Michael B. Staebler

Michael B. Staebler is a commercial practice partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP. He leads Pepper’s SBIC practice and is co-chair of the firm’s Funds Services Group. He also is a past member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Staebler concentrates his practice in the formation and operation of Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), venture capital and private equity funds, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance and governance. He is particularly experienced in the formation, management and operation of SBICs.  Since 1994, he has assisted in the formation and licensing of approximately 175 SBICs, and also helped in the formation of numerous other private investment firms. He has regularly served as counsel to SBICs, venture capital and private equity firms, as well as public employee pension funds in connection with their investment activities throughout the United States. 

Mr. Staebler has served on numerous federal and state advisory committees concerning venture capital and economic development.  He serves as a member of the board of directors of Ann Arbor SPARK and has recently served on the executive committee of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. He has been a member of the advisory committee to the Investment Division of the U.S. Small Business Administration concerning operation of the SBIC program. He also has served as a director of the Michigan Strategic Fund, a public agency that created and administered a wide variety of venture capital and economic development programs in Michigan. Mr. Staebler has chaired the SBIC and Venture Capital Subcommittee of the Small Business Committee of the American Bar Association.  In 1992 and 1993, he served on an informal committee of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC) to negotiate and draft new SBIC implementing regulations.  From 1975 to 1980, Mr. Staebler served as president and chief executive officer of Michigan Capital and Service, Inc., a licensed SBIC located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, prior to its sale to NBD Bank, N.A.
 
Mr. Staebler is an active participant in community affairs. He has served on numerous advisory boards of a number of academic units and institutes of the University of Michigan (including technology transfer, entrepreneurship, life sciences, public policy and law). He has served as a director for such civic organizations as the City of Detroit Building Authority, the Michigan Strategic Fund, United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit, the American Heart Association of Michigan, and the Legal Aid and Defender’s Association of Metropolitan Detroit. 
Mr. Staebler is a frequent speaker on venture capital, has conducted numerous seminars on the topic of organizing and operating SBICs, and for five years served on the faculty of NASBIC’s Venture Capital Institute.

Mr. Staebler is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Staebler earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1969, following his graduation from Harvard College in 1966 with a B.A., magna cum laude, in American history.