Fred MiddletonManaging Director, Sanderling Ventures
Fred Middleton has over forty years of experience in the biotechnology and biomedical fields in both corporate operating management and as an institutional venture capital investor. Since 1988, at Sanderling, he has personally worked as an investor, management team member and director in over 25 new biomedical ventures built in Sanderling’s venture investment portfolios.
Mr. Middleton began his career as a consultant for McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco office from 1973 to 1975. He subsequently worked as a Vice President in corporate development and strategic planning at Chase Bank in New York in 1977 to 1978.
In 1978, Mr. Middleton joined Bob Swanson and Herb Boyer, the founders of biotechnology pioneer Genentech, Inc., as the third member of the original management team, where he served in various capacities, including Vice President of Finance, Administration, Corporate Development, Chief Financial Officer, and as President of Genentech Development Corporation, which was established to fund Genentech’s clinical trial programs for its first 3 products. While at Genentech, Mr. Middleton successfully completed over $200 million in corporate partnering and institutional funding transactions, which included managing the Company’s (and the biotech industry’s first) successful IPO in 1980.
In 1984, he began his institutional investing career by founding Morgan Stanley Ventures, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley, serving as Managing General Partner of a fund making technology investments in both tech and biotech ventures.
In 1987, Mr. Middleton cofounded Sanderling Ventures as a General Partner and Managing Director which was established to invest in and build early stage biomedical companies, raising over $1.2 Billion through seven generations of Funds through 2014. Sanderling has invested in over 100 biomedical companies. During his tenure in venture capital, he personally played an active role as a startup investor in a number of important biomedical companies in different therapeutic areas: including Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN); Pacira Biosciences (NASDAQ:PCRX); Stereotaxis (NASDAQ:STXS); Cardionet (acquired by Philips); ViaCyte (acquired by Vertex); Endocyte (acquired by Novartis); Chimerix (acquired by Jazz) and Altor Biosciences (acquired by ImmunityBio), among them.
Mr. Middleton earned his B.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971 and received an M.B.A with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1973. In 2007, he was elected to serve a term as a member of the M.I.T. Corporation.
Other non-profit activities have included work as a Trustee for the U.S. Olympic and Para-Olympic Foundation since 2012; as a board member since 2018 of the Science History Institute (S.H.I.) serving as Chairman of its Investment Committee since 2018; and as a member of the Visiting Committee for the M.I.T. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences(EAPS) Department since 2005. He has also served on the Opportunity Board of Governors during the last 20 years.
He currently resides in Rancho Santa Fe, California, (near San Diego), with his wife Kimberley, who have 4 grown children, and 2 grandchildren.