Mr. Blum manages a private debt and specialty finance investment fund and has over a decade of leadership experience in the institutional investment sector.  His portfolio of investments includes real estate, oil and gas, public securities, private loans, and interests in private companies.  Mr. Blum began his principal investing career at Austin Ventures, a $4 billion private investment firm.  Prior to Austin Ventures, he worked from 2006 to 2008 in New York City as an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  Mr. Blum serves on the UT System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, the McCombs School of Business Alumni Board, the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council, the University Development Board for UT-Austin, and the Longhorn Foundation Advisory Council.  Mr. Blum is a frequent lecturer at McCombs and is a mentor to several undergraduate students.  He serves on the Dell Med Building Committee, a group of individuals who have each raised or donated over $1 million to UT-Austin’s Dell Medical School in support of the school’s buildings.  Mr. Blum founded the Dell Med Society, the first leadership board for community supporters of the Dell Medical School.  He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on addressing the national security community’s most pressing challenges.  Mr. Blum is a board member of the Greater Austin Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame and a life member of the National Football Foundation.  Mr. Blum is a graduate of Leadership Austin’s Emerge Program, class of 2009.  He is the Chair of the American Enterprise Institute’s Enterprise Club group in Texas and serves on the Enterprise Club’s National Board.  Mr. Blum is a member of The Fifty, a board affiliated with the Seton family of hospitals.  He also serves as a board member of the Austin chapter of TeXchange.  Mr. Blum graduated first in his class at The University of Texas at Austin and received a joint MPA/BBA with Highest Honors (2006) from the Master in Accounting Program and a BBA with Highest Honors (2006) from the Business Honors Program.