MerchantBanc President to Receive UNH Whittemore School Entrepreneurial Venture Creation Award

Contact: Lori Wright
603-862-0574
UNH Media Relations

May 4, 2004



Editors, News Directors: You are welcome to cover the awards Friday, May 7. The awards will be presented at 5:15 p.m. in the Cocheco Room of the Holloway Commons, and the dinner will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Huddleston Hall Ballroom on the UNH campus.

DURHAM, N.H. – Jeffrey M. Pollock, president and CEO of MerchantBanc, has been chosen to receive the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics 2004 Entrepreneurial Venture Creation “Person of the Year” award.

Jeff Pollock

Pollock will be presented with the award May 7, 2004, at the 16th annual Paul J. Holloway Business Plan Competition awards dinner.

Pollock has served as MerchantBanc’s president and CEO since its founding in 1992. He is a managing director of MerchantBanc Venture Partners, a limited partnership capitalized with $20 million. Under his leadership, MerchantBanc has been the source for more than $140 million of private capital investment in the form of loans and private equity investments in more than 100 companies.
"Jeff has been a driving economic force in our region, and throughout his career, he has used his entrepreneurial successes to give back to the community. We are honored to recognize him with our second annual Entrepreneurial Venture Creation award," says Steve Bolander, dean of the Whittemore School.

“He is a strong supporter of the entrepreneurship program at the Whittemore School. He has served as a judge for the Paul J. Holloway Business Plan Competition, as a speaker for the Holloway Seminar Series in Entrepreneurship, and has addressed individual courses taught at the Whittemore School. He has given his time freely to students, and other prospective and active entrepreneurs,” Bolander says.

Pollock's board appointments include the National Association of Seed & Venture Funds, the New Hampshire State Board of Education, the New Hampshire Governor's Advisory Committee on Capital Formation, the New Hampshire High Technology Council, the Fleet In-City Advisory Board, and the Steering Committee of e-Cares, a philanthropic initiative of the NH Charitable Foundation involving New Hampshire’s entrepreneurial community. He also serves on the boards of three portfolio companies, Dialout.Net, Inc., FastAsset, Inc., and Nextmark, Inc.

He holds an MBA from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in Management from Purdue University. The U.S. Small Business Administration named him National Financial Services Advocate of the Year for 1999.

The Entrepreneurial Venture Creation award is given to a New Hampshire resident with a demonstrated commitment to the state's business community, an appreciation for UNH and its resources, and a track record of creating entrepreneurial value by starting companies, supporting and promoting new ventures and mentoring individuals engaged in business start-ups.

Dinner tickets are available through the Whittemore School Dean’s Office. Contact Maureen Marshall at 603-862-1983 to reserve your seat.