Richard Venegar
Vice Chairman
National Association of Investment Companies

Richard T. Venegar is the President and CEO of Milestone Growth Fund. Venegar has over 27 years of private equity experience, with a strong focus on the underserved domestic market. Venegar joined Milestone in February 2007. Prior to Milestone, Venegar was a senior vice president of Pacesetter Capital Group, a $200+ million private equity fund based in Dallas, Texas. While at Pacesetter, Venegar managed a $30 million portfolio and concentrated on managing some of the firm’s most difficult portfolio companies, focusing on restructurings, workouts and turnarounds. Prior to Pacesetter, Venegar was co-founder and managing partner of Levmark Capital Fund, a $40 million buyout fund. Early in his career, Venegar was an executive at Equico Capital Corporation, one of the first SSBICs in the nation. Before Equico Capital, Venegar was a senior field operations analyst for the Ford Motor Company.

Venegar has experience in a wide range of industries including food, packaging, media, consumer goods, telecommunications, automotive, printing, consumer retail, and electronics. Venegar has worked on a wide range of deals with transaction sizes ranging from under $1 million to $150 million. He has also completed buyouts, venture capital, turnarounds, restructuring, and mezzanine financing projects.

Venegar is also a member of the boards of advisors/directors/trustees of Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the University of Minnesota’s Carlson Funds Enterprises, and the Council on Crime and Justice. Venegar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration degree with a finance concentration from Tulane University Graduate School of Business.