Derren Burrell

Derren Burrell, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) has over 28 years as a professional financial manager in both public and private sectors. He is the Founder & President of Veteran Ventures Capital, an investment and consulting firm focused on scaling veteran-owned businesses. In this capacity he oversees all aspects of the company operations and fund management of Veteran Fund I which invest in early stage / growth companies led by US Veterans mainly in the National Security/Defense sectors.   
Prior to this he served as the Chief Operating Officer for TAG Resources, a financial services company with over $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), where he was responsible for tripling the AUM and doubling the company size utilizing military principles and eventually leading to 5X exit within 3 years. He is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary, Certified Defense Financial Manager, and Level 3 Certified in the Secretary of Defense Financial Management Program. 
Prior to his transition to Knoxville and into the private sector in 2015, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Burrell served 21 years in the United States Air Force as a financial management officer.  He was selected for Colonel in his last assignment as the Resource Director of the White House Communication Agency, where he worked directly with senior White House staff, Congressional, comptroller, United States Secret Service, Dept of State, and Defense Information Systems Agency staff in all aspects of financial and contract management in support of the President of the United States.   
Other highlights of his military career include being deployed to Iraq as the Deputy Comptroller, United States Forces – Iraq and in Afghanistan as the Resource Director, NATO Air Training Command – Afghanistan. In this joint capacity he led the 34- person J8 directorate (Iraq) and the 4-person J8 office (Afghanistan) in planning, resourcing, and executing $20 billion + in U.S. appropriated funding in support of U.S. operations within the Iraq and Afghanistan Joint Operations Areas. He was also stationed at the Pentagon as the flying operations analyst for the Air Force, where he was responsible for the largest Operations & Maintenance budget account in the Air Force, over $15 billion. He has been a squadron commander for both finance and wing staff agencies, and was a deployed Comptroller on the front line in Operations SEA SIGNAL, SOUTHERN WATCH, ALLIED FORCE, NEW DAWN, and ENDURING FREEDOM. 
He is a graduate of the Citadel and past recipient of several awards including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medals, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Air Force Budget Officer of the Year twice, Air Force Financial Management Officer of the Year, Comptroller of the Year, and USAFE James E. Short Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mentorship and Career Development.
Derren is married to the former Gloria Frey and they have 5 children: Lydia, Luke, David, Rebekah, and Nathanael.