Fall-Winter 2001 -- PDF Version - Agricultural Communication ...

AAA honors biotech entrepreneurKevin Clark, BSA ’86, who helped turn afledgling Arkansas biotech company intoa profitable enterprise, was named YoungAlumnus of the Year at the Arkansas AlumniAssociation Awards Banquet Nov. 9.The award recognizes exceptional achievementsin career, public service and/or volunteeractivities that bring honor to the University ofArkansas.Clark is chief operating officer forImmunoVision, a company that purifies markerproteins that spark autoimmune responses inhumans. These proteins are used by diagnosticmanufacturers to produce diagnostic kits that areused by doctors to test patients for about 20autoimmune diseases.“We develop the raw material used bydiagnostic manufacturers that make the test kits,”Clark said. “We isolate and purify the markerproteins. The manufacturers coat them and makethe kits.”After earning his degree in animal science,Clark began working as a graduate studentassistant when ImmunoVision was having somecontract work done by the U of A and Pelfreeze.Within six months he was working in thecompany’s lab. Six months later he was keepingall the company’s books. Six months after that hewas writing all the checks.“The parent company, Dynamic Enterprisesof Rogers, made me COO, handed the companyover to me with a $375,000 debt, and told me tomake a profit,” he said. He had the company inthe black in six months. “We’ve been paying taxesever since.”Clark said 30 percent of ImmunoVision’ssales are to countries on the Pacific Rim; another30 percent are in Europe. The rest are Americancompanies.Dynamic Enterprises sold the company toIvax Pharmaceuticals, its largest customer, in1995. Last March, Ivax spun off its diagnosticdivision, including ImmunoVision.“It’s been a wild ride,” Clark said. “I’ve beenso blessed it gets scary at times.”Kevin Clark, BSA ’85, is chief operating officer forImmunoVision, a Springdale company that purifiesmarker proteins used in diagnostic kits used to testpatients for about 20 autoimmune diseases.The company employs 11 people in itsSpringdale plant. Most are U of A graduates withdegrees in animal science, chemistry or biology.Clark, a Springdale native, is president of theArkansas Biotechnology Association and serves onthe Arkansas Bioventures Advisory Board and anadvisory committee for Sen. Tim Hutchinson’sCaucus on Biotechnology.He operates a 240-acre cow-calf farm nearGoshen with his wife, Leah Ann, their daughterKatie and son Connor. ■8THE GRADUATE