Paul Brown

Paul Brown holds the James Lee Sorenson Presidential Chair and is a Professor (lecturer) of Entrepreneurship at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. He is the co-director of the school’s award-winning Master of Business Creation (MBC) program. He is also the manager of the Joan and Tim Fenton Founders Fund, a $5M early-stage venture capital fund managed through the Sorenson Impact Center. Paul serves on the investment committee for UVF2, the Sorenson Center’s impact investment fund. He is also an entrepreneur in residence at the University of Utah’s Center for Medical Innovation.

Paul teaches courses in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, innovation, venture capital, legal issues for entrepreneurs, and startup governance. He also mentors student-founders in the MBC program. Paul has led student consulting engagements with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City), the Institute on Aging (San Francisco), Access Afya (Nairobi), CleanSlate Centers (Nashville), the Ensign College of Public Health (Ghana), and Hydro Co-Operative Credit Union (Ghana). He has been a mentor or judge for Village Capital, Healthbox, Bench2Bedside, Opportunity Quest, the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, and the AGRF GoGettaz Agriprenuer Startup Pitch Competition.

Prior to teaching, Paul was a managing director at Sandbox Industries in Chicago, where he co-led the firm’s $300M healthcare venture capital fund practice. He also was the founder, president, and CEO of Sandbox Innovation Partners, an innovation consulting practice. Prior to Sandbox, Paul was a vice president at the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield organization for ten years, where he founded Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Partners. Previous to that, he practiced law as a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

In addition to his teaching, Paul serves as an advisory partner for Granite Growth Health Partners, a healthcare services venture capital fund. He is on the boards of Cinch Marketing, CleanSlate Centers, JQ Medical Supply, QualDerm Partners, Well-Being Elevated, and SwellCX. Previously, Paul was on the boards of Amplifi.io (acquired by Pattern), Central Logic (acquired by Rubicon Technology Partners), Phreesia (IPO), TripleCare (acquired by Curavi Health), PatientCo, Nexidia (acquired by NICE Systems), and Bloom Health (acquired by three Blue Cross Blue Shield plans). Paul is an active angel investor.

Paul earned dual bachelor’s degrees from The University of Utah, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a law degree from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.