From Deals to Legacy: Lessons from the Dealmakers Hall of Fame
Presented By: Smart Business Dealmakers
What does a career spent building companies, backing entrepreneurs and navigating decades of change teach you about what really creates lasting value? Join three Dealmakers Hall of Fame inductees for a candid conversation about the deals and decisions that shaped their careers, how the Cincinnati investment landscape has evolved, what they’ve learned about entrepreneurs, capital and growth along the way, and the lessons they would pass along to the next generation of dealmakers.
Moderator:
Chief Content Officer
Smart Business
Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.
Panelists:
Chairman
QCA Ventures
Tony Shipley is a founder and Chairman of QCA Ventures based in Cincinnati, Ohio. QCA was one of the first angel groups formed in the Midwest and is an inaugural member of Angel Capital Association (ACA). He is also Chair Emeritus of ACA and the founder of the Angel Investor Foundation. He has founded and/or invested in over 120 start-ups or early-stage companies including direct investments and the family of Funds he co-manages.
Managing Partner
Blue Chip Venture Company
Jack founded Blue Chip in 1990 and has been responsible for some of its most successful investments, including USinternetworking, the first application service provider; Richwood Pharmaceuticals, the creator of Adderall; and Digex, the first internet service provider.
Prior to founding Blue Chip, he founded Blue Chip Broadcasting, a radio station group that was built from start-up to a sale for $180 million. Jack was also the CEO of two venture-backed companies, Home Entertainment Network and Nutrition Technology Corporation, after starting his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble and general management positions with Taft Broadcasting Company. He is actively involved with a coalition of entrepreneurs and investors that provides potential startups with business guidance and access to capital.
Managing Partner
RC Capital
Dan Fleming is managing partner at RC Capital, a private equity firm making growth investments in healthcare companies. He has been with RC Capital for 25 years, leading the process to raise eight funds and deploy over $1 billion of capital into over 100 companies. Prior to RC Capital, Dan spent five years with a family office investment firm and 10 years with Procter & Gamble, where he held progressive roles in engineering, operations, and finance. In addition to his investing career, Dan is on the finance and audit committee of St. Elizabeth Healthcare, on the impact committee of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, on the advisory board of Greenlight Fund Cincinnati, and is a former board of trustees member at Cincinnati Works and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.