In today’s ever-changing corporate world, many top executives take the easy road to retirement once they finish as the CEO of their company. However, in the case of business executive Roger Kimmel, he has done anything but take it easy as his career has progressed. In fact, many say he is now busier than ever, which is quite a feat for this former corporate executive, attorney, and entrepreneur. To examine his career up to this point, it would be very easy to say it is one that has yet to be equaled by anyone else in the modern business world.
Like many top corporate executives, Roger Kimmel began his career as an attorney. Working for the prestigious firm Latham & Watkins, he specialized in such areas as corporate mergers and acquisitions, governance matters, and capital markets. In establishing such a varied foundation for his career, he then was able to move on to other positions within the business world. Upon leaving the law firm, he worked at many other business ventures, including many where he started his own companies.
As an entrepreneur, Roger Kimmel also enjoyed tremendous success. As the founder of a pharmaceutical company that became publicly-traded, he was thus able to put the knowledge learned in this business venture to excellent use, as he served on a variety of corporate boards for companies involved in such industries as utilities, nutrition, software development, and motion picture production.
While achieving much success in these areas, Roger Kimmel realized the two areas of business he was most passionate about were corporate law and investment banking. As a result, he accepted a position as Vice-Chairman of Rothschild Inc., one of the world’s best-known investment banking firms. In his position, he again focused on corporate governance matters, but also expanded his focus to include such areas as private equity transactions, shareholder agreements, and special committee representations.
As his career has progressed, Roger Kimmel has come to be viewed by many as a mentor and role model for how to succeed in business and law. Because of this, he was encouraged to put his skills to use with young people who were planning on following in his footsteps. After careful thought, he decided to pursue this career path, and thus found himself teaching corporate law classes at the University of Virginia Law School.
In his role as an adjunct professor of law, he teaches a variety of courses on corporate law, and is considered one of the school’s most popular professors with students. In fact, his class “Inside the Boardroom” is noted for giving students a real-world feel of what to expect as corporate attorneys, and a seat in his class is one that is always highly sought-after.
Whether he is teaching an up-and-coming group of future corporate attorneys, giving his opinion at a board meeting, or dazzling an audience with a speech as a keynote speaker during corporate events, it is clear Roger Kimmel has much to offer the corporate and educational realm.
