Apple has announced that the CEO of biochemistry company Genentech Inc. has joined Apple's board of directors. Arthur D. Levinson now leads the research company after joining them as a staff scientist 20 years ago. The move adds a scientific flavor to the Apple board, and can be seen as another step toward the expansion of Apple into non-dominant markets, particularly science and business. According to Apple:
Apple? today announced that Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D., chairman and CEO of Genentech Inc., was appointed to the Company?s board of directors.
?Art is a highly respected CEO and leads one of the most important and successful science-based companies of our time,? said Apple?s CEO Steve Jobs. ?We look forward to his insight and counsel as a member of Apple?s board.?
Levinson became president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Genentech in July 1995, and was named chairman of the board in 1999. He joined the company in 1980 as a senior scientist and subsequently held the position of staff scientist and director of the department of cell genetics. Levinson became vice president of research technology in 1989, vice president of research in 1990, and was named senior vice president in 1993.
Levinson has served on the editorial boards of Molecular Biology and Medicine, Molecular and Cellular Biology and Virology. He is active in the American Society of Microbiology, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In addition, Levinson has authored or co-authored more than 80 scientific articles.
Levinson graduated from the University of Washington and holds a doctorate in biochemistry from Princeton University.
Apple?s board of directors is now composed of seven members:
- Bill Campbell, chairman and former CEO of Intuit Corporation
- Gareth Chang, former executive chairman of STAR TV
- Millard Drexler, president and CEO of Gap, Inc.
- Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle Corporation
- Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and CEO of Pixar
- Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D., chairman and CEO of Genentech
- Jerry York, chairman, president and CEO of Micro Warehouse, Inc. and former CFO of IBM and Chrysler
Genentech, Inc. is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets human pharmaceuticals for significant unmet medical needs. Fourteen of the currently approved biotechnology products stem from Genentech science. Genentech markets nine biotechnology products directly in the United States. The company has headquarters in South San Francisco, California and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DNA.
This move follows Apple's appointment of the Mac Web's own John Martellaro to another, though much less prominent, scientific oriented position. Mr. Martellaro, long time columnist for MacOPINION and Applelinks, recently accepted the position of Senior Marketing Manager for Science and Technology, another post aimed at evangelizing the scientific community.
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