Richmond Wolf Elected as New Caltech Trustee

Richmond Wolf (MS '94, PhD '97), a partner at Capital World Investors, has been elected to the Institute's Board of Trustees, which is meeting this week.

Dr. Wolf completed his bachelor's degree at Princeton University, then pursued graduate studies at Caltech, earning a master's degree in geology and a PhD in geology and geochemistry.

Before joining Capital, Dr. Wolf served as Caltech's assistant vice president for technology transfer, a role in which he managed the Institute's intellectual property portfolio as well as technology licensing agreements involving more than 2,000 patents. He is also a co-founder of two companies: WebEventBroadcasting and Xen Golf.

Dr. Wolf also serves on the boards of the Keck Graduate Institute and is chairman of the UCLA Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization. He previously served on Caltech's Board as a young alumni trustee and also served on the for-profit boards of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Arxceo, and Micromanipulator.

The Board of Trustees, Caltech's governing body, is led by David L. Lee (PhD '74), chair, and Ronald K. Linde (MS '62, PhD '64), vice chair. The Board is currently composed of 45 trustees, 26 senior trustees, 20 life members, and one honorary life member.

Wolf recently reflected on his personal passions and on Caltech's entrepreneurial spirit.

Describe yourself in three words

Father. Husband. Friend. Caring for my family is my passion in life.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Golf and playing baseball with my son. Something that isn't widely known about me is that Caltech patented a putter that I designed. [The club, patented in 1997, has a pair of runners attached to the bottom of the putter head. The runners help improve the chances that the putter strikes the ball squarely without catching on the ground. They also raise the putter's blade to a level at or near the golf ball's equator, improving the probability that the blade strikes the ball with an upward blow.]

What do you find most interesting or inspiring about Caltech?

The insatiable search for answers to the hardest scientific questions. I wish more people knew how entrepreneurial the Institute has become.