Dean is an Investment Manager, and Chief Legal Officer/Secretary and GP of Relevance Ventures, based in Nashville, Tennessee.  Prior to joining Relevance Ventures, Dean served as AGC for Blackboard Inc., with responsibility for its Blackboard Campus Enablement (formerly Transact) Fintech and security business units as well as its Community Engagement SaaS platforms.

Previously, Dean was Chief Operating Officer of Emotive Communications, a company he co-founded in 2006 to enable the peer-to-peer distribution of media through mobile devices.  Dean also served as General Counsel at Moviso, the first and largest ringtone company in North America, where he authored the first licensing structures that brought music to mobile phones, and lead the company through its acquisition by InfoSpace Inc.  He is a music and technology attorney by training, having worked at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown in Beverly Hills, California, where his practice included representing recording artists and media companies in entertainment-related transactions. He began his career in corporate practice with Los Angeles-based firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP.

Dean is a graduate of Harvard University, where he received both B.A. and J.D. degrees. Dean is a member of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe, and serves on the Boards of a number of companies and organizations.