Richard Birkmeyer is a seasoned executive and an accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record. Rick joined CD Diagnostics, Inc. in 2012 as Chief Executive Officer. CD Diagnostics is a fully integrated diagnostics company with expertise in immunoassay development and commercialization headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The detection of synovial fluid biomarkers using immunoassay technology is a powerful new concept that has earned numerous awards.
Prior to CD, Rick founded Strategic Diagnostics, Inc. a leading provider of biotechnology-based detection solutions for a broad range of food, water, agricultural, industrial, environmental and life science applications. As its CEO until 2003, Rick grew revenues to $26 million and operated the business profitably for ten out of thirteen years. Rick established and implemented highly successful strategic corporate partnerships with Fortune 100 companies, raised venture capital financing, and completed six acquisitions including utilizing a financial reverse merger in 1996 to create a publicly traded company NASDAQ: (SDIX) and liquidity for SDI’s venture capital investors.
From 2003 through 2012, Rick advised and consulted to numerous biotechnology companies and venture capital firms regarding technology assessment, mergers and acquisitions, financing growth and corporate partnering strategies. He was selected by then Governor Thomas Carper to join other senior business executives to develop the strategy and recruit the CEO of Delaware’s first seed capital firm. Rick was a member of the board of the Delaware Economic Venture Capital Board, which made investments in early stage technology companies headquartered in Delaware. Prior to founding Strategic Diagnostics, Rick was employed by E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company, most recently as a Manufacturing Product Manager responsible for production of 26 immunoassays for the clinical diagnostics market. Before joining Dupont, Rick was the Director of Research and Development at Philadelphia Biologics, Inc., a biotechnology company involved in antibody development.
He received his B.S. in Biology from the State University of New York, Plattsburgh and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and immunology from the State University of New York, Binghamton. Rick also completed post-doctoral research in immunogenetics at Iowa State University.