Grady Vanderhoofven has 28 years of experience in company creation and financing. He has co-founded and invested multiple private investment funds, including Meritus Ventures, the first Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) in the United States, and Southern Appalachian Fund (SAF), a New Markets Venture Capital Company (NMVCC). Together, these funds raised approximately $53 million and invested equity and debt in 16 companies, which attracted more than $300 million of aggregate investment. The companies are located in rural and/or low-income areas throughout central and southern Appalachia and have created more than 600 jobs to date. In addition to the capital directly invested by Meritus and SAF, the funds provided more than $4 million of technical and operational assistance to portfolio companies.

In 2016, Mr. Vanderhoofven founded Three Roots Capital, a 501(c)(3) certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and as a Community Development Entity (CDE), to make debt and equity investments in companies and projects in predominantly low-income areas of East Tennessee and the broader Appalachian region. Three Roots Capital has raised more than $180 million to date and has deployed and committed more than $160 million to companies and projects in Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina.  In addition, Three Roots Capital has been awarded $95 million in two allocations of New Markets Tax Credits.

In 2019, at the culmination of a multi-year, collaborative effort, Mr. Vanderhoofven and his partners launched the TennesSeed Fund as an evergreen, seed-stage, investment fund focused on proof-of-concept opportunities in Tennessee-based companies.

Mr. Vanderhoofven served as a mentor for the Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator from 2022 – 2024, he has been a member of the Innovation Crossroads Leadership Council at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since the inception of the program in 2017, and he was a founding member of the Innov865 Alliance.

Prior to becoming an investor, Mr. Vanderhoofven worked for more than a decade at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he participated in the creation of 12 start-up companies based on technology developed at ORNL. He previously served on the Advisory Council of the Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science. He received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University and has completed an Executive Education Program in private equity and corporate governance at Harvard Business School.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/grady-vanderhoofven-6a53371/

grady@3rootscapital.org
865.220.1714

Chris’ areas of responsibility include financial and administrative management of Three Roots and its access to capital programs. Chris also provides client companies with operational assistance in the areas of financial management, transaction and cash flow modeling, and preparation to raise capital.

Chris has 15 years of experience with operating and providing access to capital for small businesses. Prior to joining Three Roots Capital, Chris worked as a portfolio manager for a $150 million commercial loan portfolio with small business and middle market exposure. Prior to working in commercial banking, Chris was an associate for approximately $50 million of equity funds focused on early-stage and growth-stage investing in southern and central Appalachia. In this role, Chris was responsible for deal origination, due diligence, and portfolio administration.

Chris has an MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship and financial management from the University of Tennessee, and a BS from the University of North Alabama. Chris has also completed additional graduate course work in private capital markets and private equity transactions.

chris@3rootscapital.org
865.220.1716

Before joining Three Roots Capital as Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer in 2024, Keith served as Director of Lending and Banking Relationships at Pathway Lending beginning in 2018. Keith has been in the finance and banking industry for more than 30 years, including roles with First Community Bank, First Horizon National Bank, Clayton Bank, and SunTrust.  His passion and purpose are to partner with local banks, ecosystem partners, local entrepreneurs, and local business professionals to help with access to capital and technical assistance. Within Tennessee, borrowers are remarkably diverse in their needs, geographic locations, and overall scope of what they are striving to achieve. By leveraging his background and training, his experience as a lender, and his passion for helping people grow their businesses and manage cash flows, Keith has helped many business owners solve their complex financial challenges. His familiarity with rural, middle, and urban markets provides a broad and diverse knowledge base to help clients even more.

Keith’s education includes an AS in International Business, a BS in Organizational Management and Finance, and a Graduate Degree in Banking from the University of Pennsylvania / Wharton School. He is a graduate of the following Tennessee Bankers Schools:  Banking, Management, Consumer Lending, Commercial Lending, and Advanced Commercial Lending.

Dennis has a passion for helping qualified companies leverage local resources including peers, advisors, strategic partners, and capital providers. His role at Three Roots is to find these businesses and projects, and to serve as the gateway for those seeking funding. Dennis is also a provider of business technical assistance to these clients, and serves as the chair for the Three Roots Capital mentor team.

An experienced technology executive with more than 15 years of experience, Dennis ran a business located in an empowerment zone that received funding from a CDFI. He was the founder and CEO of Digital Crossing Networks, a 16,000 square foot commercial data center services company located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Prior to Digital Crossings Network, Dennis served as the Chief Technology Officer of Technology 2020, a public-private partnership whose mission was to develop and support technology companies in the Tennessee Valley Corridor. Dennis has more than 30 years of experience in the Information Technology industry. The first half of those years were spent with IBM Corporation and SAIC, where he worked in software development, client/server performance engineering, network application tuning, and as a consultant to the financial industry.

Dennis received his BS in computer science, with a minor in physics/electronics from Louisiana State University in 1985.

dennis@3rootscapital.org

Kevin had 25 years of work experience (3 with Deloitte + 22 with Alcoa) before joining the 3Roots team in 2024. He previously held progressive roles in accounting, finance, and supply chain, which gives him a unique perspective among the 3Roots team that is relevant for many borrowers and portfolio companies of 3Roots. His passion at work is around continuous process improvement, which supports strategic growth initiatives at 3Roots and scaling of the accounting and business services practices. Kevin has a degree in Accounting from Slippery Rock University, an Executive MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and is a licensed CPA.

Outside of work, Kevin is very active in the endurance sports community. He dedicates his time as head coach of the Farragut Middle School Cross Country team. He competitively competes in triathlons, qualifying for the 2024 & 2025 World Championships in Kona, Hawaii and Marbella, Spain.

kevin@3rootscapital.org

865.220.1717

Kim began working in a corporate setting more than 30 years ago when she took a job with a successful Ohio entrepreneur who worked with Dollar General outside of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, on a new product called voicemail. Her next few years were filled with inside sales, market research, and client training.

She moved into the healthcare industry a few years later and wore many HR-oriented hats regarding scheduling, recruitment, and onboarding new team members. In 2001, she took on the most rewarding role of all – a full-time mother to three wonderful children.

By 2011, she wanted to jump back into work and spent the following 11 years at The Pilot Company. At Pilot, she worked in wholesale fuel sales and support, portfolio analysis, cost reconciliation for fuel contracts across the U.S., and on new system implementation. She served as Manager of Commercial Contracts when she joined Three Roots Capital.

Kim joined Three Roots Capital in January 2023 as the Loan and Investment Administrator. She is responsible for loan and investment administration and tracking, including implementation and maintenance of the software platform that provides comprehensive loan and fund management from inquiry through repayment.

Jeff enjoyed a 32-year career with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) before joining Three Roots. He served in several roles at ORNL, including, internal auditor, business manager for research and operations business units, contracts administration, project manager for multiple business systems implementation projects, Accounting Manager, and Director of Logistical Services. In addition, Jeff served as the Chief Financial Officer of UT-Battelle Development Corporation for more than eight years.

Jeff is responsible for supporting the accounting operations at Three Roots.

Jeff is a CPA (inactive license), with an MBA from the University of Maryland University College and a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

jeff@3rootscapital.org
865.220.1717