Patricia Cloherty

Patricia Cloherty, age 71, served as chairman and CEO of Delta Private Equity Partners. Cloherty served as manager of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund and Delta Russia Fund, two venture capital funds operating in Russia. The funds made direct equity investments in Russian companies in the financial services sector, consumer-related industries, and in the media, telecommunications, semiconductor and biotechnology fields.</ref> In an interview in Private Equity International, Cloherty discussed her track record in Russia included 14 write-offs and an expected return of 1.2 times capital for her first fund, TUSRIF.

Career

Cloherty earned a Bachelor's degree in 1963 from the San Francisco College for Women (now part of the University of San Francisco) and two Master's degrees from Columbia University. After graduation, Cloherty spent two years in Brazil from 1963 through 1965 as a member of the newly created Peace Corps.

Cloherty began her career in venture capital at Patricof & Co. Ventures, which she joined in 1969. She was named a partner and later would become president and co-chair of the firm, along with founder Alan Patricof. After she left the firm, Patricof & Co. (now known as Apax Partners), is one the largest private equity firms globally.

In 1977, Cloherty was appointed Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration by President Jimmy Carter. In 1979, she founded and ran Tessler & Cloherty with her husband Daniel Tessler, which specialized in small businesses. In 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush appointed Ms. Cloherty as Chairman of an Investment Advisory Council to revamp the Small Business Investment Company program of the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 1995 President Clinton appointed Ms. Cloherty a board member of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund with $440 million of investment capital. In 1998 she assumed the role of Chairman, and in 2003 she became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the US Russia Investment Fund's general partner: Delta Private Equity Partners.

In both 2006 and 2007, Ms. Cloherty was elected by Forbes Magazine to its "Midas List" of the 100 most influential dealmakers and investors in the world.

In April 2009, Private Equity International magazine reported that Delta Private Equity Partners was collaborating with UFG Private Equity, one of its limited partners, and was considering a merger with them.

Other affiliations

Ms. Cloherty is a director of NYSE Euronext. She is a trustee of International House of New York, Teachers College, Columbia University and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Cloherty is a former president and chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, the national advocacy group for venture capital firms in the U.S. Cloherty served on the Board of Directors of Accion International from 1982 to 1986.