John Birkelund Ph.D

John Birkelund Ph.D General Information

Biography

Dr. John Birkelund co-founded Enterprise Investors. His involvement with venture capital started in 1956, with successful investments that were financed among others by the Rothschilds. Over the next 25 years his judicious equity investments into companies such as Texas Instruments, Federal Express, Cray Research and MCI Communications paved the way for the growing venture capital industry. In 1981 he joined the banking firm Dillon Read & Co. as its president, shareholder, and later chairman and CEO. After 16 years he negotiated the sale of Dillon Read to UBS at a price almost 20 times higher than when he joined the firm. In 1990 he became chairman both of the newly formed Polish-American Enterprise Fund and of Enterprise Investors. He stepped down from these positions after 16 years in October 2006. He has been active as trustee of a number of non-profit organizations including Brown University, the New York Public Library, the Frick Collection and the American Academy in Berlin, and has led or participated in their investment committees. He has also served as a director of the New York Stock Exchange. He holds an honorary doctorate from Brown University and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.