Gray Ventures

Bernard Gray founded Gray Ventures in 1991 to be a private investment company established to support entrepreneurialism in the Southeast. Gray Ventures I and II have invested in 35 pre-revenue companies with geographic emphasis on Atlanta and Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina and with sector emphasis on Information Technology. All 35 companies were founded by first-time entrepreneurs.

Gray has served as a board member, observer or advisor to these 35 “Series A” companies which aggregated cumulative exit values in excess of $1.5 billion and created more than 2,500 jobs.

Gray Ventures III is a fund of funds supporting early-stage venture funds in the Southeast in both Information Technology and Healthcare.

Gray co-founded Southeast Investor Group and served on boards for the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (RTP), Southern Capital Forum in Atlanta and the Lang Entrepreneurial Center and Fund in New York City. Gray Ventures III was the principal investor in Flashpoint, a Georgia Tech affiliated accelerator, which to date has helped 80 start-ups.

Gray comes from a family of pioneers and is a native of North Carolina, traditionally dependent on three basic industries. In the early 1950s, the state’s leaders formed Research Triangle Park in order to diversify North Carolina’s industrial base. This has been the basis of Gray’s passion for entrepreneurialism in the Southeast which remains underserved, primarily in capital investment to support young enterprises. This is the void that Gray Ventures has sought to fill.

Gray serves as a “rainmaker” (bringing together talent, capital and relationships) in order to give entrepreneurs opportunities otherwise unattainable.

Investments

Bernard Gray’s Biographical Summary – Career

Summit Communications Group, Inc., Atlanta, 1975-1995

A holding company for radio broadcasting, cable television and other communications properties

Executive Vice President of Development and Vice Chairman

Company sold to Time Warner in 1995

Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, New York City, 1972

Credit Analyst

Education

St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, 1965

BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1972

MBA, Columbia University, New York City, 1974

Military

United States Marine Corps Service in Vietnam, 1968-1970

Civic and Non-Profit, 1974-2018

• Board of Visitors, Steering Committee of Carolina First Campaign and CPC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Board of Directors, St. Paul’s School Alumni Association
• Board of Overseers, Columbia Business School
• Board of Visitors, Emory University
• Board of Visitors, Babcock School of Management, Wake Forest University
• Board of Directors, DKE International, New York City and Beta of DKE, Chapel Hill
• Trustee and Treasurer, Trinity School, Atlanta
• Trustee, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and Old Salem, all in Winston-Salem
• Board of Advisors, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
• Board of Directors, Skyland Trail, Atlanta

Family

• Married to Anne Howell Gray, community leader, Atlanta
• Daughter: Julia Howell Gray, Associate Vice President, Christie’s International Real Estate, New York
• Son: Alexander Gladesborough Gray, Associate, King & Spalding, Atlanta