Image via thomasweisel.com
Thomas Weisel is an American businessman with a long history of entrepreneurship and leadership in investment banking.
Weisel was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and decided to take his studies to the west coast where he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics. After receiving his MBA from Harvard Business School, he started his career in San Francisco during the beginning of the technology boom in Silicon Valley in 1967.
During the past two decades, he found two investment banks that took many companies public in the Consumer, Healthcare, Financial Services, and Technology industries. In 2006, he received the lifetime achievement award from the National Venture Capital Association.
Outside his business ventures, Weisel has been very active in professional sports as a board member, investor, manager, and participant for a majority of his career. He was a Bronze medalist in the U.S. Master’s Skiing Championship (1982), five-time National Master’s Cycling champion, and three-time World Master’s Cycling champion (1990-1992).
Weisel is also a collector of modern art, and is currently an elected trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).