One of Penn Venture Partners' greatest assets is its management team. As seasoned investors of private equity spanning three decades, we are actively involved in identifying, structuring and developing investment opportunities. We actively support and develop portfolio companies with the objective of wealth creation. Penn Venture Partners believes in actively mentoring its Portfolio Companies to ensure sustainable growth into large-scale businesses. Our team's experience brings to the Fund distinct and complementary skills in the areas of finance, investment banking, strategic guidance, operations, legal and accounting.

Thomas A. Penn
Managing Director

Mr. Penn is a Managing Member of the general partner, a Member of the investment committee, and a Managing Director of the management company of Penn Venture Partners L.P. Mr. Penn is also a Senior Partner of Meridian Capital Partners, a Radnor, PA based private equity firm. He has over 25 years’ experience in starting, managing, and financing high growth companies in the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally. Before joining Meridian, he was a Partner at Boston Millennia Partners, a $700 million venture firm focusing on technology investing with an emphasis in life science and healthcare. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Penn was President and CEO of Tektagen, Inc., a leading contract services firm serving the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, which was successfully sold to Charles River Laboratories, Inc. Prior to Tektagen, he was President of Independence Ventures, Inc., a firm that specialized in starting and building high-potential, technology-based companies. Earlier in his career he held several positions in industry and venture capital. Mr. Penn is the founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia. He also served as President of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association and was Co-Chair of Pennsylvania’s Technology 21 Biotechnology Network among other community activities. Mr. Penn holds BS degrees from MIT in metallurgy and materials science and in industrial management, an MBA from Stanford, and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dean M. Kline
Managing Director

Mr. Kline is managing member of the General Partner and Managing Director in Penn Venture Partners. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Journal Publications, Corporate University Xchange, Probity Medical Transcription, Senators Partners (the Harrisburg Senators Baseball Club), and Thermacore. Prior to joining Penn Venture Partners, Mr. Kline was Vice President of a venture capital firm specializing in early stage technology companies nationwide. His focus in support of portfolio companies included finance, internal controls, businesses development, and follow-on investments, as well as Board directorship. He is the former Executive Vice President, responsible for finance and business development, of an international, non-profit health sector organization. Previously Mr. Kline was Vice President of Planning at a late stage manufacturing company. He also served as the Assistant to the Executive Director at the World Bank, and was responsible for improvement of loan quality, education and health sector projects, audit and controls, and the portfolio for Africa and subsequently Asia. Mr. Kline began his professional career as an International Economist at the Treasury Department, where he worked on financial and economic relations with Asia and the Middle East, including exchange rate negotiations, financial market liberalization, and funding related to the Gulf Crisis. He received his Graduate Diploma and M.Phil. from Cambridge University and his B.A. from Wheaton College.

Mary C. Vovakes
Vice President

Mary C. Vovakes has responsibilities at Penn Venture Partners managing a $6 million operational grant program that covers a 34-county area in Central and Northern Pennsylvania. She oversees a portfolio of operational improvement projects in the software, manufacturing, automotive, and publishing industries. Also, she serves as the Penn Venture Partners’ representative on the Board of Directors of eTravCo. She is an operations improvement professional with 20 years experience in consulting and financial services. Prior to joining Penn Venture Partners, she was a Manager at Keane Consulting Group (KCG), a Chicago based operations consulting firm. While there, Ms. Vovakes' clientele included Fortune 1000 companies and her work focused on improving business processes through technology solutions and strategies across a wide range of industries. Her experience includes, project management, facilitation, implementation planning, information technology assessment, and staff training and development. Ms. Vovakes began her professional career in the financial services industry first at PaineWebber, Inc. (now UBS) and later at Credit Suisse First Boston working with high net worth individuals. She received her Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Loyola University in Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Albion College.