Robert W. Duggan

For over 30 years, Robert W. Duggan has been an expert in corporate planning, capital management and venture capital investments. Before his most recent role as CEO and Chairman of the Board for Pharmacyclics, a biopharmaceutical company responsible for innovative anti-cancer and immune-diseases, Duggan worked in consumer retail, computer technology and the surgical medical field. Starting his career in the 1970s, Duggan invested in Sunset Designs, a children’s embroidery company. Robert Duggan sat on the Board of Directors and consulted in the marketing strategy, scaling it to a multimillion dollar company. With the success of Sunset Designs, the company eventually sold to Reckitt & Benckiser (LSE:RB) for $15 million. His next investment, Paradise Bakery, overlapped his investment role in Sunset Designs. With its start in 1976, Paradise Bakery was one of the premium distributors of fresh baked cookies to the U.S. market. Several of its clients would eventually be McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Disney World. Paradise Bakery was sold in the late 1980s to Chart House Inc. and is now owned by Panera Bread, a well-known restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Also in the 1980s, Robert Duggan became an investor in the technology industry. One such company, Government Technology Services, Inc. (GTSI), had access to microcomputer hardware and software - provided by the U.S. Government Services Administration. During a downturn in the company, Robert Duggan invested millions of dollars, helping GTSI to grow from an $8 million to $600 million company. Another tech venture that proved Duggan’s business acumen was his venture into the ethernet node processors for VME workstations. With Bob Duggan at the helm, the company was able to utilize his marketing and strategy expertise to raise its revenue from $4 million to $25 million. Robert Duggan currently lives in California.