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Barry A. Wilson
Barry has unique experience, compared to most attorneys. Barry’s private equity experience began in 1984 as the first employee hired for the Michigan Department of Treasury’s newly created Venture Capital Investment Division, having been recruited from his position in the Small Business Development Division of the Michigan Department of Commerce. At the time, the $500 million allocation represented the nation's largest commitment by a state retirement system to the venture capital sector. Barry helped to establish many of the processes and procedures utilized for the analysis and management of the venture portfolio. While with Treasury and in other positions over the past 34 years, Barry has met with, and advised, thousands of entrepreneurs and managers, analyzed hundreds of business plans, invested in dozens of businesses, and founded or co-founded several companies.
Barry left the Treasury Department in 1987 to become an associate with Newtek Ventures, a San Francisco based venture capital firm focused on early stage healthcare and industrial technology investments. Newtek ultimately became an investor in Capital BIDCO a Michigan based, Business and Industrial Development Company which Barry founded to provide debt and equity financing for growing companies. While serving as President and CEO he pioneered the structuring of royalty-based financing for numerous small businesses in Michigan.
In 1997, he sold his interest in Capital BIDCO and relocated to Southern California becoming the Chief Operating Officer for EC2, The Annenberg Business and Technology Incubator for the University of Southern California. Barry served as the President of OMelveny Consulting, the consulting division of the International Law Firm of OMelveny and Myers.
Barry was co-founder and Chairman of San Diego based, Huntington Capital, a federally licensed Small Business Investment Company and Huntington Capital II. Both Huntington funds were focused on mezzanine investments in small and mid-sized businesses. Huntington investors included the pension funds for the State of California and California State Teachers, Pacific Life, Allstate Insurance, Union Bank & Trust and many others.
While in California, Barry was named by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of LA’s Twenty-Five Who’s Who in Technology. He served as Chairman of the Presenting Companies Committee for the Southern California Technology Venture Forum and has served as a member of the Technical Review Committee for the California Technology Investment Program. He is an Emeritus Member of the Mission Hospital Foundation, Board of Directors, in Mission Viejo, California and served as Executive Director of the Mission Innovation Institute. He also taught classes at the School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, offering a course in entrepreneurship for engineers.
Barry is a graduate of Michigan State University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Barry left the Treasury Department in 1987 to become an associate with Newtek Ventures, a San Francisco based venture capital firm focused on early stage healthcare and industrial technology investments. Newtek ultimately became an investor in Capital BIDCO a Michigan based, Business and Industrial Development Company which Barry founded to provide debt and equity financing for growing companies. While serving as President and CEO he pioneered the structuring of royalty-based financing for numerous small businesses in Michigan.
In 1997, he sold his interest in Capital BIDCO and relocated to Southern California becoming the Chief Operating Officer for EC2, The Annenberg Business and Technology Incubator for the University of Southern California. Barry served as the President of OMelveny Consulting, the consulting division of the International Law Firm of OMelveny and Myers.
Barry was co-founder and Chairman of San Diego based, Huntington Capital, a federally licensed Small Business Investment Company and Huntington Capital II. Both Huntington funds were focused on mezzanine investments in small and mid-sized businesses. Huntington investors included the pension funds for the State of California and California State Teachers, Pacific Life, Allstate Insurance, Union Bank & Trust and many others.
While in California, Barry was named by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of LA’s Twenty-Five Who’s Who in Technology. He served as Chairman of the Presenting Companies Committee for the Southern California Technology Venture Forum and has served as a member of the Technical Review Committee for the California Technology Investment Program. He is an Emeritus Member of the Mission Hospital Foundation, Board of Directors, in Mission Viejo, California and served as Executive Director of the Mission Innovation Institute. He also taught classes at the School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, offering a course in entrepreneurship for engineers.
Barry is a graduate of Michigan State University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School.