William Blake Winchell

For the past 37 years, Blake has focused on private equity investments with Leucadia National Corporation, the Channel Investment Group, Generation Ventures, The Fremont Group and Partner Ventures.  In addition to founding Partner Ventures, Blake founded Fremont Ventures which EETimes named as one of the top 10 venture capital firms in the US for adding value to portfolio companies.

Blake joined Bain & Company in 1978 and was one of the founders of the San Francisco Bain office.  In 1985, he joined the Brae Corporation division of Leucadia National Corporation (NYSE – LUK) as Vice President of Strategic Planning, and subsequently founded and managed the acquisition group for Leucadia.

Blake graduated from Dartmouth College in 1975 with high honors in English and Economics as a Rufus Choate Scholar where he was awarded the Henley Economics Prize.  He received his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1979 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Blake lives in Park City, UT.  He is a member of the Young President’s Organization and is an adjunct professor at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, one Europe’s leading business schools, where he teaches highly rated courses on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Acquisition (Search Funds).  Blake has received the Award for Teaching Excellence from IE in each of the last 22 elective cycles.

CORPORATE EXPERIENCE

• Managing General Partner, Partner Ventures, Park City, UT, 2009 – Present

• Managing General Partner, Fremont Ventures, San Francisco, CA, 1998 – 2020

• General Partner, Generation Ventures, San Mateo, CA, 1996 ­­- 1998

• Managing General Partner, Channel Investment Group, San Francisco, CA, 1991 – 1996

• Vice President Acquisitions, Leucadia National Corp., San Francisco, CA 1985 – 1991

• Manager, Bain and Company, Menlo Park, CA, 1978 – 1983

• Audit Staff, Price Waterhouse & Company, Boston, MA 1975 – 1977

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

• Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, IE University, Spain, 2011 – Present

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

• MBA Strategy and Finance, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Palo Alto, CA 1979

• Advanced Accounting Program, Cornell Business School, Ithaca, NY, 1975

• AB English and Economics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 1975