Five Decades of Successful Venture Investing
Spring Creek Partners is a single-family office that manages a diversified investment portfolio with the goal of achieving superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns.
The Early Years
Our Manufacturing Roots
Spring Creek Partners is the outgrowth of a company formed by three Swedish immigrants in 1915. Anderson Brothers Manufacturing, as the company was known then, grew to be one of the foremost designers and builders of dairy packaging equipment in the world. Anderson Brothers’ machinery included all types of dairy products and frozen snack food fillers and were in production across the United States, Japan, Germany.
As a recent University of Wisconsin (Madison) graduate, John Anderson founded Anderson Packaging, Inc. in 196x. API grew to be one of the premier contract pharmaceutical and specialty product packagers in the country. Customers included many of the top name brands including Pfizer, Abbot Labs, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Takeda, Procter & Gamble, S.C. Johnson, 3M, and Johnson & Johnson.
In the early 1980s, Anderson Enterprises diversified into automotive hardware & mobile products, precision plastic injection molding, and heat-treating. Multiple strategic acquisitions were folded into the three business lines over the ensuing decades. Anderson Enterprises started diverting its operating companies in the mid-1990s. The last divestiture was Anderson Packaging, which was acquired by AmerisourceBergen in 2003.
Transitioning into a Family Office
Today, Spring Creek Partners is a single-family office that manages a diversified investment portfolio with the goal of achieving superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns. A critical component of our strategy centers around our Venture Capital initiative, which dates back to 1968 when John Anderson formed a Small Business Investment Company through the SBA.
The Emergence of Venture Funds
In 1972, John Anderson was asked to introduce Eugene Kleiner and Tom Perkins to a local industrialist. On that fateful day, John became the first limited partner to commit to Kleiner Perkins. Over the following forty-five years, Spring Creek expanded its relationship by investing in two dozen KPCB funds. As a result, we have participated in many of Silicon Valley’s most successful startups:
Expanding our Venture Capital Initiative
We have significantly expanded our venture capital portfolio by investing with name brand incumbents as well as emerging managers. Today, our portfolio includes top-performing fund managers who invest across all stages for the venture capital universe.
Investing in Transformative Companies
We complement our best-in-class fund managers by actively pursuing direct investments in early-stage tech companies. Though we see numerous unsolicited opportunities, our preferred approach is to co-invest alongside our existing fund managers and within our family office network.
An Important Part of Our Story
John & Linda Anderson ….. Weaving in the Garden’s story.
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Team
Spring Creek Partners’ investment strategy focuses on seeking investments in operating companies with significant long-term revenue and profit potential. We invest in companies across many industry sectors – information technology, life sciences, and others. Spring Creek Partners invests through all stages of development. In addition, we will consider other growth-oriented opportunities including private placements in public companies, and other special situations.
John R. Anderson
John R. Anderson, the founder of Spring Creek Partners, has been in the venture capital industry since 1968 when he started his own firm, Androck Capital and SBIC. He was an early investor in Silicon Valley in the late ’60s. In 1972 he became the first limited partner in Eugene Kleiner and Tom Perkins’s first venture fund. He is the senior partner of Anderson Enterprises, the Anderson family holding company, and has been active in the acquisition and management of small to medium-sized businesses. He is the third generation in his business, originally started by his grandfather in 1915. In 1968, he started a pharmaceutical packaging company, Anderson Packaging, Inc., which became one of the premier companies in its industry. He is also the senior partner in Spring Creek Development Group, investing and developing real estate in and around the Rockford, Illinois area.
Mr. Anderson graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in 1966. He was a member of the Young Presidents Organization and the Chief Executives Organization. He and his wife, Linda, married in 1968, have four children and thirteen grandchildren. They lived most of their lives in Rockford, Illinois, where they raised their children. They now split their time between Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and Naples, Florida. Mr. Anderson is actively involved in various community and business organizations in both Rockford, the Geneva Lake Area, and Naples. He enjoys competitive sailing, downhill skiing, tennis, gardening, and traveling.
David J. Anderson
David joined Spring Creek Partners in October 1998. In 2002, he co-founded Spring Creek Development, a diversified real estate development subsidiary of Spring Creek Partners. In December 2010, David transitioned out of real estate operations to assume management responsibilities of Anderson Japanese Gardens. Today, David continues to play a leading role in Spring Creek’s VC activities and portfolio management while engaged in the real estate development operations and operational oversight of Anderson Japanese Gardens.
David has been actively engaged in Rockford’s civic community since his return in the late 1990s. He has served as Board Chair for the YMCA of Rock River Valley, The Literacy Council, and the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a founding member of Next Rockford, a next-generation economic development group. David currently serves on the Boards of the Geneva Lake Water Safety Patrol and Geneva Lake Association in southeastern Wisconsin and the Japan America Society of Chicago.
Kristin L. Pecora
Kristin joined the investment committee at Spring Creek Partners in 2000. Kristin earned an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Economics at Vanderbilt University.
Do you want to include other points of interest:
- The second child of John & Linda Anderson – or draw some familial connection?
- Three high-school-age children
- Board activities
- Interests
Dianne E. Wells
Dianne joined Spring Creek Partners as CFO in September 2019. Prior to Spring Creek, Dianne was Managing Partner of Plante & Moran PLLC’s Detroit Office where she spent 34 years providing tax and business consulting services to high-net-worth individuals and their closely held businesses.
Dianne is a CPA and graduate of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. She played catcher for the University of Michigan softball team and is an avid Wolverine sports fan. Dianne has served on several boards including Girls on the Run of Southeast Michigan, Women of Tomorrow of Detroit, and the University of Michigan Paton Advisory Board.