Rurik “Rik” G. Vandevenne
Principal

Rik joined River Cities Capital Funds in 2004 to focus on information technology and business services investment opportunities. He came to River Cities with strong strategy and business management experience in high growth companies. Rik is responsible for sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities, and working with executives in portfolio companies on marketing, product development and strategy. He actively works with Fullscope, Pioneer Surgical Technology, Privaris and SciQuest.

While an MBA student at Duke University he was the CEO of the Duke Start-Up Challenge, the largest university business plan competition in the world and the President of the Entrepreneur and Venture Capital Club. In addition, Rik spearheaded the strategic plan to develop a university-wide center for entrepreneurship with the end goal of increasing technology transfer and developing entrepreneurially minded students.

Prior to business school, Rik gained experience working with early stage venture backed companies in the strategy group of Scient, a global eBusiness consulting firm. Before Scient, Rik worked for four years at Accenture, first in the healthcare services group and then at the Internet Center of Excellence where he helped launch several venture backed start-ups. Rik graduated from Vanderbilt University where he received his BE in Mechanical Engineering.

Rik serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Entrepreneurial Development (www.cednc.org), the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 active members representing over 1,100 companies.  Rik continues to serve on the board of several Duke University organizations including the EVCC and Private Equity Club.