Thomas J. Puff, Founder and President.
Mr. Puff founded VLR in 2003 after serving as a Partner in two large Minneapolis Firms. He has spent his entire 33-year career practicing in the areas of corporate finance law, securities law, corporate law and mergers and acquisitions and serving rapidly growing private and public companies. Prior to founding VLR, he was a Shareholder at Winthrop & Weinstine in Minneapolis and Chaired that firm’s Securities Law and Emerging Companies Practice Groups. Prior to that, he was a shareholder and chaired the Corporate Finance/SEC/Emerging Companies Practice Groups at Messerli & Kramer, in Minneapolis.
Mr. Puff has assisted issuers, underwriters and emerging private and public companies in Minnesota, the Midwest and across the country with debt and equity financings and transactions aggregating in the hundreds of millions of dollars and has worked with numerous local and national investment bankers, CEO’s, institutional investors and venture capitalists. He has assisted CEO’s, entrepreneurs and rapidly growing private and public companies across the United States with their equity and debt growth needs, as well as their corporate, M&A and governance needs. His extensive network of friends and clients who are directors, CEO’s, venture capitalists, lenders and ‘angel’ , VC and PE investors is one of the strongest in the region and is a significant VLR asset, and thus, an asset to our clients.
Mr. Puff is a frequent speaker, panelist and commentator on corporate law, governance, venture capital, securities law, raising capital and mergers and acquisitions. He has also been one of a select number of attorneys over the past ten years selected to be a judge, speaker, lecturer and panelist at various University of St. Thomas/Schulze School of Business, Morrison School of Entrepreneurship events as well as a Judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition. In May 1996, he was appointed by Governor Carlson to a Blue Ribbon Commission of Minnesota securities lawyers to revise Minnesota’s securities laws and to effect those changes in the Minnesota legislature. From 1993-1996, he was elected Chairman of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Hennepin County Bar Association, an industry trade group serving the needs of corporate counsel. Mr. Puff received his B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) with Honors and Departmental Distinction (Political Science) from Saint Olaf College in 1983 and received his J.D. (Cum Laude) from The American University Law School in Washington, D.C. in 1986.
Dream Big:
“If You Dream It, You Can Do It”
– Walt Disney
Perseverance:
“If I asked what people wanted, they would have said faster horses”
– Henry Ford
Customer Service:
“Treat your customers like they OWN you–because they DO!”
– Mark Cuban