Fred Beste has never had a real job.  His career began in 1968 with Greater Washington Investors, Inc., a publicly-held venture capital firm, where he was Vice President and Treasurer. He then joined Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, a private venture, capital development firm, where he was Vice-President and, ultimately, President and Chief Executive Officer. He joined MAVF in 1984 as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of its first general partner. During the course of his career, he has served on the boards of directors of dozens of companies, and has advised and worked with thousands of entrepreneurs. He has been widely published on the subjects of venture capital and entrepreneurship, and has done extensive public speaking on both subjects as well. He was the Inaugural Honorary Chairman of Early Stage East. He was the Chairman of the 1994 Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair, and the recipient of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group's 1995 Blair L. Thompson Memorial Award for career achievement. He received his B.A. in Economics from Stetson University. E-mail:  [email protected]      

Click here to download a Word document version of Fred's speech.