Greater Indianapolis
Don is an innovative strategic leader who has served in executive and board roles across a diverse spectrum of organizations, including software, venture capital, financial services, education technology, engineering and manufacturing, and human care. His board and C-level roles include companies that have achieved exits of 199%, 101%, 57%, and 55% IRR within the last few years. These and active companies in his portfolio have created thousands of new, high paying jobs and billions of dollars in market value. A graduate of Purdue University with a BS in Technology, Don completed executive education programs at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and the Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is a founding -- and now, emeritus -- member of the Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing & Engineering Dean’s Council, serves on the Purdue Polytechnic Institute's Dean’s Executive Council, and is a recipient of the Purdue Polytechnic's 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition to early stage venture capital firm VisionTech Partners (which he co-founded), and artificial intelligence (AI) workflow platform company RoboSource, he serves on the board of directors for Lutheran Hour Ministries. Don formerly served on the boards of Bloomerang (2020 exit), the Indiana District of The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod (retired 2018), SmartFile (2023 exit), and the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (retired 2024), Kerauno Holdings (board secretary - 2025 exit) and on the advisory boards of SmarterHQ (2020 exit) and 250ok (2020 exit). Don's areas of specialization include strategy development & execution, technology, capital formation, corporate governance, operational leadership, helping organizations achieve scale, and M&A. Don is available for a select number of board or executive advisory roles that best leverage his extensive experiences, skills, and strengths to help achieve extraordinary outcomes for the organizations with which he partners.
Elected as the Independent Director of the RoboSource Board of Directors in concert with the 2025 investments by philanthropist, Heisman Trophy winner, and former NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow's The Tebow Group and Brian Johnson's Legacy Portfolio, LLC.
I work directly with the CEO and president to provide C-suite counsel relative to business strategy, capital formation, operations, talent, and professional network connections to help refine business focus and accelerate company growth.
VisionTech Partners is a privately held company focused on linking accredited angel investors with high-potential early-stage and high growth companies. We have deployed over $32 million in initial and multiple follow-on investments more than 75 companies and are experiencing an accelerating number of exits. VisionTech grows its portfolio by eight to ten new firms every year. VisionTech Angels is a community of angel investors who invest their own capital -- the largest and most vibrant angel investor community in Indiana and Ohio -- and is managed by VisionTech Partners. Our focus is Seed and Series A investments in B2B companies. Our expertise and interests lie in the Information Technology, Life Science, Medical Device, Agricultural Technology, Materials and Advanced Manufacturing Technology sectors of the economy. We are also opportunistic in our investments, having companies outside of all of the above focus areas in our investment portfolio. VisionTech's objective is investment returns for our angel community exceeding a 22% internal rate of return (IRR) across our entire portfolio -- an objective that we are exceeding. Our ability to identify promising entrepreneurs and companies is validated by the over $1 billion in institutional investments made in our portfolio of companies following our own initial investments. Finally, our extensive experience as entrepreneurs and investors who have built companies, raised capital, and experienced our own financial exits positions us to provide informed and seasoned counsel to entrepreneurs to help them be as successful as possible. The result is our tag line: Smarter Capital. Better Results. Together with our investor chapter presidents and members, Don, as our Founding Managing Partner, facilitated the growth of our angel investor community by 150% and two new investor chapters between 2013 and mid-2016. He also helped raise more than $12 million and invest that capital in 25+ companies.
StepStone Business Partners offers personalized services to our angel investors and entrepreneurs through a unique process that combines education and superior due diligence. We maximize the value that we bring to our clients by leveraging our experience in early stage start-ups and capital procurement as well as excellent relationships in the industry that allow us to deliver results and solutions that create win-win situations for all stakeholders. Our focus is on early stage life sciences, medical device, diagnostics, information technology, healthcare products and/or services companies in Indiana and surrounding states. StepStone is in harvest mode and is not making new investments. New investments are being made via VisionTech Partners | VisionTech Angels.
Lutheran Hour Ministries is a trusted resource in global media that equips and engages a vibrant volunteer base to passionately proclaim the Gospel to more than 195 million people worldwide each week. Through its North American headquarters and ministry centers on six continents, LHM reaches into more than 60 countries, often bringing Christ to places where no other Christian evangelistic organizations are present. LHM’s flagship ministry, The Lutheran Hour®, airs weekly on more than 1,800 radio stations and the American Forces Network.
28:20 Capital provides advisory services for, and invests early stage and follow on capital in, privately held subscription-based technology companies. We favor firms where our professional experience in scaling companies can be leveraged to benefit all stakeholders -- entrepreneurs, team members, customers, business partners and investors. Additionally, as an active secondary market, we provide liquidity opportunities for founders and employees of early stage companies by purchasing their shares and options prior to major liquidity events or changes of control, allowing them to diversify their personal financial portfolios and de-risk their financial lives.
InternX is the virtual and in-person career fair and recruiting platform designed for the pandemic world in which we find ourselves. More than 250 employers, two dozen leading universities, and tens of thousands of students are already leveraging the InternX platform to virtually connect talent with opportunity within the university career fair framework.