Harpeth Capital attracts big names to advisory board

This is the article posted by the Nashville Post 3-1-06 by E. Thomas Wood

Nashville boutique investment bank Harpeth Capital LLC has formed an advisory board consisting of several well-known names in the local business community.

The firm, which focuses on middle-market companies in healthcare and other sectors, hopes to tap into the contacts and relationships of these individuals. Chuck Byrge, who became Harpeth’s president and head of investment banking when his West End Capital Partners merged with Harpeth last December, said in a statement that “having access to such a prominent board of advisors was a major catalyst for the merger, and we have already benefited greatly from their interaction.”

Chairing the board is attorney Sam W. Bartholomew, who is an investor in Harpeth Capital. Healthcare entrepreneur Clayton McWhorter, also an investor in the firm, is on the board as well. Other members are:

• William F. Andrews, chairman of Corrections Corporation of America

• Jim W. Bradford, dean of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management

• Bret Comolli, CEO of Asurion

• Marty G. Dickens, Tennessee president for BellSouth Corp.

• Winfield Dunn, former governor of Tennessee

• Jack Faris, who recently retired as president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business

• Stuart McWhorter, co-founder with his father Clayton and president of venture capital firm Clayton Associates

• George Yowell, president of Tennessee Tomorrow Inc. and former president and CEO at Dominion Banks in Richmond, Va. and Nashville

Posted on March 7, 2006.