John H. “Jack” Wyant (born 1946) is an American businessman and

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

ist who founded Blue Chip Venture Company in 1990. As of 2013, he is the company's Managing Director.

Early life and education

Wyant was raised in Hamilton, Ohio, and graduated from Garfield High School there in 1964. He attended

Denison University Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...

from 1964 to 1968. Wyant was elected president of the chapter of

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

fraternity in 1967, and he led the local chapter to accept its first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

member in 1968; the fraternity had had a “White Christian” policy since 1848. He has 11 grandchildren.

Career

After graduating from Denison, Wyant worked in brand management at the Procter & Gamble Company. After Procter & Gamble, Wyant joined the

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Islan ...

division of

Taft Broadcasting Company Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was rooted in the family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United ...

. In 1975, he helped create and managed a joint venture with the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and develop "the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academi ...

, which resulted in the design, construction and operation of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. In 1977, he graduated from Salmon P. Chase College of Law of Northern Kentucky University with his Juris Doctor. At Taft, he founded Blue Chip Broadcasting, a radio station group that grew to 20 stations including WIZF-FM. He later sold the company for $180 million. Wyant was the CEO of two venture-backed companies, Home Entertainment Network and Nutrition Technology Corporation. During this time he produced live sports and musical television specials, negotiated joint ventures, and in 1980, he launched a TV network for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

, Blackhawks,

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

and North Starts. In 1990, Wyant founded Blue Chip Venture Company. By 2013 Blue Chip had invested $600 million in over 125 companies through five venture funds, including internet service provider

Digex Digex, Inc. was one of the first Internet service providers in the United States. During the dot-com bubble, its stock price rose to $184 per share; the company was acquired for $1 per share a few years later. History Digital Express Group, pred ...

, application service provider USinternetworking,

ShareThis ShareThis is a technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, with offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It offers free website tools and plugins for online content creators. ShareThis collects data on user behavior, and provides thi ...

, a sharing service on 2 million websites and Richwood Pharmaceutical, developers of

Adderall Adderall and Mydayis are trade names for a combination drug containing four salts of amphetamine. The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a (3:1) ratio between dextroamphetamine and l ...

Wyant is a member of the investment group Queen City Angels, has direct investments in approximately 20 private growth companies, and is a founding investor and director of CBank and of Grandin Properties, family-owned real estate development and management firm of which his wife, Peg, is the CEO. Wyant is an investor in several sports enterprises, including the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

franchise

and the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

franchise

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

. Wyant is a competitive squash player, and is ranked in US Squash doubles and in 2010 won the national father-son doubles squash century level. In 2011, he served as the U.S. team captain against Canada.

Writing

Wyant has written the books ''Corporate Governance Handbook for VCs'' and ''How to Sell a Business''.

Awards

Wyant received a Denison Alumni citation for excellence in entrepreneurship in 1988, the Seal of the City, Cincinnati's highest honor in 1993, and a Lifetime Achievement award from the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association in 2002 for creating the venture capital industry in Cincinnati. In 2007 the Association for Corporate Growth awarded him the Master Dealmaker Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyant, Jack 1946 births Living people Businesspeople from Cincinnati 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople FC Cincinnati owners American venture capitalists Denison University alumni