Mike Child is a Lecturer teaching S353, "Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures", with Jim Ellis and Jeffrey Chambers. Mr. Child has spent over 28 years with TA Associates, a private equity firm, investing in early stage, emerging technology companies, many of which were founded by entrepreneurs who initially bootstrapped their companies to profitability. In his section of S353, he hopes to explore the many ways entrepreneurs form, finance, and build their companies, and to discuss and evaluate the pros, cons, and risks of various business models.

Mike Child joined TA Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm in 1982, opening its West Coast office with Jeff Chambers that year. Child became a Managing Director in 1986 and served on TA's Executive Committee from 2002 to 2008. He became a Senior Advisor of the firm in 2011. TA Associates today manages $16 billion of capital at cost up from $100 million in 1982.

Mr. Child is a Director of Finisar Corporation (FNSR), IPG Photonics (IPGP), and FreeWave Technologies. During his tenure at TA he has served as a Director of 16 public companies including AST Research (AST sold to Samsung), Cadence Design Systems (CDN), DH Technology (DHTK sold to Axhiom), Eagle Test Systems (EGLT sold to Teradyne), Fargo Electronics (FRGO sold to HID), Network General Corporation (NETG sold to McAfee), Novellus Systems (NVLS), Sonic Solutions (SNIC sold to Microsoft), and Ultratech Stepper (UTEK). Prior to joining TA, Mr. Child worked for Rolm Corporation as a Product Manager, The Boston Consulting Group as a consultant, and Hewlett-Packard as a Production Engineer.

Mr. Child received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from UC Davis (1976) and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (1980). He serves on the University of California at Davis Foundation Board and Advisory Boards for the Graduate School of Management and the College of Engineering. He also serves on the Investment Committee at Sacred Heart Schools-Atherton.

Mr. Child and his wife Renee have 5 grown children and live locally. He enjoys all of the country club pentathlon sports including swimming, golf, tennis, ping pong, and shuffleboard.