago Booth students and alumni interested in learning about and pursuing careers in private equity, venture capital, and entrepreneurship through acquisition. Successful Chicago-based investors are available to meet one-on-one with students throughout the academic year and also regularly host workshop and small group lunch and learns.

The IIR program is open to current students and alumni. You can request an appointment with any of our EIR or IIRs here.

Please reach out to Kate Turvy (kate.turvy@chicagobooth.edu) with any questions.

Duane Jackson

Duane Jackson

Founder Author Capital Partners

Focus: Founder and family-led businesses, private equity and growth equity
Program involvement: Student workshops and Sterling Partners Investment Thesis Challenge (SPITC)

Duane Jackson is the founder of Author Capital Partners, a private investment firm that provides long-term, flexible capital and strategic resources to founder- and family-led businesses.

Duane previously worked at BDT Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on founder- and family-led businesses. At BDT, he had broad responsibilities including sourcing and executing transactions, leading research initiatives, and developing the firm’s approach to ESG. Duane also served as a Toigo Private Equity Fellow at Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on software and technology businesses. Duane first learned to creatively address complex challenges as a member of the Chief Investment Office for TARP at the U.S. Treasury Department during the global financial crisis, prior to which, Duane served as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Duane earned an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was an MLT Fellow and earned a BBA from the George Washington University. He proudly serves as an investor-in-residence at Chicago Booth and serves as a trustee at Lake Forest Academy.

Tim Kelly, MBA '00

Tim Kelly, MBA '00

Focus: Private equity, entrepreneurship, career strategy and transformation, capital formation, complex financing structures, organizational dynamics/team building/leadership, decision theory, and crisis management
Program involvement: Private Equity Case Challenge (PECC), student workshops, and one-on-one student career counseling

Tim has been involved in private equity for nearly three decades in senior leadership and investment management roles with Allstate Insurance Company, Heller Financial, GE Capital, and Adams Street Partners. Tim began his career with Goldman Sachs in Chicago where he traded over-the-counter (OTC) securities and managed the office’s OTC market expansion efforts.  He went on to manage billions of dollars in private equity related investment programs and to complete hundreds of successful international partnership and direct equity and fixed income investments. He is proud of an extensive global network of general and limited partner relationships he developed throughout his career as a result of his personable interaction style, objectivity and candor, and desire to help others succeed. His vast industry knowledge and experiences transcend finance, investments, law, international business, and complex capital formation structures.

At the age of 54, Tim achieved a life-long goal when he received his PhD in organizational psychology from Northcentral University with a dissertation topic focused on how private companies become entrepreneurially oriented. He has an insatiable appetite for continuously learning as evidenced by, in addition to his psychology doctorate, an undergraduate degree in economics, magna cum laude, from Dominican University; a law degree, summa cum laude, from The John Marshall Law School; and an MBA in economics and international business from Chicago Booth. Tim has been an adjunct professor of undergraduate and graduate courses in finance, economics, and ethics, and is a writer and speaker on finance, leadership development, decision theory, organizational culture, and legal topics.

Tim retired from active private equity investment activities in 2013. He now consults in the areas of leadership development and private equity firm operational and organizational optimization, in addition to managing his family office and philanthropic endeavors.

Chris McGowan

Chris McGowan

Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship

Focus: Private equity, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and finance
Program involvement: Private Equity and Venture Capital Lab (PE/VC Lab), Sterling Partners Investment Thesis Challenge (SPITC), Private Equity Case Challenge (PECC), private equity workshops, student seminars, and student lunch and learns

Chris McGowan is the general partner of CJM Ventures (CJMV), a Chicago growth equity and private equity investment firm. McGowan’s private equity career began 29 years ago with AEA Investors in New York City, after earning an undergraduate degree in theoretical mathematics from Columbia University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and following two years of mergers and acquisitions training at Morgan Stanley. After completing an MBA at Harvard Business School, he joined Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP), where he co-headed their basic industries practice for the last five years of his 12-year career there. At MDP, he oversaw more than $2 billion of equity investments focused on buyouts and growth equity globally in the industrial, consumer, and energy and power sectors. In 2011, with the help of MDP leadership and mentors, McGowan formed CJMV, an investment firm focused on buyouts and growth equity investments in companies located near Chicago and London. McGowan is an active angel investor and currently serves as chairman of the limited partner advisory committee for Hyde Park Venture Partners Fund I (and a member of Fund II, III and IV’s boards), and as chairman of the advisory board for Valley Growth Ventures, and was formerly on the board of directors and portfolio advisory board of Hyde Park Angels.

Note: Chris only takes meetings with Booth MBA students. Students in the MiM or MiF program should book time with a different IIR for support.

Dipa Mehta, MBA '12

Dipa Mehta, MBA '12

Managing Partner, Cobalt Ventures

Focus: Venture capital, fundraising, and entrepreneurship
Program involvement: Student workshops and student lunch and learns

Dipa is a Managing Partner at Cobalt Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. Cobalt’s investment model drives a flywheel of value creation by aligning the strategic priorities of healthcare payers and providers with the achievement of key commercial milestones for our portfolio companies. She sits on the board of OncoHealth and MedArrive.

Dipa formerly led Corporate Development and Ventures group at Advocate Health Enterprises (AAE), an Advocate Health subsidiary that aims further the AH mission to help people live well by advancing innovative solutions that go beyond traditional clinical care. She led investments into Foodsmart, Xealth, and acquisitions into companies helping seniors to age in their home for longer. Dipa was also previously a Managing Director at Sandbox Industries, a venture capital firm which is the investment manager to the Blue Venture Fund. During her time at Sandbox, Dipa served on the boards of Contessa Health, Upward Health, Oncology Analytics, AbleTo, and Lumiata. Prior to Sandbox, Dipa was at Amgen Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Amgen. Dipa started her career in the Global Healthcare Group at UBS and the Healthcare Fund at Paul Capital Partners, which invested in late-stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Dipa holds a BS from the New York University Stern School of Business and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she received the Chicago Booth Leadership Award of Distinction. Dipa has also completed the Kauffman Fellowship, a prestigious two-year program for venture capitalists. Dipa is currently an Investor in Residence with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Booth where she advises students and teaches workshops.

Dipa lives in Chicago with her husband and twin boys.

Kim Vender Moffat

Kim Vender Moffat

Program involvement: Student advising and workshops

Kim Vender Moffat is an investor, board member, and advisor to early-stage, small, and middle-market growth companies. She is currently a Senior Advisor to the CEO of The Aspen Institute, and a board member of the First Women’s Bank and Impact Engine. She also founded Rosa Partners through which she advises and partners with founders and management of private companies, investment firms, and family offices.

Kim was previously a managing director at Sterling Partners where she focused on healthcare, consumer and education services companies. During her time at Sterling, she also built and led the firm’s investor relations, business development, and firm strategy functions. She also worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Company.

Kim earned an AB from Harvard University and a JD MBA from Pritzker School of Law and Kellogg School of Management.

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