Michael B. Staebler is a commercial practice partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP. He leads Pepper’s SBIC practice and is co-chair of the firm’s Fund Services Group. He also is a past member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Staebler concentrates his practice in the formation and operation of Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), venture capital and private equity funds, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance and governance. He is particularly experienced in the formation, management and operation of SBICs.

Staebler was appointed to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Committee in 2006. 

Staebler has served on numerous federal and state advisory committees concerning venture capital and economic development. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee to the Investment Division of the U.S. Small Business Administration concerning operation of the SBIC program.

Staebler has chaired the SBIC and Venture Capital Subcommittee of the Small Business Committee of the American Bar Association. In 1992 and 1993, he served on an informal committee of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC) to negotiate and draft new SBIC implementing regulations. From 1975 to 1980, Staebler was president and chief executive officer of Michigan Capital and Service, Inc., a licensed SBIC located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, prior to its sale to NBD Bank, N.A. 

Staebler is a frequent speaker on venture capital, has conducted numerous seminars on the topic of organizing and operating SBICs, and for five years was on the faculty of NASBIC’s Venture Capital Institute.

Staebler earned his B.A. from Harvard College in 1966 and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1969.

Staebler has served on numerous advisory boards of a number of academic units and institutes of the University of Michigan, including technology transfer, entrepreneurship, life sciences, public policy and law. He also has served as a director of the City of Detroit Building Authority, the Michigan Strategic Fund, United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit, the American Heart Association of Michigan, and the Legal Aid and Defender’s Association of Metropolitan Detroit.