John Banta serves as the CEO & Managing Director of IllinoisVENTURES, LLC, and the Managing Partner of the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund. John is the former President and COO of DigitalWork, Inc., a Draper Fisher Jurvetson, TL Ventures and Dell Ventures portfolio company, having served previously as its Senior Vice President of Corporate and Business Development. Prior to DigitalWork, Inc., John served as Vice President of Corporate Services for UBS PaineWebber (formerly Kidder Peabody), and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Investment Management Consultant's Association. John has worked with a wide variety of portfolio companies, with an emphasis on clean technologies including biofuels and biochemicals. John serves on the Board of Directors of several early-stage clean technology, instrumentation and medical device and IT businesses, including Tetravitae Biosciences, iCyt Mission Technologies and Nanodisc, Inc., and has collaborated on coverage of several other investments. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois and the Chicago West Side Entrepreneurship Center. John earned an MBA in finance and statistics with high honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business where he has been a frequent guest lecturer, and a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois College of Commerce.