Principals
Steven N. Miller is a principal and co-founder of Origin Ventures. Prior to co-founding Origin, Steve spent 10 years at Quill Corporation, a direct marketer of office products started by his family in 1956. His experience there included running the Canadian distribution center as well as buying and merchandising a $30 Million product line. Steve's final two years at Quill were devoted to starting up the e-commerce operation. He wrote the business plan for the company's first web site, www.quill.com, and managed the team that executed it to $15 Million in annual revenue. The Miller family sold Quill to Staples in 1998 for over $1 Billion.
Steve serves on the boards of VHT, Experiencia, and GrubHub. Prior to its sale in 2004, he served on the board of directors of iNest. He also served as an advisor to GolfServ.com, before it was acquired by Time Inc. in early 2006. Steve is an active board member of the not-for-profit organization i.c.stars, which provides inner-city young adults with technology training and leadership development. He is a National Board Member of Boys Hope Girls Hope, an international organization that helps academically capable and motivated children-in-need to meet their full potential and become men and women for others by providing value-centered, family-like homes, opportunities and education through college. Steve recently joined the board of US Empowered, which furnishes urban students with the resources, support and networks that make higher education a reality. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.
Steve received a B.S. degree in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987, where he now serves on the Dean's Business Council and the board of the Hillel Foundation. He also provides the funding for the Steven N. Miller Entrepreneurial Scholarships at the University of Illinois College of Business.
Bruce N. Barron is a principal and co-founder of Origin Ventures. He serves on the Boards of Directors of ifbyphone, Experiencia and ClaimForce.
Since 1985, Bruce has been involved in the management of several start-up medical technology companies. From 1995 - 2007 he had served as a member of the board of directors of Applied NeuroSolutions, Inc., (OTC BB: APNS) a biotechnology company developing a diagnostic to detect, and therapeutics to treat, Alzheimer’s disease. He also served as CEO of APNS from 1995-2004, and as Chairman of the Board from 1999-2006. From 1988 to 2001 Bruce also served on the board of directors of Trimedyne Inc., a public company, which is a leading manufacturer of surgical lasers used to treat diseases and other medical conditions.
He has served as President/Chairman CEO and/or CFO, from time to time, of the following companies: Gynex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (sold to what is now known as Savient Pharmaceuticals in 1993), Pharmatec Inc. (merged with Pharmos Corp. in 1992) and Xtramedics, Inc. (merged with Athena Medical Corp. in 1994). Bruce assisted in guiding these entrepreneurial, public companies through their early stages to their ultimate sales or mergers with larger companies.
Bruce received a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1977. He earned his C.P.A. certificate and worked as an accountant in the Chicago office of Touche Ross (the predecessor of Deloitte & Touche) and other medium-size public accounting firms. He left the practice of public accounting in 1985 to begin his entrepreneurial career.