Buzz Benson '76
In addition to his over 17 years of venture capital experience, Buzz has been actively involved in a broad range of transactions for healthcare companies including mergers and acquisitions, corporate partner agreements, public offerings and private placements of equity and debt. Buzz is currently an active Board member on seven private medical device companies and the Private Equity Partners subsidiary of Piper Jaffray. He is also on the Board of Advisors for the Private Investment Fund of St. John's University and the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.
Prior to joining Piper Jaffray in 1986, Buzz was a partner at Stonebridge Capital, a partnership investing in emerging publicly traded companies. Previously, he was an investment officer with Cherry Tree Ventures and a manager in the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen & Co.
He graduated from St. John's University in 1976 with a degree in Accounting. Buzz lives in Eden Prairie Minnesota with his wife Vicki. They have three children, Drew (SJU '06), Katlyn (Carlson School '08) and Kelly (EPHS '08).