ACG Cincinnati is proud to present Jack Wyant, Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Chip Venture, with the Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the chapter.  As most of you are aware, Jack played an outsized role in the formation of Cincinnati's now-thriving venture capital community.  

Since the founding of Blue Chip, the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown from one VC firm to about 12 firms, from fund capital of $44 million to about $2 billion, from one resource provider to about 32 entities supporting corporate growth, and about five startups to about 140 startups that are being tracked by Cintrifuse.  

Across 32 years Blue Chip raised and invested about $800 million from ten Funds,  helped build over 200 companies via 600 financing rounds, most of which Blue Chip organized and led. During this time, Jack served as a director of 50 companies!  

Perhaps just as significant has been Jack's tutelage of a generation of entrepreneurs.  Blue Chip alumni have founded and built VC firms that represent a substantial part of the region’s estimated $2 billion of fund capital, and are in local ecosystem leadership positions.  The collective impact on the community by leaders such as Pete Blackshaw, Todd Gardner, John McIlwraith, Tim Schigel, Tony Shipley and others are enduring sources of pride for Jack.

Prior Lifetime Honorees have included luminaries such as James Anderson, John Barrett, Bob Castellini, Richard Farmer, Candace Kendall, AG Lafley, Glen Mayfield, John Pepper, Ted Robinson, George Schaefer, and Jeff Wyler.