Brook Byers is a founding member of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. A venture capital investor since 1972, Brook has been closely involved with more than 60 new technology-based ventures, many of which have become public companies. He formed the first life sciences practice group in the venture capital profession in 1984 and led KPCB to become a premier venture capital firm in the medical, healthcare and biotechnology sectors. KPCB has invested in and helped build more than 110 life sciences companies that have developed hundreds of products to treat underserved medical needs for many millions of patients. Brook was the founding president and then chairman of four biotechnology companies that were incubated in KPCB’s offices and went on to become public companies with an aggregate market value of more than US$8 billion. He serves on the board of directors of CareDX, Enjoy, Newsela, Oculeve, Pacific Biosciences, Inc., and Zephyr Health.
Formerly, Brook served as a director of Idec Pharmaceuticals (chairman), Athena Neurosciences (chairman), Signal Pharmaceuticals, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Hybritech (chairman), Genprobe and others. These companies pioneered the medical use of molecular biology, monoclonal antibodies, personalized medicine, molecular diagnostics, genomics and sequencing. He also previously served as the president and a director of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists.
Brook is on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University. He also serves on the Board of Overseers of the University of California San Francisco medical campus and hospitals, the Stanford Medicine Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of the New Schools Foundation.
In 2007, UCSF awarded Brook the UCSF Medal, its honorary degree equivalent. In 2008, Brook was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Venture Capital Association. In 2010, he received an honorary Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Brook is a former director of the Entrepreneurs Foundation, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He was also a founder of TechNet.
Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Brook graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and received an M.B.A. from Stanford University. When not at work, Brook enjoys listening to musicians Eric Clapton, Jack Johnson, B.B. King, Alison Krauss, the Rolling Stones, Yo-Yo Ma, the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. His favorite web sites include www.newschools.org, www.calacademy.org, www.ucsf.edu, www.womenforwomen.org, www.acumenfund.org, www.climateproject.org, www.edf.org and www.ted.com