Steve Pederson

For the past 8 years Mr. Pederson has been a General Partner of Sherpa Partners, LLC., and co-founder of the Trek I Fund In addition to serving as a Director for three portfolio companies, he has been active as an interim operating officer in numerous early-stage, Sherpa sponsored companies as they strive to meet their business milestones. Prior to Sherpa, Steve was an operational executive at Xerox Corporation, Design Stages and Skyline Displays where he helped create strategic programs that facilitated new channels of sales distribution, customer and employee training, product development and quality programs (TQM). His focus centered on creating systems and processes that allowed the parent companies and channel partners to grow exponentially, providing the infrastructure to help them become leaders in their markets.

In addition to his Sherpa duties, Mr. Pederson is currently a partner with Concerto Venture Partners, LLC. Concerto Venture Partners (CVP) is an early stage venture firm formed to capitalize on a significant investment opportunity that currently exists as a result of a "disconnect in the United States between where innovation is occuring and where innovation is being funded". Concerto's Mission is "to establish a long-term, sustainable support infrastructure dedicated to creating a world class international investment & innovation commercialization hub in Mid-America that capitalizes on opportunities which will generate significant financial returns for its investors".

Mr. Pederson earned his undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College. He received his Masters degree and the coursework requirement for his doctorate at the University of Illinois.

Education

• MA University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1980 — 1982)
• BS St. Olaf College (1974 — 1978)
• BA St. Olaf College

Companies

• Consultant Self-employed (2017)
• Adjunct Professor University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management (2015 — 2017)
• President Pederson Business Consulting (2014 — 2017)
• Adjunct Professor St. Olaf College (2016 — 2016)
• President BrightPlanet (2008 — 2013)
• Founding Partner Sherpa Partners (1998 — 2009)
• Executive VP of Sales and Marketing Skyline Displays (1991 — 1999)
• Sales Manager - Engineering and Graphics Products Xerox (1985 — 1991)