14
Keith Bank
Founder & Managing Partner
KB Partners, LLC
“I was honored and humbled to be one of the founders and
an early Chairman of the IVCA. I am so proud of what this
organization has done for the venture and PE firms in town
via its programming, industry advocacy and fostering
collaboration amongst our members”.
Victor Gutwein
Managing Director
M25
"We've backed over 50 Illinois-headquartered companies
in the past 10 years. Illinois's VC and startup ecosystem is
more vibrant than ever and will continue to produce
unicorns for decades to come. IVCA has laid a deep
groundwork to support VCs and startups and a significant
part of this growth is due to them."
Bret Maxwell
Managing General Partner
MK Capital
“In the early days of the IVCA, we spent a lot of time with
Illinois legislators including Barack Obama.  He was a
relatively junior state senator at the time, in his first or
second term, but clearly had the respect of his colleagues,
particularly on economic development issues and capital
formation. And before we started the IVCA Annual Awards
dinner, (Thank you Steve Beitler for being the catalyst for
the IVCA Awards Dinner), for a couple years, IVCA
sponsored an annual dinner that included the VC/PE
industry, portfolio companies and state and local elected
officials. In 2000 or 2001, after the dotcom bubble burst,
IVCA held one of those dinners that was sparsely attended
and where my wife and I along with 2 or 3 others had dinner
with then State Senator Barack Obama (it was a table of 12
or 16 as I recall with more than a few empty seats) having
no idea a few years later he would be a US Senator and
then President.  
Congratulations to Bruce Barron on being honored this
evening!!!  I vividly remember Bruce and Steve Miller
moving into our offices on Skokie Blvd. when they first
formed Origin Ventures in ~2004.   Well done!”

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