Business Bio: Bob Whyte

PROFESSIONAL CAREER -
INVESTOR, ENTREPRENEUR, AND EXECUTIVE

Private Equity Investor:

• Since 1970, Bob has worked for leading private and corporate venture capital (VC) and leveraged buyout (LBO) firms including Payson & Trask, GE Ventures, Fortis, Tullis-Dickerson, and Research Triangle Ventures.
• As a venture capital institutional investor for PaineWebber in NYC, Bob worked as a “gatekeeper” helping corporate pension plan clients, including AT&T and United Technologies Corporation invest in venture capital and leveraged buyout funds in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
• His work required doing extensive due diligence on a wide range of high-tech and low-tech companies and industries, and serving on 14 boards, resulting in a track record of top quartile returns on investments in both companies and funds.

Entrepreneur:

• As part of his career in private equity investing, Bob served as CEO for two turnarounds, a re-start, and two startups, both of which were private equity funds of funds.

Executive:

• Before and during his career in private equity, Bob was an executive or senior staff member of leading industrial and financial services firms, including Federal Pacific Electric, IBM, GE Capital, and FORTIS, and PaineWebber.
  

PROFESSIONAL CAREER - BREADTH OF EXPERIENCE

• Experience in wide range of organizational settings, functional roles and industries - corporate staff (marketing, finance, corporate development, strategic planning); branch office (sales, computer systems engineer); all sizes (Fortune 100 to startups); high- and lo-tech industries; interim CEO for two companies in financial trouble and one “re-start”; founder and CEO of two startups
• Broad range of private equity investor experience in terms of: type of owner/sponsor (institutional investor, wealthy family, corporation, SBIC); investment type (VC, LBO); stage of growth (seed-late stage); industry (diversified, lo- and hi-tech); and risk/reward as reflected in financial instruments used (common and preferred stock, subordinated debt, warrants, secured debt)
• Geographical Exposure - worked and lived in Northeast, West Coast, Southwest, Southeast and, through VC work, was exposed to virtually all regions of the U.S. and selected cities of Chinese Asia.
  

EDUCATION

BS in Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley

MBA, Harvard Business School