The Beta-Nu Chapter of
KAPPA SIGMA
The University of Kentucky
Brother McCleary, originally from Geneva, Illinois, pledged Beta Nu at age 17, was initiated in 1971, and was elected Grand Master in 1972 based on the election pledge to have a band party every weekend and within 24 hours after being installed as Grand Master, convert the Beta Nu house soda machine to a $.25 beer machine. Brother McCleary’s best memory is successfully having two dates at the same time at one of the Beta Nu band parties.
Currently, Brother McCleary is a Managing Director at Cincinnati based Blue Chip Venture Company where he has served as an investment professional and operating company executive since 1996. During his tenure at Blue Chip, the firm invested in over 100 companies throughout the US.
In his operating role, Brother McCleary founded and was the CEO of Evergreen Assurance, Inc which developed a real time email disaster recovery solution for businesses. Prior to founding Evergreen, Mr. McCleary was the founder, Chairman and CEO of USinternetworking, Inc. Brother McCleary founded USi to deliver the first ever Software-as-a-Service solutions to businesses by building a global network of mission-critical Enterprise Data Centers in North America, Europe, and Asia and offering business software functionality over the Internet. Brother McCleary led USi through a successful IPO a short 14 months after inception and Brother Bob Dole was the key note speaker at the company’s launch party. Before launching USi, Mr. McCleary was Chairman and CEO of DIGEX, Incorporated. DIGEX grew from 60 to 600 employees, completed an IPO, and merged into Intermedia Communications, Inc.
In addition to operational roles at Blue Chip Venture, Brother McCleary served on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of Radware, Inc, an Israeli networking technologies company headquartered in Tel Aviv, and several other board of director roles primarily technology focused growth companies.
Brother McCleary is the recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for software services in the Baltimore – DC region. He was honored as the Washington Post/Newsweek Corporate Citizen of the Year in Washington DC and granted the Annapolis Corporate Leader of Year Award by the City of Annapolis. Brother McCleary made the cover of Forbes Magazine in 1999 as one of the “Forbes EGang” honored as business change agents.
Brother McCleary was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the Board of Directors of the State of Maryland Venture Capital Fund and the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Emerging Technology Center business incubator in the City of Baltimore.
In addition to business and civic activities, Brother McCleary was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Severn School and the Anne Arundel Community College both in Annapolis, Maryland.
Brother McCleary was vetted as a candidate for Maryland Lieutenant Governor by Gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, but did not make the short list due to being a registered Republican in Maryland and issues relating to being a member of Beta Nu from the ‘70s.
Brother McCleary resides in Annapolis, Maryland, earned his Bachelor of General Studies degree at the University of Kentucky, and is the father of three daughters he raised himself since 2000. His youngest daughter, Caroline, graduated with a Bachelor of Science – Accounting degree in May 2016, is currently an MBA Candidate at the University of Kentucky, is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and, unfortunately, was named as a Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.