Newly inaugurated Gov. John Kasich has appointed friend, campaign contributor and Sequoia Capital partner Mark Kvamme as the interim director of the Ohio Department of Development.
Kvamme’s salary will be $1. He’s expected to hold the job for about six months, ABC news reported.
“The Silicon Valley is coming to Ohio,” Kasich said. “He will lift our game.”
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Kvamme will help Kasich as he transitions many of the state’s economic development activities from the Department of Development to a public-private hybrid to be called JobsOhio.
The JobsOhio privatization plan was a key element of the Republican Kasich’s campaign that ousted former Gov. Ted Strickland. Although all the details haven’t been worked out, Kasich envisions JobsOhio to be led by a board of current and former chief executives and entrepreneurs who would report to him as chairman.
Kvamme will step down from his role at Sequoia to join the state of Ohio’s government. After his interim role with ODOD ends, Kvamme is expected to rejoin Sequoia as a “special limited partner,” Fortune reported. He’s also expected to get one of the seats on JobsOhio’s board, Kasich said.
Fortune called Menlo Park, California-based Sequoia “arguably the nation’s top venture capital firm.”
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Kvamme and Kasich worked together during the latter’s time as a managing director with Lehman Brothers. They met in Washington, D.C., Kasich said.
Kvamme contributed over $44,000 to Kasich’s campaign, plus another $24,000 to the state’s Republican campaign committee, according to Fortune.
Kvamme told TechCrunch that he has a specific blueprint for change in Ohio that he’ll be sharing in the next few weeks, but apparently didn’t offer further specifics.
Kvamme joined Sequoia in 1999 and led investments in companies that include LinkedIn, MarkLogic, Funny or Die, StrongMail and CastIron Systems.
