Dean Woodman
Dean Woodman | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 4, 1928 |
| Died | December 19, 2019 (aged 91) |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, investment banker, philanthropist |
| Known for | Founding partner of Robertson Stephens, early investor in GoPro |
Dean Woodman (November 4, 1928 – December 19, 2019) was a prominent American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and one of the founding partners of the investment banking firm Robertson Stephens.
Biography
Born into a Quaker household in 1928, Woodman completed his secondary education at the Moses Brown School in 1946 before pursuing economics at Amherst College. Following graduation, he served in the United States Naval Air Corps. In 1955, he embarked on a career in investment banking by joining Merrill Lynch, where he dedicated sixteen years as the director overseeing West Coast corporate financing.
In 1978, Woodman helped establish the investment bank Robertson Colman Stephens & Woodman. Four years later, in 1982, he co-founded Woodman, Kirkpatrick & Gilbreath, playing a key role in facilitating Pepsi's acquisition of Taco Bell. He took on the position of managing director at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984 and assumed a comparable leadership role at the global investment bank ING Barings LLC—including its predecessor Furman Selz—in 1988. After departing ING in 1999, Woodman focused on advisory work involving financial consulting, private equity transactions, debt financing, and mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, he served on the board of Medallion Bank, part of Medallion Financial Corp.
In 2002, Woodman extended a $200,000 loan to his son, Nick Woodman, which served as initial capital for launching the sports camera company GoPro. By May 2014, he held a 6.4% stake in GoPro shares.
Philanthropy
In 2013, he contributed $5 million to the Moses Brown School, his alma mater, to fund the construction of a community and performing arts center. This donation recognized his family's five-generation Quaker legacy connected to the school, where his great-grandfather Augustine Jones had been headmaster.
Personal life
Woodman's first marriage was to Lavonne Newell; they had one son named Curtis Woodman. His second wife, Concepcion Socarras, bore three children including Nick Woodman, founder of GoPro. After their separation, Concepcion married Irwin Federman, General Partner at U.S. Venture Partners, in 1992. Later in life, Woodman married Jane Woodman.