General Investing >> Analyst Interviews >> October 6, 1997
CARROLL A. GREATHOUSE is President of Baxter Associates, Inc. and
International Venture Capital Institute. Mr. Greathouse graduated from
Glenville College in West Virginia and during World War II attended
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University as part of his
U.S. Navy training program. He was Store Manager, District Manager,
Regional Manager and Mail Order Sales Manager for Montgomery Ward. He
coordinated the reorganization of RCA's international sales and served
for two years as Director of International Sales. Mr. Great-house is the
current President and Chief Executive Officer of Baxter Associates, a
64-year-old multiple association management firm from which he purchased
in 1958 and expanded from two associations (industries) to a client list
of 16: Association for Corporate Growth, Connecticut Association of
Personnel Consultants, Commercial Development Association, Carded
Packaging Institute, Connecticut Society of Association Executives,
Connecticut Venture Group, Data Processing Supplies Association,
Input/Output Systems Association, Industrial Gas Cleaning Institute,
International Venture Capital Institute, Licensing Executives Society,
National Association of Computer Stores, New England Society of
Alternative Energy, Oriental Rug Retailers Association, Sunglass
Association of America, and the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute.
Eleven years ago, he sold the association business, excepting venture
capital associations and activities, to his employees so that he could
devote full time to the venture capital field. Fifteen years ago, Baxter
Associates was retained to manage the Connecticut Venture Group, the
oldest venture capital networking association in the world. Mr.
Greathouse personally became very much involved in structuring this
association. In 1986, he formed the International Venture Capital
Institute as a resource in the establishment of venture capital
networking associations worldwide and the publication of the Directories
of Venture Capital Networking Associations, Business Incubators, and
Venture Capital Seed and Early-Stage Funds. Today, there are over 200 of
these networking organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the
Pacific Rim, South Africa and South and Central America. Mr. Greathouse
has been the major force in establishing these organizations
domestically and internationally. He has spent a substantial portion of
his time in the international field, including in the developing
nations. As a result of these activities, Baxter Associates, from time
to time, serves as a business broker for joint ventures. In 1993, Mr.
Greathouse assisted in the formation of the African Venture Capital
Association and served as a member of its Board of Directors. He was one
of the featured speakers at the 1993 Montreal, Canada, Annual Meeting of
the Six Nations Program -- "Financing Early-Stage Technology in the
Nineties." He was in Russia on a business trip in April 1996 and
Cambodia in November 1996. He is also a member of the Forum for World
Affairs. Profile
Associates and the International Venture Capital Institute do in general
in venture capital, and what you do in particular?
Mr.
