Fran Marcum
Marcum Capital
P. O. Box 578
Tullahoma, TN 37388
4th Congressional District, (2004-2010) (2010 - 2016)
Frances (Fran) Folk Marcum is Managing Partner of Marcum Capital, a private equity investment firm and Chair/CEO of NEST-TN, a newly formed state certified TNInvestco public equity investment firm. Both firms invest equity in seed and early-stage high-growth technology companies primarily in Tennessee. Prior to starting Marcum Capital, Fran was Chair/CEO of Micro Craft, an aerospace research and development company. Mrs. Marcum was appointed as a Regent to the Tennessee Board of Regents in 2004 by Governor Phil Bredesen and served as Board Vice-Chair from 2005 to 2007. She was re-appointed to a second six-year term by Governor Bredesen in June of 2010.
Fran is a former commissioner of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and a former member of the board of directors of the Nashville Branch of the Federal Reserve System, having chaired that board twice. She is a founding member of the University of Tennessee Women Philanthropists and a former board member of the UT Foundation and Peabody Alumni Board.
Fran is a current trustee and former chairman of the Motlow State Community College Foundation; a charter member and director of the Tullahoma Educational Foundation for Excellence; past president of the Hands-On-Science Center in Tullahoma; and co-founder of Partners for Healing, a free medical clinic for the working uninsured of Coffee County.
Fran is an active member of Rotary International and was the first woman elected into membership of the local chapter. The Tullahoma Business and Professional Women’s Association awarded “Business Woman of the Year” to Fran in 1991. She is a member of the Tennessee Women’s Forum, a state and international organization of women executives and entrepreneurs. In 2002, Fran offered herself as a candidate for U.S. Congress for the 4th District of Tennessee. She ran an effective, competitive campaign.
Fran holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Vanderbilt University’s College of Education - Peabody. She taught school for eight years directly after graduation just before returning to her hometown where she began managing Micro Craft.
Fran is wife of 39 years to Dan J. Marcum. The Marcums have two adult children: daughter Wendy Surratt, an elementary school teacher in West Tennessee; and son Chad, an apprentice architect in Southeast Georgia. The Marcums have one granddaughter, Victoria Elisabeth (Toribeth) Surratt.