Pic 1, A vision of my future self..on a voyage to nowhere.
Pic 2, Merchant Marine, 1969
Pic 3, Cruise ship! SS Mariposa, between Bora Bora and Fiji
Pic 4, Weston, CT., 1975
Pic 5, Northern Thailand near the Burma border, 1987
Pic 6, Kenya, 1989
Pic 7, 1995 with Linda, Squaw Valley, CA
Pic 8, Underwater Proposal, Kauai, HI, 1996
Pic 9, The Brady Bunch , Killington, VT, 2001
Pic 10, First grandaughter, London at Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, 2014
Pic 11, with London, 2014
Pic 12, Bejing, 2008
Pic 13, Alta, Utah, 2014
Pic 14, Sailing , Newport, RI, 2013
Pic 15, Recent image of Linda and me, 2014

 

 

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You may recall that I was not exactly an exemplary student. So what happened to that screw-up Bill, anyway? Well, I had a lot of fun at Yo-Hi, but I didn’t learn much, so after graduation I got a job as an Ordinary Seaman on an old rust-bucket tanker. I loved the sea, but I quickly realized that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life mucking out oil tanks (Pic #1: a vision of my future self at that point). So I studied like mad for the SATs and applied to the only colleges that consider SAT scores exclusively, with little regard for school grades – the federal academies. I entered the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in ’65 and graduated in ’69 (Pic #2). Then for the next 5 years I sailed as a deck officer on tankers, freighters, naval vessels and cruise ships. (Pic #3: Cruise ships – the Best!) Between voyages I managed to get an MBA from Cal – Berkeley.

By 1975 I settled down, got married, got a management job ashore with Moore McCormack Lines, and adopted two children (Pic #4). In ’83 I joined United Technologies and in ’86 became CFO of Otis Elevator – Asia / Pacific and moved the headquarters to Singapore. Life as an expat was great with lots of opportunities to travel for pleasure as well as business (Pics #5 & 6). In the early ‘90s, I left Singapore and United Technologies, got divorced, and joined a group of Japanese consultants to introduce Kaizen (lean manufacturing and business practices) to US companies. Then in ’95 I met the true love of my life – Linda (Pic # 7), proposed to her underwater off Kauai, HI (Pic #8), and we formed the Brady Bunch - 3 of hers plus 2 of mine (Pic #9).

For the past 14 years or so I’ve been launching early stage technology companies of various flavors – industrial systems, nanotechnology, life sciences, etc. I am currently CEO of a biotech company called Phoenix PharmaLabs, Inc. (www.phoenixpharmalabs.com). Our scientists (not me) developed a family of unique opioid compounds that are very potent analgesics (20x more potent than morphine), yet are non-addicting and free of other dangerous opioid side effects. We are advancing the drugs through FDA trials for pain and opioid addiction therapy, but that is a very long, slow process. Linda is now retired following many years as a middle school Principal.

We make our home in Marlborough, CT (near Hartford). We enjoy spending time with family – including the newest addition, our first granddaughter, London (Pics #10 & 11), traveling (Pic #12), skiing (Pic #13), sailing (Pic #14), scuba diving, kayaking, and rock concerts. Pic #15: recent photo of Linda and me.

Bill Crossman
Tel: (860) 305-6955
Emails: bill@phoenixpharmalabs.com or xmanbill@comcast.net
Facebook name: Bill Xman

 

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