Richard D. Crawford

Richard Crawford is a Managing Director of TJ Capital Group, LLC, a financial services advisory firm, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Darden Graduate Business School at the University of Virginia where he teaches part-time in the MBA and Executive Programs and assists in the development of new course material in the areas of financial services and private capital.

Mr. Crawford has been an entrepreneur and financial services consultant for 20 years. In the mid-1990s, he established an Internet-based matching service for small businesses seeking equity capital. Currently, he is involved with establishing the Virginia Active Angel Network (VAAN) to service the central and southern Virginia region. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, consultant and academic, Mr. Crawford spent 10 years in the management of major financial service organizations including Citibank, Crocker National Bank and Dean Witter.

Mr. Crawford is the author or co-author of five books on the financial services industry, economic trends and financing small business. His most recent book Smart Financial Management: The Essential Reference for the Successful Small Business was co-authored with William Sihler of the Darden School and published by AMACOM in the fall of 2004. Mr. Crawford holds B.A., M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from U.VA.

Christopher Rand

Associate, Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development (VU OTTED)

The VU OTTED is a one-stop shop for technology commercialization at Vanderbilt. Christopher works primarily on the Enterprise Development side of the shop, which assists in the creation of, and often invests capital in, Vanderbilt start-ups. The Enterprise Development function was folded back in with Technology Transfer 2 ½ years ago. Since that time, Vanderbilt has been involved in helping create 8 start-ups, and has invested capital in 6 of those.

About Rick Holdren

Co-Founder of Equivision, publicly traded on NASDAQ and sold for over 70 million cash, and EquiMed a publicly traded cancer management company with a market cap over $200 million, Rick has additionally co-founded/Invested in Physician Trust (venture backed by over 5 million in investment), DaVincian Technologies (picked by Bob Ryan’s High-Tech Start-up Boot Camp), Austin Med Tech a publicly traded surgical ‘pack’ company, DermAmerica, a national cosmetic dermatology firm & MD Pain Clinics.

As a serial entrepreneur Rick has founded or invested in over 26 healthcare start-ups and named as 2002 Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Mentor of the year. Rick also was a partner in the nation’s largest physician search firm, a director of physician relations at a major hospital management firm and co-founder of Texas’s largest practice management firm.

He currently owns Appraisal & Mentor Group LLC, which is a top 3 M & A and healthcare valuation firm with over 2500+ completed assignments including over 200 court valuations. His current investment is a ‘virtual incubator’ with ‘space-act’ agreement with NASA to commercialize its phase III SBIR companies with matching venture investment.