Synergenics' Dr. Bill Rutter to Receive Lifetime Achivement Award from Commonwealth Club

The Commonwealth Club of California will present its William K. Bowes Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Bill Rutter, chairman and CEO of Synergenics.

He will receive award at the Club’s 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner, which will take place April 29, 2010, at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

As founder, chairman, and CEO of Synergenics, Dr. Rutter sits at the helm of a groundbreaking consortium of 10 independent biotechnology firms. Operating in shared laboratory facilities, the firms of Synergenics all benefit from a collaborative environment and managerial guidance from Dr. Rutter. Previously, Dr. Rutter co-founded the biotechnology firm Chiron Corporation in 1981 and served as chairman of both the board and the executive committee until 1999. During that time, Dr. Rutter took a hands-on approach to management, involving himself in operations -- from developing vaccines to leading financial planning.

Before his career in biotechnology, Dr. Rutter was recruited to UCSF to establish and chair a new department of biotechnology and biophysics. After serving as department chair from 1979 to 1982, he then directed the Hormone Research Institute at UCSF from 1983 to 1989. During this time Rutter’s lab made key contributions to the knowledge base upon which the multibillion dollar biotechnology industry now sits, including developing the first Hepatitis B vaccine. An accomplished and extensively published scientist, Dr. Rutter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences..

Also being honored at the annual celebration are the Honorable George P. Shultz, former U.S. secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, and his wife, California and San Francisco Chief of Protocol Charlotte Mailliard Shultz; Pixar Animation Studios' writer and director Brad Bird; and O'Neill Wetsuits founder and Chairman Jack O'Neill. As leaders and innovators, these distinguished citizens embody “The Spirit of California” in creative, technological, civic, entrepreneurial, environmental, and, increasingly, global contexts.

Visit our web site for more information on The Commonwealth Club's 107th Anniversary and 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner.