W. Blake Winchell
For the past 27 years, Blake has focused on private equity investments with Leucadia National Corporation, the Channel Investment Group, Generation Ventures and the Fremont Group. He is currently managing general partner of The Fremont Group, a $6b private investment company with investments in real estate, private equity, venture capital and public equities.
He is also managing general partner of Fremont Ventures, the private equity growth-fund of The Fremont Group. This fund typically makes investments of $2-20m; they look for professional management teams with scalable, technology-based businesses with very large revenue potential. Fremont Ventures was recently named by EE Times 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 its San Francisco office. In 1983, he joined the Brae Corporation division of Leucadia National Corporation as vice president of strategic planning. He subsequently founded and managed the acquisition group for Leucadia.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1975 as a Rufus Choate Scholar with a BA in English and Economics; also receiving the Henley Economics Award. Blake obtained an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1979 and is a certified public accountant.
Currently, he is Chairman of GlobalServer and a board director at BioSeek, eSilicon, White Rock Networks and LightSand Communications.