Unlocking potential in Mid-America^™

Ben Trumbull

Ben co-founded Tamarind Hill in 2017 and leads the firm’s Ann Arbor office. Ben serves
on the Board for multiple Tamarind Hill portfolio companies and was a board director at
TrackAbout before it exited in 2019.

Before Tamarind Hill, Ben served primarily in an EIR role with the Rocket Venture Fund,
a seed stage venture capital fund targeting B2B software investments. At Rocket, he
was a CFO and a Board member of multiple portfolio companies. In these roles he
aided in fundraising rounds and organizational development.

Additionally, Ben provided venture assistance to Plymouth Venture Partners, where he
conducted due diligence and managed investment pipeline, held management roles in
private equity and venture capital for a family office, and was a market researcher
covering P&G for the Nielsen Company.

Ben holds a BA in economics from Denison and an MBA from IU’s Kelley School of
Business. He lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife, Kate, and three children.

Mark Shary

Mark is a co-founder and managing partner at Tamarind Hill and serves on the boards of VPL, HealthPlan Data Solutions, Healthy Roster, Tranztec, Include Health, Monitored Therapeutics, Prescribe FIT and hc1. Prior to Tamarind Hill, Mark had been a prolific founder, seed investor, advisor, board member and executive for more than a dozen technology start-ups, primarily in healthcare and supply chain IT. He founded the market leading hospital system integration software company, Healthcare.com, which after being a public company was ultimately acquired by Infor. He was also the founding CEO of Updox, the market leading physician office communications software company, which was acquired by EverCommerce.

Mark has served on several NASDAQ- and NYSE-listed company boards, was an executive committee member of the board of Rev1 Ventures, a venture development organization with over $100 million under investment, was audit chair for a regulated investment company (Huntington Mutual Funds), and was a co-founder of a now 31-year running public charity (ModCon Living).

Mark holds a BBA in accounting from the Mendoza School of Business at Notre Dame. He lives in Columbus, OH with his wife Teresa and is the proud father of two adult sons.

Dr. Steve Allen

Dr. Steve Allen joined Tamarind Hill in March 2020 as an Executive in Residence helping with due diligence, portfolio company strategy and Healthcare industry connectivity.  In addition to his activity at Tamarind Hill, Steve is Executive Emeritus at Nationwide Children's Hospital and a Professor at Ohio State University. Steve was the CEO of Nationwide Children’s for 13 years and oversaw its transformation to being a Top 10 Children's hospital and research institution with internationally recognized clinical programs and research efforts.  

Prior to his involvement at Nationwide Children’s, he served as a clinician, teacher, researcher and executive at The University of Texas -Houston Health Science Center and Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston for 24 years.

Dr. Allen received his undergraduate education from Rice University and an MBA from University of Houston-Clear Lake. He received his M.D. from University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston​. Outside of his executive leadership, Dr. Allen is board certified in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and is the author of nearly 150 medical journal articles, reviews and book chapters.

Steve is married to Dr. Jamie Keller Allen and has five children. He splits time between Columbus and Park City where he enjoys skiing, golfing, biking and cooking. 

Mike Louge

Mike joined Tamarind Hill in January, 2021 as an Executive in Residence for due diligence, portfolio company strategy and healthcare industry connectivity. In addition to his work with Tamarind Hill, Mike is on the Board of Coverys, an international provider of medical professional liability insurance. Mike was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of OhioHealth Corp. and prior to that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer before retiring in November 2020. Mike also served ten years on the Board of the Ohio Hospital Association and most recently served as Chair of that Board in 2019.

Prior to his work with OhioHealth, Mike served in various senior executive roles in large integrated delivery systems in Austin and Dallas, Texas.

Mike graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Finance and Accounting. He is a CPA in Ohio and Texas. Mike lives in Columbus with his wife, Karen, and has 2 adult daughters and 1 adult son.

David Verbance

David joined Tamarind Hill in September 2020. David contributes to Tamarind Hill by providing guidance to our entrepreneurs on strategy as well as personal coaching.  Additionally, David aids our Management Team with counsel on building the systems, governance, and team to manage Tamarind Hill. He has a diverse background having helped grow and sell a transportation business contemporaneously with his early career in banking at Bank of America.

Recently David retired from Nationwide Investments as their Global Head of Alternative Investments where he spent two decades building portfolio management, third party management and alternative assets to $7 billion. During his career at Nationwide he also served at the CIO of the Property & Casualty division.  

David graduated from University of Alabama at Birmingham and received an MBA from DePaul University.