Tom Darden is the founder of Cherokee, which starts or invests into technology ventures and purchases environmentally contaminated land.After working at Bain & Company until 1984, Tom converted failing brick companies to use biomass fuel, and then started a bacteria growing company for remediating industrial pollution. Cherokee became the East Coast’s largest soil remediation company. This led to creating private equity funds for buying and remediating contaminated real estate. Cherokee raised $2.2 billion in five institutional brownfield private equity funds, and acquired 550 sites in the US, Europe and Canada.Since 1984, Tom has invested directly in over 140 companies predominantly in environmental remediation, renewable energy, biotechnology and medical technology. Approximately 80% of his portfolio are seed-stage venture deals and the remainder are in growth/buyout transactions, real estate or other VC funds. Approximately 20% of his venture investments have been founded or co-founded by him, and these companies have raised over $500 million in additional capital. Some examples include Cherokee Environmental Risk Management (environmental insurance), Brownfield Revitalization (new markets tax credits for brownfield redevelopment), Tethis (organic absorbent polymer), Plant (prefab green buildings), Cherokee Biotechnology (biological remediation), Cherokee Solar (landfill solar farms), Eco-Site (urban brownfield cell towers), Consert (demand-side smart grid), PGSI (supply-side smart grid), and Industrial Heat (fusion energy).Tom has a Masters in Urban Planning from UNC and a JD from Yale Law School.