Entrepreneur-In-Residence Program

2005-06 Entrepreneurs in Residence

Dr. Laurence C. Morse

Laurence C. Morse began his career in venture capital in 1983 at UNC Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital investment firm which, at that time, managed the largest pool of institutional private equity capital in the United States focused on investing in minority owned or controlled companies.  In 1988, he joined Equico Capital Corporation, a venture capital investment subsidiary of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, as Vice President.  In 1992, Dr. Morse participated in the privatization of Equico Capital as a founding principal of TSG Ventures, the inaugural investment fund of TSG Capital Group of Stamford, Connecticut. In 1993, he was retained by Coopers & Lybrand International as the Senior Venture Capital Advisor on a six-person project team assembled to analyze previously established development-oriented venture capital projects throughout the world and to recommend an appropriate structure to the United States Agency for International Development for a proposed $100 million "Enterprise Development Fund" for the eleven country southern Africa region. The project required extensive field work in South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In 1994, he co-founded Fairview Capital Partners, Inc., an independent investment management firm that creates and manages private equity fund-of-funds investment vehicles for public and corporate pension funds, and other institutional investors.  As a general partner of Fairview's ten managed funds aggregating $1.8 billion, Dr. Morse has participated in the investment of over $600 million in more than 50 traditional and specialized venture capital and private equity limited partnerships.  Currently, he serves on the advisory boards of private equity funds sponsored by Syndicated Communications Venture Partners, Opportunity Capital Partners, MedVenture Associates and the Ascend Venture Group. 

He is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Investment Companies, a private, non-profit trade association representing some 40 private equity and specialty finance investment firms with approximately $6 billion in aggregate capital under management.  He is a member of the board of directors of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO),  the national board of The English Speaking Union of the United States, and a member of its Luard Scholars selection committee.   In January, 2003, he was named one of "The Top Ten Minds in Small Business" by Fortune Small Business (FSB) Magazine. 

Dr. Morse graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Howard University with a B. A. in Economics, having spent his junior year at The London School of Economics and Political Science as a Luard Scholar.  He earned M. A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics at Princeton University and has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

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