Team
Clear Experience
Investment Team
Admin Team
Michael Gurau: email
Michael Gurau is the Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Clear’s investment team. He brings more than fourteen years of successful venture capital experience to Clear Venture Partners coupled with four years of startup operating experience, in marketing and product management. Michael’s venture capital experience includes seven years with private equity firm Advent International (in Boston and London) and most recently, six years with CEI Community Ventures, a fully-invested $10M early-stage venture capital fund for which Michael continues to serve as President. While at Advent Europe, Michael originated opportunities, supported due diligence, led and co-led investment opportunities spanning multiples stages (early, development, later, MBI/MBO/LBO) and diverse sectors (IT, media, internet, chemicals/industrial). At CEI Community Ventures, Michael developed the fund’s investment strategy and plan, led investments in eight companies and oversaw fund operations.
Michael also brings operating experience from healthcare and ecommerce/direct mail with Oxford Health Plans in Norwalk, CT as well as marketing, product management and strategy with Silknet Software (now Kana Communications) in Manchester, NH.
Michael has a BS Finance from Babson College and an MBA from University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. He currently serves on several boards of directors (two as chair) for CEI Community Ventures; Michael is also on the board of directors of the Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport, Maine, a K-12 private school.
Michael Burgmaier: email, blog
Michael Burgmaier is a Co-Founder and General Partner of the Investment team. Michael has worked with Michael Gurau since early 2004, at CEI Community Ventures (where he continues to serve as a Principal) and at Clear. At Clear, Michael sources and evaluates deals, negotiates with potential companies, helps lead syndication efforts, serves on boards of directors and helps portfolio companies build value. His primary industry areas of expertise are in the areas of branded consumer products and Healthy Living. Previous experience also includes three years as a Consultant/Case Team Leader at the management consulting firm Bain & Company, Inc. in Boston. While at Bain, Michael worked with clients across several industries, including consumer products, biotechnology, durable goods and health care. With these clients, Michael gained high-level functional experience in marketing effectiveness, growth strategy, supply chain, lean manufacturing, organizational strategy and cost reduction, among others.
Prior to joining Bain, Michael was the Acting Director/Senior Policy Associate at Children Now where he led programs to improve the quality of health care. He also served as a fiscal policy analyst in the Executive Office for Administration and Finance under former Massachusetts' governor William Weld. Michael began his career at a startup tax-free municipal bond fund in California.
Michael holds a MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, an MPP from Duke University and a BA in Economics from Boston College. He currently serves on boards of directors for several companies from CEI Community Ventures; Michael is also on the board of directors of GrowSmart Maine, an organization dedicated to creating sustainable economic prosperity for Maine.
Jen Walker, email
Clear’s Fund Administrator is Jen Walker. Jen administers the day-to-day operations of the Fund. Concurrent with her role as Fund Administrator of Clear, she serves as Fund Administrator for CEI Community Ventures. Prior to Clear, Jen worked with Wintergreen Financial Group, a Portland-based financial services/broker dealer firm. Before Wintergreen, Jen managed the operational affairs at Masthead Venture Partners, a Portland/Boston-based early-stage venture capital firm focusing on information technology and biotechnology investments.
Jen holds a BA in English from the University of Maine.