This
Weekly Standard article nicely profiles David Koch. The article is actually
dated for September 3, 2012 however I have reading it this past week to learn
more about the ever interesting David Koch. The article points out that David
is 6’5 which they probably got from my post about the Koch brothers here.
David has many interests and in his mind politics is around 5th.
David is president and chairman of Koch Membrane Systems which is actually a
pretty cool subsidy of Koch Chemical Technology Group which is a subsidiary of
Koch Industries. Koch Membrane Systems has around 700 employees. Basically the
way I understand it is this company can purify liquids to be able to make water
drinkable (like taking salt out of water so it is drinkable). Koch came up with
a way to build a system that used larger filter cartridges which ended up being
more environmentally safe and would lead to lower maintenance costs. According
to this
article Koch spends 3 days per week overseeing Koch Membrane Systems. Semi
permeable membrane technology was all the rage at the chemical engineering
department when David was at MIT. David has also learned that it is not easy to
enter the membrane business without having a technological advantage. From
1999-2009 he worked to try to get the right people and research team in order
to make his company be a serious contender. David uses this analogy in building
a team by saying “It is like building a house. It takes ages to build the
foundations, but once they are done, the house goes up quite quickly after
that.
The
origins of the company were started at MIT in the 1960s when a company called
ABCOR (created by MIT professors) and Koch Industries then bought ABCOR. Actually
one of David Koch’s professor Ray Baddour helped start ABCOR. According to this
Boston article in 2008 Koch Membrane according to literature had sales of
$110 million. Although, David Koch in the Weekly Standard claims it is a $2
billion a year business.
Back
to the Weekly Standard article I also learned that David who has a master’s
degree in chemical engineering enjoys reading technical engineering journals in
order to find the next big idea that will create value. As a kid at the age of
10, David worked summers as a field hand in Durant, Oklahoma. In school was “unmercifully
teased”. However once he grew in size he was playing on the MIT basketball team
averaging 21 points per game, was in the Beta Theta Phi fraternity, and
studying chemical engineering. After he finished all his degrees at MIT he
designed petrochemical plants and made $8,000 in the early 1960s which would be
around $56,000 in 2012. In 1970 he joined Koch Industries after his father
passed away from heart problems however stayed in New York instead of the
company headquarters in Kansas. Also although many people connect the Koch
brothers to Americans for Prosperity the Koch brothers only contribute 10%.
Americans for Prosperity also has over 90,000 contributors as well.
In
his love life David Koch use to have 3 dates per day and this
woman claimed she dated Koch in the 1980’s. David didn’t get married until
he was 56 years old (his wife Julia was 32 years old when they were married in
1996). Apparently, according
to Julia after the first date David shook her hand and Julia thought “I’m
glad I met that man because now I know I never want to go out with him again”. Six
months later they went out again which started a 5 year relationship. David was
known to have extravagant parties which apparently would not attracted women
that you could bring home to a mother.
David
Koch also has many interests. For example he serves on numerous non-profit
boards donating his time and money to them. In fact according to the Koch
Industries website he is a member of 23 different non-profit organizations
where he is either some type of board member or some executive position. I also
had no idea that David Koch was into archaeology as mentioned in this 2009 article.
Truly David Koch is an interesting individual.
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