Obama appointment for Venture Investors’ Sargeant

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Venture Investors’ Managing Director Winslow Sargeant, Ph.D. to a key administration post as Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration. Dr. Sargeant is currently Managing Director at Venture Investors LLC, a venture capital firm that is principally focused on initiating investments during the formative stages of technology and biotechnology companies that have spun out of research institutions in Wisconsin, Michigan and the Midwest.

While the management team at Venture Investors is disappointed to lose a valued member of their team, they are excited for the once in a lifetime opportunity that Sargeant has received.

Dr. Sargeant’s at role in leading the Office of Advocacy within the U.S Small Business Administration will be to protect, strengthen and effectively represent the nation's small businesses within the federal government's legislative and rule-making processes. The Office of Advocacy works to reduce the burdens that federal policies impose on small firms and maximize the benefits small businesses receive from the government. Advocacy's mission, simply stated, is to encourage policies that support the development and growth of American small business. “Small business is the backbone of our economy”, said Sargeant. “I look forward to the opportunity to serve in this important role as its advocate.”

Sargeant has been a managing director in the technology practice at Venture Investors' technology practice since 2006. Prior to that, he was the program manager for the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research program in electronics, and before that co-founded Aanetcom, a semiconductor chip start-up. Sargeant has also held senior engineering positions at Lucent, AT&T, Bell Labs and IBM.

Winslow is a Trustee for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and also serves on Purdue University Discovery Center’s Research Board of Visitors. He is a member of the Advisory Board of NSF’s Industrial Innovation and Partnership Division (NSF/SBIR). He received a B.S. from Northeastern University, an M.S. from Iowa State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in Electrical Engineering.