Youngkin takes chairman role at Red Cell Partners

Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin has joined Red Cell Partners, an incubation venture firm focusing on technology companies in the healthcare, cyber and national security sectors, as partner and chairman, according to a Wednesday announcement.

The role is the latest addition to Youngkin’s resume since leaving office as Virginia’s 74th governor Jan. 17.

Youngkin succeeds founder Grant Verstandig as chairman. Verstandig remains CEO.

In a news release, Youngkin pointed to the success of McLean-based Trase, a full-stack AI solution for regulated industries, which recently raised a $107 million seed round led by Chicago-based Arch Venture Partners with participation from Red Cell Partners and others.

“Red Cell is redefining the startup and venture capital formula by bringing together true visionaries, deep sector and operating expertise and capital — both their own funds and world-class venture partners,” Youngkin said in a statement. “I can’t overstate how much energy this place has. … I’m excited to help them grow even faster.”

Verstandig founded Red Cell Partners in 2020 after selling his first company, consumer-centered digital health company Rally Health, to UnitedHealth Group in 2017 for $4 billion. He developed Rally Health after dropping out of Brown University at age 21.

Verstandig, whom Youngkin described as a friend in the news release, has co-founded multiple businesses, including Trase and Epirus, a California-based defense-technology company developing high-power microwave systems.

“The industries we work in are the hardest and most consequential to America’s future,” Verstandig said in a statement. “Transforming them requires people like Gov. Youngkin, people who know how to run things and who aren’t afraid to break from the status quo. I’m deeply honored to welcome him to Red Cell.”

Neither Youngkin nor Verstandig were available for comment Wednesday.

Youngkin, known for wearing a red-fleece vest, stepped down as co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm, in 2020 to enter the political sphere. He had joined Carlyle in 1995 and was named a partner and managing director in 1999.

In 2020, Younkin co-founded the Virginia Ready Initiative, a nonprofit formed in response to economic hardships driven by the pandemic. The organization worked with Virginia businesses to help out-of-work Virginians reskill for in-demand jobs.

Once in office, Youngkin made promoting the state as good for business a priority. Among his early initiatives was creating the Office of Regulatory Management to streamline state regulations.

He counts several economic development wins among his successes of his term as governor. Youngkin’s administration tallied more than $150 billion in committed capital investments from companies relocating or expanding in Virginia during his term.

Leaving the Executive Mansion

Virginia’s governors take different paths upon exiting the office.

Dr. Ralph Northam returned to work as a pediatric neurologist. He practices at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters.

In 2019, Terry McAuliffe, who served as Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018, announced he would not run for president in 2020, following murmurings of a bid. McAuliffe later lost the 2021 gubernatorial election to Youngkin.

Today, McAuliffe is a senior adviser for New York-based Applecart, a marketing technology company. He’s also national co-chair of the Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, a coalition that promotes natural gas, and a distinguished visiting professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

Former Gov. Bob McDonnell, who left office in 2014, had convictions for public corruption offenses overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016. He teaches at Regent University and serves as president of The McDonnell Group, the Virginia Beach-based consulting and business development firm. He is also of counsel with Virginia Beach law firm Poole Brooke Plumlee.

Former Govs. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner now work in the U.S. Senate.

By taking the role of chairman at Red Cell Partners, Youngkin may be settling into a holding pattern, said Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations and director of graduate studies at the Virginia Tech School of Communication.

“There’s a high upside to it, and then kind of a low risk,” Myers said. “He gets to go back into the private sector, make a name for himself, yet again, as a businessman, and then that brand allows him to re-enter politics, should he want to do that at some point as again an outsider businessman who has had government experience.”

Business is what Youngkin does well, said Mark J. Rozell, founding dean of George Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

“It’ll be the next phase of his professional life while he considers whether he has a path forward somehow in Virginia politics,” Rozell said. “The challenge politically will be how to keep his name in the public spotlight in a way that potential supporters in the Republican party think about him for some future office. It’s possible to lose one’s political relevancy pretty quickly these days.”

At a time when the public seems especially opposed to career politicians, the brand of outsider businessman resonates, Myers noted.

Youngkin’s success with the tricky balancing act of not alienating Trump voters while keeping some distance from President Donald Trump may pay off for the former governor if he chooses to run for political office again, Myers and Rozell agreed.

“I don’t see him wanting to cozy up to the Trump administration too closely or tie his political fortunes to what could end up being a diminished lame duck unpopular administration after the midterms,” Rozell said.