Richard "Dick" Beedon // Founder and Managing Director
Richard (Dick) Beedon is an entrepreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of technology experience. Dick’s vision is to bring change to the entrepreneurial environment in Michigan to foster growth of technology businesses, jobs and market value. Over the past 14 years, Dick has created four IT companies resulting in over 160 new jobs and $120M in market capitalization. Dick’s first venture was University Netcasting, where he served as founder and CEO leading up to a successful merger and IPO in 2000. It is currently one of the leading sports web sites on the Internet with over eight million unique visitors per month. He then founded JustTalk (2000) and the MacBeedon Group (2002). Most recently, he architected the acquisition, turn-around, and sale of Entyre (2006). Through Dick’s leadership Entyre created a state-of-art web services application to manage the processing of final mortgage documents for large banks. Dick started his career as a business development and sales executive at IBM. In addition to his expertise in sales and marketing and demonstrated success in growing companies, Dick brings an extensive network of human capital and demonstrated ability to raise funding. Dick is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Kevin Wittrup // Managing Director
Kevin comes to MacBeedon Partners as an established, results-driven leader with broad experience in product development, operations management, and a track record of turning ideas into product and profit with discipline and sense of urgency. Throughout an 11-year career in the automotive industry marked by rapid progression through assignments with increasing responsibility and impact at General Motors Corp, Kevin has lead all aspects of product development and systems integration for highly engineered product including responsibility for a $750M product line and $13M budget, the successful design, development, and launch of four major products, and most recently as the assistant chief engineer for the 2008 Chevy Malibu. Kevin holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Kevin and his family reside in a renovated 19th century farmhouse outside of Pinckney, Michigan.
Claire Stevens // Associate and Business Manager
Prior to joining MacBeedon Partners, Claire founded SystemEyes Professional Organizer to strategize and implement organizational processes that improve functionality, efficiency and communication for individuals and businesses. She was also an Event Planner with Katherine’s Catering of Ann Arbor. Claire holds a B.A. in Organizational Studies from the Residential College of the University of Michigan. Claire is a Flint, Michigan native and resides in Ann Arbor with her family.
External Managing Board Members
Richard 'Dick' Beedon
RobertKennedy
Robert (Bob) Kennedy is the Tom Lantos Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where he teaches corporate strategy and international business courses in the MBA, EMBA, and Executive Education programs. He also serves as Executive Director of the William Davidson Institute (WDI), a non-profit research and educational institute that focuses on business and policy issues in emerging market economies. Bob has been a private consultant to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies and many smaller firms to design and deliver custom executive education programs. Bob is a well-known scholar, speaker, and educator. He has authored more than 80 articles, chapters, notes, case studies, and computer exercises on emerging market issues. Bob is currently completing a managerial book on offshoring (The Services Shift: Seizing the Ultimate Offshore Opportunity) for Wharton Press. The book is scheduled for release in summer 2008. Bob holds a Doctoral Degree of Business Economics from Harvard University, a Masters of Science in Management from MIT and B.A.’s in Political Science and Economics from Stanford University.
Roger McPeek
Roger McPeek is a Co-Founder of Fox2 Technologies, an aviation technology company and is a member of the advisory board for Inkrea, a software services firm. Roger was Co-Founder of Metrica Systems Ltd. (now a part if IBM), a cellular network management software developer. Roger and his partners led the management buyout of the company, developed the principle product, and successfully sold the firm. Roger’s background includes engineering and marketing positions at Apollo Computer, Hewlett Packard and Dataviews Corp. Roger was an officer in the United States Navy and holds a Masters in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and BSEE and BSCompE degrees from the University of Michigan.
Jeff Padnos
Jeff Padnos is the President of Louis Padnos Iron & Company of Holland, Michigan. Since joining the company in 1978 he has seen his grandparents’ legacy grow from one location to 14, while gaining a leading position in the scrap processing and recycling market in Western Michigan. A processor and broker of iron, steel, non-ferrous metals, paper, and plastics, Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Company employs over 400 people in Western Michigan. The company also provides scrap management services for manufacturers throughout the United States. The Padnos Company has exported ferrous scrap since 1961. In recent years a growing percentage of the company’s nonferrous, paper, and plastic scrap has also gone to international markets. Jeff was named President of the company in 1988. Jeff graduated with a BA from Harvard College in 1970, and subsequently served for two years at the New York City Environmental Protection Administration. He earned his MBA in 1974 from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar. Jeff then spent four years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Tim Patton
Tim Patton is Chairman of Patton Holdings, LLC, which has been the principal owner of Jordan Reses Supply Company since 2003. He is also the founder of Sleep Well Centers, an operator of overnight clinics focused on the diagnosis of sleep apnea. Tim served as President and co-founder of Health Care Solutions, a provider of home health care services which grew to 47 locations in seven states employing over 750 employees prior to the sale to Lincare (LNCR NASDAQ). Tim was co-founder of a temporary staffing firm focused on the nursing profession and held progressively higher sales and sales management roles at McGaw Laboratories. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a degree in Business Administration.