Eric Dobson
ADVISOR
Mr. Eric Dobson is an Advisor to VVC and the Chief Executive Officer of the Sheltowee Angel Network, a national syndicate of angel groups and funds. He spent the last 27 years working in government and the private sector, the last 16 in start-up technology ventures. He was the founder of four companies, helped found six, and led investments in 25 more.
Eric has served as the CEO of several companies and has expertise in strategic planning, business development, technology licensing, R&D, commercialization, intellectual property development, corporate leadership, and early stage private equity investing. He has developed numerous products and services including wireless technology with Oak Ridge National Laboratory supported through grant programs from the Department of Homeland Security’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. That project was awarded the National Laboratory Consortium Technology of the Year for 2004.
Dr. Dobson was named the Navigator Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce in 2010 and the Pinnacle Innovator of the Year for 2011 by the Innovation Valley Technology Council. Eric served on a number of not-for-profit and for-profit Boards, Membership Committee of the Angel Capital Association, Board of Governors for Care24-7, and Board of Directors for General Graphene. He holds a BA from the University of Tennessee in 1991 where he was also a Lecturer on Entrepreneurship in the Department of Management in the Haslam College of Business from 2013 to 2017. He received a Masters of Science and Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of South Carolina in 1993 and 1998 respectively. He now applies all the hard-earned knowledge and experience from these ventures and exploits to venture-style investing.