User:16912 Rhiannon/Randal J. Kirk

Randal J. Kirk (born March 1, 1954 in Pleasanton, California) is an American businessman and investor in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Kirk is the chairman and chief executive officer of Intrexon (NYSE: XON), a synthetic biotechnology company. A serial entrepreneur and self-made billionaire, Kirk ranks No. 174 on the Forbes 400. While he started as a lawyer, he is best known for his investments in pharmaceuticals and biotech. In addition to high-profile sales of New River Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Clinical Data, Inc, Kirk also founded investment firm Third Security, LLC, and has held board seats with biotech companies, such as Scios, Inc., and ZIOPHARM Oncology.

Early life and education
Randal J. Kirk was born in Pleasanton, California. The son of an U.S. Air Force master sergeant, Kirk and his family moved from California to Texas before settling in Virginia. Kirk graduated from Dublin High School in Pulaski County, Virginia. Following high school, Kirk went on to sell cars and motorcycles and enrolled part-time at Radford University to study business. He earned a bachelor's degree at Radford in 1976 and a Juris Doctor degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1979.

Career
Kirk was admitted to the bar in 1980, becoming the only attorney in Bland, Virginia, and began a practice he ran until 1990. In 1983, he partnered with John Gregory, Bland's only pharmacist at the time, and co-founded the next-day pharmaceutical distributor General Injectables and Vaccines, Inc. Kirk would go on to sell his stake in the business for $70 million in 1998.

Kirk is known for investing in small companies and remaining with them until products make it to market. He founded New River Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in 1996, where he served as chairman and CEO and took the company public in 2004. The developer of attention-deficit drug Vyvanse, New River would prove to be Kirk's single biggest payoff when he sold the company to Shire in 2007 for $2.6 billion. Kirk became a billionaire as a result of the sale, making more than $1 billion.

In 1999, Kirk founded Third Security, LLC, a management investment firm for the life sciences industry, where he is the senior managing director, CEO and chairman. From 2000 to 2002, Kirk served as a member of the board of directors for Scios, Inc., a maker of heart disease medication that later sold to Johnson & Johnson for $2.4 billion.

Another investment for Kirk was Clinical Data, Inc., a Newton, Massachusetts-based antidepressant maker for which Kirk served as chairman and a major stock holder. In 2011, Forest Laboratories, of New York, bought Clinical Data for $1.2 billion. The deal came shortly after Clinical Data's drug Viibryd received regulatory approval.

Kirk became involved with biotechnology company Intrexon in the 2000s. He was named chairman of its board in 2008 and became CEO in 2009. Kirk took Intrexon public in 2013, taking the company's market cap to $2.5 billion with the IPO. Described by The New York Times as a "biotech evangelist", Kirk oversees and advocates for the first Food and Drug Administration approved genetically altered food animal, genetically altered mosquitoes fighting viruses carried by the Aedes aegypti (including Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever), and a non-browning apple. The company's projects include creating cancer-fighting treatments with synthetic immuno-oncology (through a project with ZIOPHARM Oncology), gasoline substitutes, crop protection, and improving bovine genetics.

Recognition
SynBioBeta called Kirk "one of America’s most successful biotech entrepreneurs" and Forbes profiled Kirk in an article titled, "Is Randal J. Kirk biotech's best investor?". In 2008, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine named Kirk Virginia’s Outstanding Industrialist for the Year. He has spoken at the SynBioBeta Conference, BioFlorida, Klick Ideas Exchange and was a Borlaug Dialogue Speaker at the World Food Prize.

Philanthropy and other roles
Following the sale of General Injectables and Vaccines, Kirk donated $1 million to Radford University, creating the Zylphia Shu-En Kirk Endowment named after his daughter. Kirk has served on the board of directors of the Radford University Foundation and the school's board of visitors. Kirk was a member of University of Virginia's board of visitors from 2009 to 2012.

Personal life
Kirk lives in West Palm Beach, Florida and has four children. According to Forbes, Kirk is worth $3.3 billion and ranks No. 174 on its Forbes 400 list. He was given a "Self-Made Score" of 8 out of 10, meaning he was "self-made who came from a middle- or upper-middle-class background". Kirk describes himself as politically independent and has contributed to both Republicans and Democrats.