Buford Ortale

Independent Director, Audit Committee Chair

Buford H. Ortale is a private equity investor based in Nashville, TN. He began his post-M.B.A. career with Merrill Lynch’s Merchant Banking Group in New York in 1987. He was subsequently a founder and Managing Director of NationsBanc’s High Yield Bond Group. He has served as the General Partner of numerous investment partnerships, and has been a principal as well as a board member for many private and public companies. Mr. Ortale is also i) the sole principal of Sewanee Ventures (personal holding company), ii) the chairman of The Enliven Partnership (a healthcare services firm currently working with over 400 hospitals), iii) a nonoperating financial partner in Armour, LLC, iv) a board advisor to Western Express,  and v) the CEO of a technology development firm (PNQR). He received his B.A. from The University of the South in Sewanee, and his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt.