Gary L. Crocker is president of Crocker Ventures, an independent, privately held life science and healthcare investment firm that funds promising seed- and early-stage life science companies. He is also chairman of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, an innovative and rapidly-growing predictive medicine oncology drug company. In September 2009, Merrimack—a major Crocker Ventures investment—closed one of the largest recent “single drug” transactions in the biotech industry, a half-billion dollar licensing deal with Sanofi-Aventis. The agreement illustrates the investment approach Mr. Crocker has developed and refined, and upon which he founded Crocker Ventures: aggressive, experience-driven operations underpinned by a commitment to innovation and a willingness to take risk.

During his productive 30-plus-year career, Mr. Crocker has founded and led an array of innovative health care and life science firms that have established global leadership in strategic industry niches. He has served as chairman of ARUP Laboratories, director of Interleuken Genetics and LineaGen Genetics LLC, and co-founder and director of Theratech, which was acquired in 1999 by Watson Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Crocker was the founder of Research Medical, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of specialty cardiac catheters and related medical devices utilized in open heart surgeries that was acquired by Baxter International in 1997 in what was the largest medical device merger in Utah history. He has been named Entrepreneur of the Year for Utah by both Ernst & Young and the MountainWest Capital Network. Mr. Crocker received his BA and MBA from Harvard University.