Correspondents' dinner 3 years in a row!
After my success at J&J, I caught the start-up bug. It was pretty
clear to me that the high-level, influential positions at Vistakon were
closed to me due to my sexual orientation. I wanted to be one of the
people who drove corporate strategy, and by that point I lacked the
patience necessary to affect change in what was becoming a large,
more cautious organization. I wanted to take a bigger risk.
At a crossroads in my career
From the mid-'90s through 2000, I held vice president of marketing
positions at 3 vision care companies: Summit Technology, 2C Optics
and KeraVision. Although each company had breakthrough technolo-
gies, none had experienced breakout success. Summit was the first
company to receive FDA approval for the type of laser used for LASIK
and other vision correction procedures. I managed the initial consumer
launch of laser vision correction as well as the marketing for Summit's
laser vision correction centers. While the launch succeeded in terms of
generating consumer awareness, the procedure itself didn't catch on for
a few years and the company struggled. The board removed the CEO
and sold off the vision correction centers. The next 2 startups folded
due to manufacturing problems at one and, primarily, unlucky launch
timing at the other.
I was at a crossroads in my career. At that point, I clearly had not
demonstrated any ability in identifying startups that would be suc-
cessful. In addition, none of those positions were financially lucrative.
We had also moved 4 times in 5 years, which is not exactly the best
way to build financial security. I was still extremely confident in my
medical device marketing abilities, although there was no doubt my
resume was a bit tarnished at this point. Fortunately, my position with
KeraVision had taken Ken and me to the Bay Area — the center of the
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