Nashville Entrepreneur Center names Michael Burcham its first President
Nashville Entrepreneur Center names Michael Burcham its first president
Nashville Business Journal
by Eric Snyder
May 12, 2010
Ending a six-month search, Michael R. Burcham has been named the first president of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
Burcham currently serves as a clinical faculty member at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. According to a news release, he was one of 90 applicants from across the country that sought the job.
Burcham has helped lead Vanderbilt’s Summer Business Institute which, according to a news release, is a “month-long program that immerses college students and recent graduates in a competitive business environment and engages the business community by giving students real challenges from top local and national companies.” He also writes a blog for entrepreneurs at www.michaelburcham.com.
The Nashville Entrepreneur Center was launched as a website in September by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Technology Council, and was the result of the Chamber’s Partnership 2010 Entrepreneurship Task Force. It is, however, a standalone organization. The center is designed to assist budding entrepreneurs until they’re ready to pursue venture capital.
Clayton McWhorter, founder and chairman of venture capital firm Clayton Associates, LLC, was named chairman of the Entrepreneur Center in January. “Our board of directors set out to identify a strong, strategic and passionate leader, and after carefully considering an impressive pool of candidates, we wholeheartedly believe Michael Burcham is the right person for the job,” McWhorter said in the news release. “Under his leadership, we are confident the EC will be a strong catalyst for entrepreneurial activity in our city.”
Prior to his work at the Owen Graduate School of Management, Burcham served as president of ParadigmHealth, an integrator of disease and care management solutions for medically complex and catastrophic events, from 2001 to 2007. He has also served as president of Theraphysics Corp. from 1993 through 2001 and as vice president of managed care at HCA Medical Center from 1987 to 1992. “Nashville has provided me the opportunity to develop myself as an entrepreneur. The creative energy and business talent in this city is just amazing. I look forward to working with the people of this great community to help turn ideas into successful businesses,” Burcham said. According to the news release, Burcham received a doctorate in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in business administration from Belmont University and a bachelor’s in physical therapy from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
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