Biotech Leader and Innovator, Bill Rastetter, Inducted Into The JA San Diego Business Hall of Fame

Biotech leader and SD2 co-founder Bill Rasetter and JA San Diego President & CEO Sidd Vivek | Photo by Melissa Jacobs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2023

Youth-focused workforce development nonprofit honors San Diego leaders for excellence in business, education, and philanthropy

Oct. 11, 2023 (San Diego, CA) — Junior Achievement of San Diego County (JA San Diego) inducted scientist, innovator, and local entrepreneur, Bill Rastetter, into the San Diego Business Hall of Fame at their annual luncheon on Oct. 11, 2023 at The Lodge at Torrey Pines.

The JA Business Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognize San Diego’s leaders who have been professionally successful while also continuing to invest in the community through philanthropy, mentorship, innovation, or other creative engagement.

“JA is thrilled to recognize Bill Rastetter at this year’s Business Hall of Fame for his contributions to the life sciences industry and more recently, his commitment to build and support diverse talent pipelines across STEM fields”, said Sidd Vivek, President and CEO of JA San Diego, a nonprofit organization committed to empowering local youth through experiential learning programs that provide K-12 students with tools and knowledge needed to succeed in the modern economy.

Rastetter serves as the chairman of three life science companies in San Diego, Neurocrine Biosciences, Fate Therapeutics, and Daré Bioscience. Additionally, he is an advisor to Illumina Ventures. Rastetter is a co-founder and chairman of San Diego Squared (SD2). SD2 is a nonprofit focused on increasing the diversity within the STEM industries in San Diego through mentorship, partnerships, and financial support for underrepresented high school and college students.

For more information, please visit https://jasandiego.org/event/san-diego-business-hall-of-fame-luncheon-2023/.

About Junior Achievement of San Diego

Junior Achievement of San Diego County (JA San Diego) has been inspiring and equipping San Diego youth to achieve economic success by planning for their futures and making informed academic and career choices since 1950. By deploying proven, experiential programs like BizTown program, JA also reaches more than 30,000 students annually through programs such as the McGrath Family JA BizTown, Mission Fed JA Finance Park, and the JA Fellows program which help students build financial literacy, work-readiness, and entrepreneurship skills. Annually, more than 3,000 volunteers serve as role models and enable JA to deliver experiential programs to students in 36 county school districts.