Replies to post #242943 on NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[Lorie3168]

Oh so eloquently written. Thank you!

[miltong]

maverick 1, great narration of facts. Thank you.

[maverick_1]

By now 99.9% should agree with the RELEVANCE of this RARE 2006 personal interview Linda Powers: Do CONTRAST the Before AND NOW!:

Linda Powers: A keen eye for the right opportunities
by Katie Wilmeth
| August 11, 2006 12:00 AM
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Linda Powers knows an opportunity when she sees it.

The co-founder of Bethesda-based Toucan Capital has made a career of seizing new opportunities and making them work for her.

From an active career in corporate takeovers in the 1980s to a presidential appointment at the U.S. Commerce Department during the first Bush administration and, finally, to her current career investing in fledgling bio technology companies, Powers has had a front-row seat for some of the hottest developments in the business world over the last 20 years.

Now, as one of the country’s most successful biotechnology-focused venture capitalists, she has been tapped to lead Maryland’s high-profile Stem Cell Research Commission. The commission is overseeing the distribution of a $15 million fund for Maryland-based firms focused on stem cell research.

The 50-year-old Potomac resident has jumped from one big opportunity to the next throughout her career — always seeming to leave at just the right time. She started her career at the law firm Latham & Watkins in New York, where she specialized in hostile corporate takeovers.(READ WOODFORD CORRECTLY) Just as that hot trend was fizzling, Powers was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Service Industries at the Commerce Department[color=red].[HELPED DRAFT NAFTA AGREEMENT!] [/color]After four years, she was hired at Enron, but left to launch her own venture capital firm in 1997 before the now-infamous scandal broke.

"I’ve been lucky with my timing," Powers said.

Powers, who co-founded Toucan Capital with her husband, Bob Hemphill, said the decision to start her own business was a natural step in her career trajectory. "I looked at the landscape and it seemed to me venture capital was an interesting area of opportunity."

Toucan’s first fund invested in a variety of companies, but its third fund, at $120 million, focuses solely on seed and early-stage bioscience companies — one of only a handful in the U.S. focused on start-ups.

"Biotech has thelongest time frame and one of the biggest risks, but at the same time biotech provides great returns," she said.

Toucan currently has investments in 10 stem cell companies, including more than $60 million in Maryland-based firms.

As the new chairwoman of the 15-member commission, Powers will help define the state’s role in the hotly-debated stem cell researcharena.

"My favorite thing is working with scientists and first-time entrepreneurs and helping them take some kind of research results and turn it into a real product for the real world," she said. "I think success stories come in all shapes and sizes … but the key thing [for the Commission] is to do something that advances the science and/or advances the research to get something to the bedside."

ABOUT LINDA POWERS

» Current job: Managing director, Toucan Capital

» Last job: Senior VP, Global Finance, Enron International (operating subsidiary)

» Number of e-mails a day: 150 or a little more

» Number of voice mails a day: Dozen or dozen and a half

» Essential Web site: Yahoo

» Best perk: Working closely with scientists who are doing cutting edge work

» Gadgets: No BlackBerry! (but everything else)

» Education/credentials: Bachelor of arts, Princeton; doctorate of law, Harvard

» Last conference: ISSCR (International Society of Stem Cell Researchers)

» First job: Waitress

PERSONAL

» Date of Birth: Oct. 16, 1955

» Hometown: Wellesley, Mass.

» Sports/hobbies: Biking, walking and hiking, gardening, reading

» Computer: Vaio

» Vacation spot: Casco Bay, Maine Recall an iHub poster is "a neighbor"
» Role model: Trailblazers — women like Marie Curie, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.; scientists and researchers, especially ones who were dogma-busters (Cooley, Edison, and of course Einstein … especially after he did poorly in school); self-made business leaders (especially Andrew Carnegie)

» Quote: Favorite quote is one that Thurgood Marshall is said to have suggested for his epitaph: "He did what he could with what he had."

» Reading: Nonfiction (science, business,world events, cooking) and tabloids!

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BTW: How many here can truthfully say you have any of her personal characteristics cited above.

When to Zig and when to Zag is KEY as you've all found out!.

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