Tim Hoerr is a seasoned business executive with nearly 40 years of experience in a variety of industries. He serves as the CEO and managing partner of Serra Ventures, which he founded in 2008. He was cofounder and former CEO of iCyt Mission Technology Inc., a highly successful bio-instrument company that won numerous awards for technology and business excellence and which was acquired by Sony Corp. in late 2009. Tim was awarded the Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award at the 2009 Innovation Celebration. Prior to iCyt, Tim was the president and chief financial officer of SourceGear, an early internet browser company focused on mobile devices. Subsequent to his tenure at SourceGear and iCyt, he served as the CEO of ImmuVen, a drug development company that was acquired by a large pharmaceutical company in 2014.

Tim spent nearly all of the first 15 years of his professional career with RSM McGladrey (now RSM) in Illinois and San Diego, leading teams of consultants focused on serving middle-market clients. In his capacity as consulting partner with McGladrey, Tim provided leadership on a regional and national level. He also served on two national committees for the American Society of Certified Public Accountants (Business Valuation and Emerging Services). A published author and former professional speaker, he has given over 300 speaking and workshop presentations in his professional career.

LinkedIn

Serra Ventures

The epitome of an entrepreneur, Mark has seen the peaks and valleys of starting, operating, and assuming the risks of a new venture. He’s come up against payroll, had a few bad hires, and even swept the floors early on. As a founder, Mark has scaled his companies from $0 to greater than $400 million in revenue. Collectively, Mark’s portfolio companies have raised more than $1.1 billion in venture capital, and he has successfully bought and/or sold nine companies.

Among Mark’s previous companies is Nordic Consulting Partners, the industry leader in EHR consulting services to organizations using Epic. As CEO, Mark helped Nordic achieve a #1 in KLAS ranking, where it has remained since 2012. Nordic now has over 700 consultants working across 44 states. In 2014, the company was recognized as the 46th fastest-growing company in the country.

Prior to his time at Nordic, Mark founded Goliath Networks. He grew it to #97 on the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Companies list and sold that company in 2002. Mark has worked with Eric Schmidt on Novell’s Partner Advisory Group and was also asked by Bill Gates to serve on Microsoft’s first Partner Advisory Council, which he did from 2001 to 2007.

A Badger at heart, Mark grew up in the Milwaukee area before attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from which he holds a degree in computer science.

LinkedIn

HealthX Ventures

David is Chief Financial Officer and a Managing Director for Venture Investors LLC and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He first joined the firm in 2000 as an analyst and progressed into a full-time Associate role where he was responsible for due diligence, pipeline building, and market research. In 2003, he departed to pursue an opportunity as CFO and partner at an environmental company in the Milwaukee area. While there, he was directly involved in the acquisition of four competitors, as well as the merger with another company that expanded its geographic footprint.

He rejoined Venture Investors as CFO in 2016.

Prior to 2000, David started his career as an auditor in Chicago at Shepard Schwartz & Harris LLP, specializing in medium sized family businesses. From there, he went to Cumulus Media, a start-up radio station company focused on acquiring and consolidating radio stations in small and medium sized markets. With David working on its acquisition team, Cumulus grew into a media giant, acquiring over 300 stations. He was also involved in the company’s initial public stock offering.

Venture Investors

Interested companies should reach out to Jenni Le at jenni@ventureinvestors.com.

Carrie Thome is a seasoned executive and Board Member with decades of experience in delivering top-quartile investment results. She co-founded NVNG in late 2019 with Grady Buchanan with the mission to bring venture capital to those interested in the asset class.

In her former role of Chief Investment Officer for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Carrie oversaw management of a $3 billion investment portfolio, managing a team of seven financial professionals. In 2017 and 2016, she was named the 26th and 18th most powerful institutional investor in the world by Chief Investment Officer. Investors ranked asset owners by five factors: innovation, collaboration, talent development, fund size, and tenure.

Carrie joined WARF in 2001 as the Associate Investment Director and became Chief Investment Officer in 2007. Prior to joining WARF, she was Assistant Portfolio Manager for a $3 billion private equity portfolio at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.  Carrie is based in Madison, WI.

LinkedIn

NVNG

Jonathon Horne is a La Crosse native with a deep appreciation for the region. Before returning home to La Crosse as the Idea Fund Managing Director, Jon worked in investment banking for J.P. Morgan at its New York headquarters. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University, and an MBA and JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He lives in La Crosse with his wife Kylie and their son James.

LinkedIn

Idea Fund