Kevin Kimberlin

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Kevin Kimberlin is chairman of the venture capital firm, Spencer Trask & Co., and a founder of several breakthrough companies in technology and healthcare.[1]

Contents

[edit] Career

Mr. Kimberlin has made a career of recognizing technological and medical revolutions in their early stages. As published in Forbes magazine, Kimberlin has distinguished himself by backing “obsessive missionaries,”[2] such as Dr. Jonas Salk, Dr. Walter Gilbert, Dr. John Wennberg, and David Huber.


[edit] Technological Innovations

In 1993, Kimberlin co-founded Ciena Corporation, which commercialized the first wave division multiplexing (WDM) system – what George Gilder, author and futurist, called WDM “comparable in importance to the integrated circuit.”— turning one-lane optical fiber into a multi-lane information highway, an essential catalyst in the explosion of the internet.[3] The Wall Street Journal called Ciena “one of the biggest jackpots in the history of venture capital.”[4]


Prior to its public offering, Kimberlin was the general manager of Next Level Communications, a leader in VDSL, integrated broadband access platform to deliver voice, high-speed data and digital video over existing copper telephone lines.[5] Kimberlin guided Next Level through its IPO with underwriters CSFB, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Lehman Brothers, achieving a market cap of $17 billion before being acquired by Motorola in 2002.[6]


In 1982, Kimberlin structured the first outside financing for Millicom, helping the company to form its joint venture with Racal Electronics which evolved into Vodafone Group Plc ,[7] now the world’s largest mobile telecommunications company by market cap, with over 625 million customers worldwide.


[edit] Medical Breakthroughs

In 1986, Mr. Kimberlin co-founded The Immune Response Corporation with the polio vaccine hero, Dr. Jonas Salk.[8] Immune Response was founded with the mission to provide the world with a much-needed vaccine for AIDS, a virus that is on track to kill more people than all the wars in human history combined.[9] After years of trials at a cost of $350 million, the company plans to donate the assets to the AIDS emergency relief fund, [PEPFAR]. Run by Dr. Joe O'Neill, the Whitehouse Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator, PEPFAR is the largest international health initiative ever dedicated to a single disease.[10]


Kimberlin co-founded Myriad Genetics, the first human genome company, with Dr. Walter Gilbert,[11] the Nobel Laureate who challenged the scientific community to map the human genome.[12] Kimberlin and Gilbert founded Myriad to identify genetic predispositions for killer diseases, rather than mapping the entire human genome. Myriad Genetics first received international acclaim by discovering the breast cancer gene, BRCA1.[13] As Dr. James D. Watson, co-discoverer of DNA's double-helix structure, noted: there is “no more exciting story in medical science.”[14] Now a leader in predictive medicine, Myriad Genetics has an Alzheimer's Disease therapy in the largest Phase III clinical trial to date.[15]


In 1993, Kimberlin co-founded the first stem cell company, Osiris Therapeutics. Osiris uses adult stem cells derived from bone marrow – bypassing the ethical and moral controversy surrounding this scientific breakthrough. By regenerating a variety of human tissue, Osiris is treating heart attacks, Type I diabetes[16], Graft versus Host Disease[17], Crohn’s Disease[18], and excessive exposure to radiation[19].


In 1999 Kimberlin financed the healthcare revolution of Dr. John Wennberg as a Director of Health Dialog – a company confronting the rapidly rising cost of healthcare by exposing unwarranted variation in medical practice. The company was acquired by BUPA in 2008 for $775 million.[20]

[edit] Board Membership

Kimberlin serves on the board of directors for:

[edit] New Initiatives

Some of Mr. Kimberlin’s current business endeavors include:

  • Prescient Medical - predicting and preventing the rupture of vulnerable plaque (the cause of 85% of all heart attacks).
  • Local Matters - Creating a leader in online local search.
  • Vyteris - Developing transdermal medicine to therapy without pills or needles.
  • InnoCentive - Building the world's leading innovation marketplace.


[edit] Education

Kimberlin received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Indiana University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.


[edit] Philanthropy

Kevin Kimberlin’s philanthropic endeavors support creativity, education, and science. Named in honor of his commitment to science and environmental education, the Audubon society christened the Kimberlin Nature Education Center, a state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot facility that helps visitors better understand the world around them through interactive nature exhibits, workshops, and lectures.[21] “As someone who’s made a career of supporting scientific and technological advances, Kevin Kimberlin knows firsthand why teaching kids to love natural sciences is important.”[22]


Mr. Kimberlin also supports charitable institutions such as the Jonas Salk Foundation; the Boys and Girls Club; Harvard University; and Yaddo, the artist community founded 100 years ago by Spencer Trask and his wife. Mr. Kimberlin, formerly its Chairman, currently serves as a Director of Yaddo.[23]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Business Week, Executive Profile
  2. ^ Gordon, Joanne and Mary Beth Grover.“200 Best Small Companies: Celestial Cast of Characters.” Forbes 2 November 1998: 192.
  3. ^ New York Times, Fiber Optic Technology Draws Record Stock Value, March 3, 1997.
  4. ^ Anders, George. “Success: For Ciena’s Investors, a Jackpot for the Record Books.” Wall Street Journal [New York] 5 June 1998: B1.
  5. ^ Motorola PR: Next Level Partners LLC Tenders Shares to Motorola
  6. ^ Next Level Communications acquired by Motorola
  7. ^ “History – Vodafone.” Welcome to Vodafone – Vodafone. 2007. Vodafone Group Plc. 21 June 2007, http://www.vodafone.com/start/about_vodafone/who_we_are/history.html
  8. ^ Hero With Something to Prove, Los Angeles Times, SHERYL STOLBERG, p.1, March 7, 1993
  9. ^ Global Health Reporting: AIDS
  10. ^ White House: President's HIV/AIDS Initiatives
  11. ^ Breakthrough: The race to find the Breast Cancer Gene
  12. ^ Walter Gilbert, Encyclopedia Britannica Online
  13. ^ Waldholz, Michael. “Scientists Say They’ve Found Gene That Causes Breast Cancer --- Study Could Lead to Test For Those at High Risk Of Inheriting Disease.” Wall Street Journal [New York] 14 Sept. 1994: B7
  14. ^ Brown, Phyllida. “Breast Cancer: a lethal inheritance – Geneticists are close to identifying a gene that can lead to hereditary breast cancer. But at first this breakthrough could raise more problems than it solves.” New Scientist 18 Sept. 1993: 34.
  15. ^ Goldstein, Steve. “Myriad Presents Additional Flurizan™ Phase 2 Study Data Demonstrating Benefit In Alzheimer’s Patients.” Dow Jones [New York] 5 March 2007.
  16. ^ JDRF Partners with Osiris on Phase II Trial of Immunomodulatory Cell Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes
  17. ^ [http://www.osiris.com/pdf/pr%2063%2010dec07%20pediatric%20treatment%20refractory%20gvhd%20results.pdf Osiris Therapeutics Reports Positive Results for Prochymal™ as a Rescue Agent in Pediatric Patients with End-Stage Graft vs. Host Disease]
  18. ^ Osiris receives FDA fast track status for Prochymal in treat Crohn's disease
  19. ^ Washington Post, 1/7/08, U.S. Deal Boosts Radiation Drug, Zachary Goldfarb.
  20. ^ Health Dialog $775 Million Sale to Bupa Yields 15-Fold Return to Spencer Trask Investors, Press Release, Dec. 18, 2007
  21. ^ New York Times, 9/7/03
  22. ^ The Buzz - Giving Back
  23. ^ New York Times, 12/24/98