The Renaissance Advisory Board includes nationally recognized leaders with business and investment experience spanning decades.

  • Sam Valenti III

    Chairperson

    Mr. Valenti is Chairman of the Board of TriMas Corporation, a NYSE 1 billion- dollar manufacturer of highly engineered precision products for industry. He is also lead director of the Board of American Axle Corporation, a 7 billion dollar public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is the former President of Masco Capital Corporation, and a 40-year veteran of Masco Corporation, a Fortune 500 manufacturer of home building and home improvement products.

    Mr. Valenti is the former Chairman of the Investment Advisory Board of the $50 billion State of Michigan retirement system. In his nearly 20 year participation with the Advisory Board, Mr. Valenti spearheaded the State’s initial investments in venture capital as well as a broad range of alternative investments.

    Mr. Valenti serves on the advisory board at the University of Michigan Business School Zell-Lurie Institute, he served on the Advisory Council at the University of Notre Dame, and also served on the Harvard Business School Advisory Council.

    Mr. Valenti is a member of the Business Leaders for Michigan and serves as Chairman of the Business Leaders for Michigan Renaissance Venture Capital Fund.

    Mr. Valenti also serves as Chairman and C.E.O. of Valenti Capital, an investment firm located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

    Mr. Valenti served on the Board of Horizon Global Corporation and is the former Chairman of the Board. Horizon Global is a billion dollar manufacturing company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Mr. Valenti was one of Crain’s Newsmakers of the Year for 2007; recipient of the 2010 “Spirit of Michigan” award, presented at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, was presented the 2012 Crain’s M&A Lifetime Achievement Award, and was one of Crain’s Newsmakers of the Year 2016.

  • Erik Lundberg

    Erik Lundberg is the Chief Investment Officer at University of Michigan, responsible for directing the University’s $18 billion long term investment portfolio, which includes the 10th largest endowment of an institution of higher learning.

    Since joining the University as its first Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Lundberg has established the University’s Investment Office as a highly regarded institutional investor and has seen the endowment grow from being the 17th largest endowment when he joined to being 10th in size today with a value of $17 billion.  Mr. Lundberg received Institutional Investor Magazine’s Award for Excellence in Investment Management for Endowments in 2007 to recognize his outstanding achievement, was named Public Endowment CIO of the Decade in 2015, and ranked among the top 25 CIOs in the world by Chief Investment Officer Magazine.

    Mr. Lundberg is director of Father Flanagans Fund for Needy Children, serves on the investment advisory committees of the Skillman Foundation in Detroit and Agility – a leading OCIO firm, and is a member of the CIO Advisory Council of Alternative Investment Management, Inc. He has been a trusted advisor to TIFF (The Investment Fund for Foundations), State of Michigan’s Pension Funds, Capital International’s Emerging Markets Growth Fund, and Okabena Investment Services.

    Mr. Lundberg is a CFA charterholder.

  • Sandy Pierce

    Sandy Pierce joined Huntington in 2016 after the acquisition of FirstMerit Bank, where she served as Vice Chairman. Sandy is a member of Huntington’s executive leadership team, is chair of its Michigan operations, and has led several revenue segments across its twelve-state footprint since 2016.

    Pierce received her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Marketing and her MBA in Business Administration /Finance from Wayne State University. She is a board member of Penske Automotive Group, American Axle & Manufacturing, ITC, and Barton Malow Enterprises. She serves as vice chair of Business Leaders for Michigan, chair of the Detroit Economic Club and chair of the Henry Ford Health Foundation.

Renaissance Venture Capital