News and Features

McCord, Rosenbluth and
Tullman honored at MAC
Alliance Awards Luncheon

Audience applauds launch of Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)

The 23rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Capital (MAC) Alliance Awards Luncheon honored regional venture greats Robert M. McCord for lifetime achievement, Hal F. Rosenbluth for entrepreneurial excellence and Stephen A. Tullman as the entrepreneur of the year.

The annual Awards Luncheon, held June 3, celebrates entrepreneurial, investor and professional achievement. It is the culmination of the MAC Alliance program year, attracting over 500 key leaders and players in the private equity and entrepreneurial community.

This year’s luncheon held special significance because it was also the venue chosen for the official launch of the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) — the region’s new strategic hub for technology and life sciences entrepreneurs and investors.

PACT is the result of a merger between the Eastern Technology Council and the Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance. The audience at the Crystal Tea Room in the Wanamaker Building was introduced to the new entity’s name, branding and leaders.

To see a full story about the merger, click here .

McCord honored with Lifetime Venture Award

Robert M. McCord, State Treasurer, was presented with MAC Alliance’s Blair Thompson Lifetime Venture Award in recognition of a direct, major and successful role in furthering the region’s venture interests by promoting or strengthening the venture capital base and innovatively enhancing the venture process.

As chief executive of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, Treasurer, McCord helps invest more than $80 billion per year, and he oversees a broad variety of operations designed to improve the economic security of Pennsylvanians. Since he took office in 2009, he has helped generate billions of dollars in improved returns for Pennsylvania’s pension funds and 529 college savings program.

Throughout his career, McCord has fought for productive investments and public policies. Prior to his election as Treasurer, his work as a venture capitalist helped generate more than 2,000 jobs. From 1994 to 2007, McCord worked as a senior executive at Safeguard Scientifics, and went on to found the Eastern Technology Fund and serve as co-founder and Managing Director of Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners. In addition, from 1996 through 2007, he led the Eastern Technology Council, a trade association that served hundreds of fast-growing companies.

Before joining the private sector, Treasurer McCord worked on Capitol Hill, where he specialized in budget and technology issues. He also served as the CEO of the bipartisan think tank Congressional Institute for the Future.

Rosenbluth honored for Entrepreneurial Excellence

Hal F. Rosenbluth, Senior Vice President, Walgreen Company; President, Walgreens Health & Wellness Division; and Chairman, Take Care Health Systems, was presented with the Raymond Rafferty Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for founding successful venture-backed companies and forgreatly influencing a specific industry with pioneering ideas.

A native of Philadelphia and a long-time champion of the region, Rosenbluth is a serial entrepreneur, a beneficiary of venture capital investment and an unofficial angel investor. This two-time entrepreneur initially grew his namesake company, Philadelphia-based Rosenbluth International, from a $20 million travel company to a $6 billion global industry leader prior to selling to American Express in 2003.

Looking for the next big challenge, Rosenbluth would later shape another industry in healthcare through the formation of high-quality, low-cost healthcare clinics that provide basic care services and are located in retail pharmacies. After years of growth, Conshohocken-based Take Care Health Systems was sold to Walgreen Company in May 2007. Since then, Rosenbluth has, as President, led the formation of the Walgreens Health & Wellness business, which is focused on leveraging retail clinics, worksite-based health centers and wellness centers.

While building Take Care Health Systems, Rosenbluth turned to the venture capital and PE communities, notably to Philadelphia’s own ETF Venture Funds (renamed SeventySix Capital), in the early days of the firm, and later in a venture deal with a Chicago-based healthcare PE firm that at $77 million remains one of the largest capital raises for a healthcare services company this decade. Hal also utilized the area’s best and brightest on the legal and advisory front, including Blank Rome, LLP.

Rosenbluth has been renowned for his unconventional approach to leadership, his ability to inspire world-class customer service, and his unwavering focus on the value of blending the right people with innovative and revolutionary technologies. Hal is the New York Times best-selling author of The Customer Comes Second, a book focusing on how to create a great service organization by first focusing on your associates.

Tullman honored as Entrepreneur of the Year

Stephen Tullman, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Ception Therapeutics, Inc., was presented with the Walter M. Aikman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for recent entrepreneurial success in the development of a venture-backed business with significant growth in sales, market impact and value.

Ception Therapeutics is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel products to address areas of unmet medical need. The company’s pipeline includes CINQUIL in clinical development for eosinophil-mediated conditions and a discovery program focused on orally active, anti-TNF (tumor necrosis factor) receptor agents. Ception is being acquired by Cephalon as the result of an option agreement signed in 2009. The agreement includes an option fee of $100 million, an acquisition fee of $250 million, and the potential for additional clinical and regulatory milestone payments.

Tullman started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), where he accumulated 14 years of broad industry experience in finance, sales, marketing, and R&D commercial strategy in the U.S., Europe and South East Asia. He later co-founded Trigenesis Therapeutics, which was acquired in 2004. He is Co-Founder and Director of PreSun, LLC, and Founding Chairman of Vicept Pharmaceuticals.