Meet Dave Whelan: Chief Executive Officer, BioscienceLA

On January 12, 2021, ShoutoutLA featured our fearless leader Dave J. Whelan.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Whelan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in a small town in Central Pennsylvania (actually a borough, Lewisburg, which is the county seat of Union County, for those keeping score). While I was born in Germany (my father was stationed there with the Army) and moved around a few times on the US East Coast prior to Lewisburg, I lived there from 9 to 18, so that is what I consider home. Lewisburg is one of those towns where everyone knows everyone. In fact, for those who were born there, they are likely related to everyone. That means that everyone knows everyone’s business, but it also means that everyone is accessible. It means that everyone says hello to everyone on the street. It means that years later, I find myself commenting on Facebook about a barbershop that just changed ownership, which I never even patronized, simply because I remember a deer jumping through its window 30+ years ago. Yeah, it is also one of those towns where deer jump through barbershop windows. Since I wasn’t from there, I always assumed I would leave there, but while I was there, I learned the value of community. I learned that one can make an outsized impact. I learned that people are the most important part of an enterprise. From there, I went to Pittsburgh, then the Bay Area, then Los Angeles, with a bit of London and New York in the mix. I learned that I am very much a big city kind of guy (even San Francisco is too small for me after LA and NYC), but I still use those small town values every day. I build businesses and ecosystems by focusing on people and the community. I am not sure I could live in a small town ever again, but I will always be from a small town. 

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