R. Patrick Simms

Pat Simms was born in central West Virginia in the small town of Camden-on-Gauley, in 1944, the third of three sons of Rodney and Violet Simms. All three being pretty good in math and science at little Cowen High School, he followed in his brothers’ footsteps and enrolled in the College of Engineering at West Virginia University. He graduated in 1966, with memberships in Tau Beta Pi, The Order of the Grail, Phi Lamda Upsilon and Omega Chi Epsilon.

Simms had learned about the excellent opportunities for chemical engineers in the grain processing industry from his brother, Rod, and joined the research engineering group of A.E. Staley upon graduation, where he spent 18 years in a wide range of technical and operations positions. As the result of an equity investment by Staley in 1984, Simms was offered a unique opportunity to move into the new and exciting field of biotechnology. Although he knew next to nothing about this new industry, he jumped at the chance and joined Genencor, Inc., in the San Francisco Bay Area as vice president, commercial operations, with responsibility for commercializing product candidates resulting from the new science of genetic engineering. Genencor, a joint venture company of Genentech, Corning Glass, Staley and later Kodak, became a success, and in 1990 was bought out by Kodak and the Finnish company, Cultor. Simms then joined his second early-stage biotech, Biosys, Inc., also in the Bay Area, where he became senior vice president, development and manufacturing. Biosys became a public company in 1992, and was eventually sold in 1997. Simms immediately joined his third start-up, Diversa Corporation, where he is senior vice president, operations with responsibilities including process and product development, manufacturing and regulatory affairs. Diversa had a successful IPO in early 2000.

Simms has served on several boards of directors of ventures and subsidiaries, and currently serves on the board of Innovase, a joint venture of Diversa and The Dow Chemical Company. He is a member of AIChE, ACS and BIO, and from 1998-2000 was an organizing Steering Committee member of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section.

Simms is the father of three, Jan, Sara and Jason, all of whom are doing well in their careers or college studies. His daughter, Jan, presented him with a granddaughter in June. He and his wife, Sandi, reside in Encinitas, California, in the San Diego area.