Our Mission

Attracting Venture Capital

& Private Equity to Utah

Our Team

Bret Jepsen

Managing Director

• Northgate Capital
• San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System
• Portfolio Advisors
• MBA Northwestern University, BS Brigham Young University

Richard Pugmire

Managing Director, Pavilion Alternatives Group

• Ford Pension Fund Investment Management
• University Venture Fund
• Harris Investor Services
• MBA, BS Finance (with Honors) University of Utah, CFA

Emma Peterson

Office Manager

• Provo City School District (Resource Teacher, Paraprofessional)
• Klas Enterprises (Editor)
• B.A. Brigham Young University

Board of Directors

Scott Peterson, Chairman

  • Retired Managing Partner, Ernst & Young
  • Ernst & Young (Managing Audit Partner, Pacific Northwest)
  • Financial Accounting Standards Board
  • Mattson Technology (Audit Committee Chair)
  • M.S., B.S. Accounting BYU

Ed Esber

  • Successful Entrepreneur
  • IBM, Texas Instruments, Ashton Tate, Creative Labs
  • VisiCorp, Creative Insights, SoloPoint, Motion Computing
  • MBA Harvard, M.S Syracuse, B.S. Case Western

Ed Alter

  • Former Utah State Treasurer
  • Utah State Treasurer (28 yrs)
  • Utah State Retirement Board
  • MBA, B.A. U of U, CPA

Mel Lavitt

  • Needham & Company
  • Jabil Circuit Board (NYSE: JBL ~ $4b)
  • Governor’s Office of Economic Development
  • A.B. Brown

Bob More

  • Alta Partners, Managing Director
  • Senior Advisor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Frazier Healthcare
  • Domain Associates
  • Kauffman Fellows Program (Founding Member)
  • MBA University of Virginia, B.A. Middlebury College

Utah Entrepreneur Outreach

We help Utah entrepreneurs and companies with advice, strategy, and capital introductions.