Dean Woodman
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Dean Woodman | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 4, 1928 |
| Died | December 19, 2019 (aged 91) |
| Education | Amherst College |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | founding partner of Robertson Stephens |
| Spouse(s) | Lavonne Newell (divorced), Concepcion Socarras (divorced) Jane Woodman |
| Children | 4 |
Dean Woodman (November 4, 1928 – December 19, 2019)[1] was an American businessman, philanthropist, and co-founder of the investment bank Robertson Stephens.
Woodman was born in 1928[2] to a Quaker family.[3] In 1946, he graduated from the Moses Brown School[3] and then Amherst College where he studied economics.[4] After college, he served in the United States Naval Air Corps.[4] In 1955, he worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch including 16 years as director of West Coast corporate financing.[2] In 1978, he co-founded investment bank Robertson Colman Stephens & Woodman and in 1982, he co-founded the investment bank Woodman, Kirkpatrick & Gilbreath[2] where he brokered Pepsi's purchase of Taco Bell.[5]
In 1984, Woodman served as managing director in the investment banking group of Hambrecht & Quist and in 1988, he served as managing director of the international investment bank ING Barings LLC (and its predecessor Furman Selz).[2] In 1999, he left ING to work as a consultant specializing in financial assignments, private equity and debt placements, and mergers and acquisitions.[2] He is also a director of Medallion Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medallion Financial Corp.[2] In 2002, he provided a $200,000 loan to his son, Nick Woodman, as seed money to found the sports camera company, GoPro.[6][7] As of May 2014, he owned 6.4% of GoPro stock.[8]