Robert F. Higgins

Bob Higgins is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and a General Partner and Founder of Highland Capital Partners in Boston. Bob co-created and currently teaches a course in the EC called Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Health Care. For several years, he taught the first year course The Entrepreneurial Manager. He is a member of the Health Care Initiative, the Social Enterprise Initiative, and the Harvard Faculty Committee for the MD/MBA program.

In 1988, Bob founded Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm managing over $3.0 billion in assets from university endowments, pension funds, families, and corporations. Highland has backed such companies as Lycos, Avid Technology, Sybase, MapQuest, Praecis, Renal Treatment Centers, Ask Jeeves, Continental Cable, Staples.com, and New York Times Digital. Bob's medical technology investments include AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Conor Medsystems (IPO/acquired), Helicos BioSciences (Nasdaq: HLCS), Mitotix (Neuer Market: GPC Biotech AG), Origin Medsystems (acquired), PerSeptive Biosystems (IPO/acquired), Pervasis Therapeutics and PRAECIS PHARMACEUTICALS (Nasdaq: PRCS). Bob has also served on the boards of Staples.com and WordWave (acquired by Merrill Corporation). In addition, he has served as a director of the National Venture Capital Association and as President of the New England Venture Capital Association.

Mr. Higgins has been an investor in venture capital for over twenty five years. Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York, a private foundation that supports programs in medical research and health care management. Mr. Higgins managed two other New York foundations prior to the Hartford Foundation: the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and the Florence Vanderbilt Burden Foundation. While in New York, he co-founded the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers.

From 1971 to 1973, Mr. Higgins served in Washington as the Assistant to the head of the International Division of the Treasury and as Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce. Prior to going to Washington, he was on active duty in the Army as an officer at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Mr. Higgins graduated from the Harvard Business School and Harvard College.