Rubin credits much of his leadership approach to two formative mentors: the late Dr. William Danforth, WashU’s chancellor emeritus and BioSTL’s visionary founder, as well as John McDonnell, retired chairman of McDonnell Douglas Corp. and longtime BioSTL board chair. Rubin says they helped him realize St. Louis’ potential as a bioscience hub, and their influence continues to shape his work. “The trust that both placed in me to deliver on their vision for St. Louis has been incredibly empowering, and it inspires me every day,” says Rubin, who also serves as chairman of BioGenerator.
2025 QUESTIONNAIRE
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
What has you most excited about the future of your company or industry? After two decades of work to build world-class bioscience innovation in St. Louis, I’m excited to see an explosion of growth and startup activity in recent years. Twenty years ago, when we started this work, there was no entrepreneurial culture in St. Louis. Someone with a great idea would have had to take it to California or Boston to get support, including funding, mentoring, networks, and lab space. Today St. Louis has come together to place entrepreneurs on a pedestal, and we’ve become an epicenter of supporting founders and inventive minds. We use the word ecosystem a lot because, just like in nature, all the parts of economic growth must work together to thrive. BioSTL has brought together stakeholders from all parts of our community, universities, corporations, investors, entrepreneurs, public and private sectors, and we’re seeing a remarkable blossoming. In just the past two years, we’ve witnessed a doubling in quality startup launches in medicine, healthcare, and agrifood tech. St. Louisans are willing to take risks now because they have what they need to grow an idea into a successful company. These exciting, potentially world-changing startups are elevating St. Louis’ reputation as a leader in solving challenges in human health and agriculture innovation.
What’s the toughest business challenge you’ve had to overcome (excluding the pandemic) and why? Maybe the very toughest business challenge I’ve overcome is helping a fledgling Eastern European country emerge from authoritarianism and communism to establish democracy and a market economy—often living and working without the luxury of running water and electricity. As a young lawyer, I left a large corporate practice to volunteer as a foreign legal advisor in Albania. This was in the early 90s—right after the wall came down. These countries were hungry for guidance on how to reinvent their systems to nurture democracy and improve quality of life for their citizens. We were literally huddled around stoves in hats and gloves drafting a new constitution, reorganizing a court system, and developing a path to open the former Stalinist dictatorship for international business. It was an unforgettable experience. Thinking back to when I was growing up in University City, I never imagined playing an important role in something so historic. That experience taught me that meaningful progress relies on building trust. After helping bring positive change thousands of miles from home, I was drawn back to St. Louis to contribute to the resurgence of my hometown.
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MENTORS & PEERS
Do you have a business mentor? If so, who and why? I have had the privilege over the last 24 years of having two of the most amazing mentors and partners that a person could have: William Danforth (late Chancellor Emeritus of Washington University), BioSTL’s visionary founder; and John McDonnell (retired Chairman of McDonnell Douglas Corp.), who has been our BioSTL Chairman since 2011 and who continues nearly every day to be an advisor to me on issues of business and leadership. The trust that both placed in me to deliver on their vision for St. Louis has been incredibly empowering and it inspires me every day.
What piece of advice has had the most significant impact on your career? My high school English teacher and soccer coach wrote in my yearbook, “As long as you’re green, you’ll always grow.” I’ve never forgotten it.
What is one thing you would change about the St. Louis metro area business environment and why? St. Louis has tremendous wealth, a lot of it generated by entrepreneurs from a century ago. But a large proportion of this wealth is cautiously managed and not invested locally. This represents a huge missed opportunity to drive economic growth in St. Louis by deploying risk capital, including seed and venture capital investment, into local startups that could help our region stand out as the startup leader between the coasts. In large part, this is a challenge of raising awareness about the local momentum in opportunities.
BACKGROUND
Where were you born? St. Louis‚ University City
What was your first job, and what did you learn from it? I worked at the National Shirt Shop men’s store in Maplewood. I had the job of doing everything no one else wanted to do. That may have helped prepare me for jobs I’ve had working to build something from scratch. You get your hands dirty and do what it takes.
What educational degrees do you hold, and where were they earned? B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania J.D., cum laude, University of Michigan Law School
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
What is one item you recently crossed off your bucket list? This past February, after 6,660 steps (and a similar number of ibuprofens!) my knees and I reached the top of Taishan Mountain, the most venerated mountain in China. I did this with my wife and our son who is studying in China.
What’s your hobby/passion? Every Sunday and Wednesday night for the past 20 years, I play old man soccer. I used to play young man soccer. I’m not sure what happened but now I play with the old men.
What would people be surprised to learn about you—a fun fact? Perhaps my entree into innovation was my personal contribution 40 years ago to the lore of America’s most iconic TV game show, Jeopardy! Helping my law school classmate, Chuck Forrest, prepare for the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, I spontaneously introduced a then-novel strategy: I unpredictably darted among categories, keeping Forrest off balance and capitalizing on the split-second advantage to beat him to the buzzer. This broke with a decades-old convention whereby contestants proceeded through the sequence of questions in a single category until that category was exhausted. Friends, including Forrest, dubbed the new strategy the “Rubin Bounce.” Forrest adopted the unorthodox approach to great success, dominating the 1986 Tournament of Champions, and becoming the all-time champion and a national celebrity of sorts. Several publications, including Forrest’s own 1992 book, described and endorsed the “Rubin Bounce.” Over the years, the strategy has been embraced by high-profile contestants and champions. It is debated and widely referenced in online sources. However, it came to be popularly referred to instead as the “Forrest Bounce” in online discussions and even in esteemed publications like The Economist. In a recent 2024 Jeopardy! Masters tournament, that included Forrest as the only returning champion from the 1980s, host Ken Jennings discussed with Chuck the staying power over four decades of the “Forrest Bounce.” Today, only the most trivia-obsessed fans of Jeopardy! (and my friends and family) know the real, original moniker of the innovation that changed America’s favorite game show. I look back with some gratification at this experience as an early example of employing unconventional, out-of-the-box instincts to solve a problem. I’d like to think this has been a theme throughout my life and work.
