Robert Duggan (venture capitalist)

Robert W. Duggan (born 1944) is an American billionaire, entrepreneur, philanthropist, biotech executive, health care executive, educator, and human rights activist. He is the former CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pharmacyclics[2] and was previously CEO of surgical systems maker Computer Motion from 1997 to 2003.[3] Bob is the majority shareholder and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Pulse Biosciences and Summit Therapeutics, where he also serves as CEO.[4]

Entrepreneur - Bob Duggan
Bob Duggan
Born
Robert W. Duggan

1944/1945 (age 75–76)[1]
Oakland, Ca
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Los Angeles
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forForbes List of 400 Billionaires Former CEO of Pharmacyclics
Net worthUS$2.1 billion (May 2020)[1]
TitleCEO Summit Therapeutics
Term2020 - present
Children8
HonoursReceived US Congressional Medal of Merit from Dr. Ron Paul

Included on Forbes Billionaire list

Received a Key to the City of Shanghai

Named a Knight of the French Legion of Honor by French President Jacques Chirac, specifically for Duggan’s innovative thinking
Websitewww.robertduggan.com
Bob Duggan with Mountain Bike in Costa Rica

Early life

Robert Duggan (Bob) was born in Oakland, California, in 1944; the third of five children.[5] Duggan attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California, Los Angeles.[6][1] His father was an Irish immigrant who became an industrial engineer in the U.S; his mother was a nurse.[7] According to Robert Duggan in Investopedia, “We [our family] made about $800 a month…The last couple days of every month we scrambled around the house looking for lost quarters, dimes, and nickels [to pay the bills]."[8]

Duggan attended St. Francis High School in San Jose, California, where he was both the captain and quarterback of the school football team.[7] Robert is recorded as saying “I captained my football team, I’d get in a huddle, and I’d go: ‘Guys – sacrifice your body. We’re behind in this game. We are not losing this game. Get out there. Sacrifice your body. Win the game guys. There’s nothing more important in life right now than winning this game.'"[9]

Duggan's first business venture was mowing lawns as a teenager in California. He said this about the lawn mowing enterprise to Entrepreneur.com, "as a teenager, my first business was mowing lawns. My goal as a teenager was not to make the Forbes 400 list but to simply make enough money to get myself through college. When I was mowing lawns I realized when I went that extra mile to make a difference for the better, the property owner wanted to tip me or give me more work. It wasn't even very difficult. Sometimes it was a simple smile, extra care to make sure a hedge was edged perfectly, or taking the time when I was done to have the owner walk the property with me admiring my work."[10]

Career

Sunset Designs

Duggan's first company, Sunset Designs, supplied Jiffy Stitchery kits to consumers - helping them create their own high-quality stitched projects at home.[11] He invested $100k in Sunset Designs and earned a $15m return on that investment.[12] More than 7,000 retail locations sold Jiffy Stitchery kits, giving the company an 80% market share.[13] The company is sold to Reckitt & Bensicker for $15m.[14]

Paradise Bakery

Duggan, the Patterson Brothers and Carter Holmes were partners in Paradise Bakery, which opened in 1976. Paradise Bakery distributed cookies to major corporations such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Disney World.[15] Duggan developed the recipe for the “Chocolate Chip Chipper”. The bakery was sold to Chart House, Inc in 1987 and is now owned by Panera Bread.[16] The Paradise Bakery in downtown Aspen is still in operation as of 2020 and maintains the Paradise Bakery name.[17]

Government Technology Services (GTSI)

The first-ever use of a credit card on the internet happened at GTSI in 1995. The company was founded in 1983 and sold technology parts and services to clients, primarily government, reselling more than 75,000 products. In 1996 GTSI was the largest reseller to the U.S. Government of microcomputer software and Unix hardware.[18] Duggan began investing in GTSI in 1986.[19]

Metropolis Media

Duggan helped form, invested in and was Chairman of the Board of Metropolis Media. The company was formed in the 1990s to help formerly communist countries transition to free-market societies and to enable consumer advertising.[20]

Computer Motion (Intuitive Surgical)

Computer Motion (now Intuitive Surgical) develops surgical robotics aimed at improving patients' experiences by reducing the degree of invasion during surgery.[21] The company worked to accomplish "patient and physician-friendly" robotic surgery - a term coined by Duggan who led the company as Chairman from 1990 to 2003.[22] On 7 Sept 2001 Computer Motion conducted the "Lindbergh Operation" - the first transatlantic telesurgical operation. It was performed by surgeons in New York on a patient in France.[23] In 2000 Bob Duggan was awarded Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Jacques Chirac for work on robotic surgical technology.[24]

Pharmacyclics

Pharmacyclics is a pharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of cancer therapies.[25] From 2008 to 2015, Duggan was the largest investor in as well as chairman and CEO of Pharmacyclics.[26] The company then focused its research on ibrutinib (later branded as IMBRUVICA®), a drug approved for the treatment of four different types of blood cancer.[27] Duggan received $3.5 billion from the sale of Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in "one of the biggest paydays ever from the buyout of a publicly held company."[28][29][30] As CEO and chairman of Pharmacyclics from 2008 to 2015, Duggan had opted not to receive compensation from the company.[31]

Bob Duggan

Investopedia says, between 2008 and 2015, "Duggan saved Pharmacyclics and turned it into a billion‐dollar company with more than 500 employees.[32]"

Pulse Biosciences

Since November 2017, Duggan has been chairman of Pulse Biosciences.[33] As of February 2017, he owned a 15.4% stake in the company.[34]

Summit Therapeutics

After having been a director since December 2019, in spring 2020 Duggan was appointed as CEO of Summit Therapeutics (a clinical-stage drug development company focused on new mechanism antibiotics).[35] He is the company's leading shareholder and will serve as CEO without compensation.[36] Summit is focused on developing ridinilazole, a potential new treatment for C. difficile.[37]

Personal life

Bob Duggan was married to Patricia J. "Trish" Hagerty whom he met when both were students at UCSB.[38] Bob Duggan and Trish Duggan were divorced in 2017.[39] They have 8 children.[40]

Duggan is a member of the Church of Scientology. Duggan has been referred to as the church's largest donor.[32]

In 2020, Forbes ranked Duggan No.378 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America.[41]

References
  1. "Forbes profile: Robert Duggan". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  2. Sean Williams (27 February 2013). "This Is One Incredible CEO". fool.com.
  3. "The $3.55 billion Man". America's Markets.
  4. "About Bob". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  5. Cassell, Warren (3 Feb 2020). "How Robert Duggan Became a Billionaire". Investopedia. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  6. George Thurlow (Summer 2015). "Everybody's a Genius". UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association.
  7. "Robert Duggan Biography". Brooksy. 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  8. Jr, Warren Cassell. "How Robert Duggan Became a Billionaire". Investopedia. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  9. Albert, Tim (2018-04-17), "Know the game", Winning the Publications Game, CRC Press, pp. 1–13, doi:10.1201/9781315384153-1, ISBN 978-1-315-38415-3, retrieved 2020-09-22
  10. Duggan, Bob (2015-08-27). "Don't Just Make a Difference. Make a Difference for the Better". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  11. "First Venture". Robert Duggan. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  12. Varney, Amy (5 April 2019). "Bob Duggan". Oxstem. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  13. "Robert Duggan". Robert Duggan. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  14. "Domination of the market with over 80% market share". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  15. "Premium distributors of freshly baked cookies". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  16. Romero, Peter (2016-02-11). "Panera buys into a second, higher-end concept". Restaurant Business. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  17. Krause, David. "Paradise Bakery to remain in its original location in downtown Aspen". aspentimes.com. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  18. "Government Services Technology". Government Technology Services. 7 July 1997. Archived from the original on 4 July 1997.
  19. "The first-ever use of a credit card on the Internet". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  20. "Helping countries transition to free-market capitalism". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  21. "DaVinci by Intuitive". Intuitive. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  22. "Bob Duggan". Robert Duggan. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  23. Marescaux, Jacques; Leroy, Joel; Gagner, Michel; Rubino, Francesco; Mutter, Didier; Vix, Michel; Butner, Steven E.; Smith, Michelle K. (27 September 2001). "Transatlantic robot-assisted telesurgery". Nature. 413 (6854): 379–380. Bibcode:2001Natur.413..379M. doi:10.1038/35096636. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 11574874. S2CID 4395164.
  24. "About Bob". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  25. "Pharmacyclics Stock Price, Forecast and News". Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  26. "Board of Directors - Pulse Biosciences". Pulse Biosciences. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  27. "Developers of the breakthrough oncology cancer drug". Duggan Investments. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  28. Cassell, Warren Jr. (28 December 2015). "How Robert Duggan Became a Billionaire". Investopedia. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  29. Antoine Gara. "Robert Duggan". Forbes.
  30. "The Hiring Guru: Robert Duggan Billionaire". The Huffington Post.
  31. Gary Strauss (March 24, 2015). "The $3.55 billion Man". USA Today. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  32. Cassell, Warren Jr. "How Robert Duggan Became a Billionaire". Investopedia. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  33. "Board of Directors - Pulse Biosciences". Pulse Biosciences. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  34. "BRIEF-Robert Duggan reports 15.4 pct stake in Pulse Biosciences". Reuters. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  35. "Summit Appoints Robert W Duggan as Chief Executive Officer". Globe News Wire. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  36. "Summit Appoints Robert W Duggan as Chief Executive Officer". Global News Wire. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  37. "Summit Therapeutics gets US$50mln backing from biotech billionaire Bob Duggan". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  38. "A perplexing tale about Bob Duggan, the richest Scientologist in the world « The Underground Bunker". tonyortega.org. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  39. "The man who gave Scientology $360 million actually answered the phone". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  40. "Robert Duggan". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  41. Dolan, Kerry. "The Forbes 400 - The Definitive Ranking of the Wealthiest Americans in 2020". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 2020-09-24.


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