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Former board member Larry Gerdes to be inducted into Monmouth College's Hall of Achievement

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (09/07/2020) — Venture capitalist and entrepreneur Larry Gerdes will be one of two inductees this year into Monmouth College's Hall of Achievement, the highest honor it bestows upon those connected with the College.

A partner with Gerdes Huff Investments in Atlanta, Gerdes is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees. He will be the first non-alumnus inducted into Monmouth's Hall of Achievement since it was established in 1992.

Also inducted into the Hall this year will be Bonnie Bondurant Shaddock '54. She and Gerdes will be recognized during a virtual, pre-recorded Alumni Awards event, to air Oct. 9.

"My introduction to Monmouth came through Walter Huff ('56), who has been my boss, mentor and now partner for over 40 years," said Gerdes. "I have witnessed firsthand his love, loyalty and commitment to the College through the years."

Gerdes, who served on the Board of Trustees from 2011-19, said it was an honor when his partner asked him to take his place on the board upon his retirement.

"Monmouth is a unique liberal arts college that produces alumni of the highest caliber and boasts an equally impressive faculty and staff," he said. "It has been an honor to be involved with this special college and to learn from the contributions made by its trustees, faculty and staff. And it's a great honor to receive this special recognition from Monmouth College."

Gerdes is the sixth of six children of a father who immigrated from Germany through Ellis Island in 1923 and a mother who immigrated from Germany in 1931. After his father paid back his indenture in Iowa, he began farming in Walnut, Ill., in 1926. That is where Gerdes and his siblings grew up on a small farm.

While in high school, he played basketball, earning all-conference and first-team all-state honors for small schools, and earned all-conference and all-state honorable mentions in football, as well. He was the first member of his family to go to college, enrolling in the agriculture school of the University of Illinois. Gerdes joined the Alpha Gamma Rho agriculture fraternity and walked on to the University of Illinois basketball team, earning numerals in 1968. The aspiring entrepreneur started two different businesses and worked four jobs while still an undergraduate. He also became a James Scholar and graduated with high honors.

Gerdes then enrolled in the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. He had an assistantship with entrepreneur and noted finance professor Donald Sauer, and also received a fellowship in the finance department. The school honored Gerdes in 2019 for professional achievements during its 50th Annual Alumni Awards Gala held in Chicago.

Armed with an MBA, Gerdes took a position as a loan officer at a small bank in Peoria, Ill. His fortunes took an unexpected turn when the bank president asked him to evaluate the business plan of a friend. That friend -Walter Huff - would soon become Gerdes's friend and lifelong business partner.

Huff's vision was to computerize record keeping for the health services industry. Gerdes helped Huff secure a $1 million loan and, in ensuing years, additional loans of $3 million and $7 million. Impressed by Gerdes's financial acumen, Huff asked Gerdes to become CFO of the company, named HBO & Co., for Huff and his partners Bruce Barrington and Richard Owens.

A year later, when Huff's two partners decided to retire, Huff and Gerdes moved the company to Atlanta. By then it had evolved into a patient information system. On the day it went public in 1981, 30 of the firm's employees became instant millionaires. Ten years later, Gerdes and Huff left HBO and formed Gerdes Huff Investments. HBO was eventually sold to McKesson for $12 billion.

Huff and Gerdes then turned their attention to investing in startup companies, the most notable being a medical transcription service company called Transcend Services that they grew from seven to 3,500 employees. Gerdes served as CEO of the company for 17 years, before it was sold to rival Nuance for $330 million in 2012.

Gerdes was also co-general partner of Sandhill Financial Company and Teton Ventures with Don Lucas, a noted venture capitalist in Menlo Park, Calif. From 1983 to 2019, these partnerships invested in 59 startups, several of which grew to more than $1 billion in revenues. More than 20 of them became public companies.

Gerdes then became CEO of Pursuant Health, focusing his attention on health data kiosks measuring biometrics such as blood pressure and body mass that can now be found in the entire chain of 4,600 Walmart stores. Additionally, these kiosks collect health risk assessment data for major health care insurance companies.

Pursuant is currently pursuing an initiative to imbed Fundus cameras in kiosks to allow self-administered retinal scans to be directed to eye doctors for treatment when necessary. Fifty percent of the 30 million Americans with diabetes and possible eye disease fail to see an eye doctor and run the risk of blindness that could be prevented. This effort could be revolutionary to personalized healthcare.

Gerdes currently serves on the board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, having been its lead director from 2017-20, and he also chairs that board's Finance Committee.

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