VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY'S financial commitment three years ago seems to have engendered confidence and seeded sustainable growth within the Greater Nashville Private Capital Association (GNPCA).

Signals: GNPCA says its members now total 84 private equity, venture capital, angel-investor, and advisory services.

There's also the reality of GNPCA's increasingly robust calendar of events, for example:

On March 5, GNPCA plans a public release at the State Capitol of its first "market-grade" report on Tennessee's private capital sector activity, with speakers including Deputy Governor and state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter; VU Vice Chancellor Anders Hall; Edison Partners' Chris Sugden; Frist Cressey Ventures' Navid Farzad; and Annemarie Donegan, a senior analyst in Pitchbook Custom Research.  

Meanwhile, nonprofit recently announced that it aims to make two pivotal hires to leverage the continual efforts of the GNPCA board of directors and Executive Director Judith Byrd.

Judith Byrd

Those two salient and potentially weighty positions--each reporting to Byrd--currently include:

Director of Programs and Events, which is described as "the public-facing architect of the private capital association and exists to translate the organization's mission, strategy and sponsor commitments into high-impact programming that strengthens Middle Tennessee's private capital ecosystem."

Operations Coordinator, which is described as nothing less than "the operational and administrative backbone of the GNPCA. This role exists to ensure the Association operates with financial integrity, data accuracy, office efficiencies, operational discipline and member trust. This team member plays a significant role in supporting all systems, records and governance that allow the GNPCA to scale, serve members and maintain credibility with investors, sponsors and the Board."

Advancement of GNPCA since roughly 1Q 2023 has been  supported by members of GNPCA's board of directors and by some members of the Administration of Vanderbilt University.

Last month, VNC sought details about the GNPCA's origins from Vanderbilt Executive Director of Industry Collaborations Christopher Rowe M.E. Ed.D.

Rowe confirmed that at the outset "Vanderbilt committed a three-year grant to help the association grow and become self-sustaining. The grant period ends December 2026 with any remaining funds eligible for carry-over into future operating years."

Bruce Evans

Though Rowe could not immediately provide the exact date of VU's decision to support GNPCA's launch, he confirmed that conceptualizing and launching the initiative flowed from the fact that Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and VU Board of Trust Chairman Bruce Evans had previously "made it a priority to establish Nashville as a key hub for innovation anchored by the university. The formation of the GNPCA is part of that strategy because private capital underwrites innovation."

Rowe continued, saying, "Bruce Evans, a national leader in venture capital, saw Middle Tennessee as primed for the creation of such an association. He identified a gap in structured support to foster the region's projected private capital growth and related acceleration of innovative activity. The goal is to bring the private capital community to support our city's future by providing connections, education, and opportunities for collaboration among the private investors and funds that are here, to market our region as a growing hub for private capital investment globally, and to help open doors for those looking to move here."

Rowe further explained that in early 2023, he and Vanderbilt Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Transfer Alan Bentley "were charged with legally establishing the association with the goal of hiring its first executive director in the first half of 2024. Paperwork was filed with the state in the summer of 2023..."

As VNC understands it, Alan and Rowe continue as non-voting GNPCA officers, serving as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

NOTES

No GNPCA financial figures have been widely disseminated via a Form 990 or other filings, partly because the organization received its IRS nonprofit ruling only in late 2025. VNC notes, however, that Candid (fka Guidestar) says today that GNPCA had in FY 2024 total revenue of $525K, total expenses of roughly $307K, and total assets north of $275K. This item will be updated by VNC, as warranted.

The March event with Pitchbook data at the State Capitol is cosponsored by TNECD and by GNPCA member Universal Commercial \ TCN Worldwide. TNECD's nonprofit arm, Tennessee Technology Development Corporation dba Launch Tennessee is a member of GNPCA. TNECD and LaunchTN are contract operators of the debt and equity sides of the Federal government's State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI 2.0).

Futures: An April 16 program by GNPCA is to be sponsored by Oracle for investors interested Quantum prospects, with representatives from Vanderbilt University, EPB, IonQ, Quantum Coast Capital, and others. 

GNPCA current members are listed here. See GNPCA's continually updated program listings here. 

"GNPCA" was originally registered in Tennessee in August 2023 as the Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association. It became GNPCA in April 2025, reflecting its embrace of broader engagement not only with VC, but also with private equity, family office and angel-investor segments of the private investment industry.

Navigating your calendar through a flood of events? See more VNC calendars here. VNC

. last edited 1602 17 February 2026