Richard Weening

Richard Weening. (born December 24, 1945) is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Biography

Richard Weening was born in San Bernardino, California, the first son of Richard W. Weening a Friesian, immigrant dairy farmer and Alice Louise Young, from Mattoon, Illinois, whose family came to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. He graduated from Thomas Aquinas High School in 1963, where he was President of the Student Body. He obtained a BA degree from St. John’s University. He was Chief of Staff to a Governor of Wisconsin and has been the founder and CEO of several privately held and public technology and media companies. Weening was married in 1966 to Elizabeth Halmbacher. They divorced in 1972. The marriage produced two daughters, Max Airborne and Mia Weening, who reside in San Francisco, CA. In 1985 Weening married Robin Lorraine Woodard. They divorced in 2008. Weening is currently CEO of QUAESTUS & Co., Inc., a private equity fund manager in Seattle, WA, and Chairman and CEO of Prolitec Inc., an indoor air quality technology company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Weening resides in Seattle and Milwaukee.

Public Service

From 1968 to 1970 Weening served as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Congressman Henry S. Reuss (D-Wis). During this time, as a Reuss aide, Weening helped to start Northside Citizens Neighborhood Conservation Corporation, a not-for-profit low income housing development organization in Milwaukee to serve as a pilot demonstration of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which Reuss and others had authored. He left Reuss in 1970 to run the successful gubernatorial campaign of Patrick J. Lucey and at the age of 24 was appointed Chief of Staff. Weening was the youngest gubernatorial Chief of Staff in America and in the history of Wisconsin. He played a key role in the passage of Lucey’s controversial legislation to merge the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State University System. In 1972 he left the governor’s office to become National Political Director for New York Mayor John V. Lindsay’s bid for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Lindsey withdrew following his defeat in the Wisconsin primary. Weening returned to Wisconsin to undertake his first start-up business. He subsequently served as Chairman of the Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners from 1973 to 1984.

Business Career

In 1972 Weening founded Advanced Learning Concepts Inc., a publisher of teaching materials for developmentally disabled children based on the research of the Waisman Center for Mental Retardation at the University of Wisconsin]. In 1977 Weening founded Raintree Publishers to expand the work of Advanced Learning Concepts into general educational publishing of non-fiction information and reference books for children in kindergarten to 12th grade. When it was sold in 1985, Raintree had a catalog of more than 600 titles.

In the summer of 1980, with the backing of Hambros Bank of London, Electra Investment Trust and Rupert Murdoch, Weening organized a “white knight” effort to win control of the British Printing Corporation and its Macdonald Publishing Group competing with British Publishing magnate Robert Maxwell who had made a hostile takeover bid. Maxwell won the takeover battle but was later accused of looting the pension funds of his various companies. In lawsuits which lasted 10 years, Weening and Maxwell fought over Maxwell’s alleged mismanagement of British Printing Corporation and Weening’s alleged mismanagement of Macdonald-Raintree, a joint-venture between Raintree and British Printing Corporation established in 1977, three years before Maxwell’s takeover. The dispute was resolved in Weening’s favor after Maxwell was accused of looting his company pension funds and shortly thereafter Maxwell was found dead in the sea near the Canary Islands in a presumed accidental fall from his yacht.

In 1981 Weening acquired magazine publisher AgriData Resources (including FarmFutures magazine) and served as CEO and Publisher until it was sold in 1989. Meanwhile, in 1983 Weening started AgriData Network, one of the first commercial online information services, which made a public offering in 1987 and continues today as ARI Network Services (ARIS:OB). Weening served as a Director until 2008. In 1984 Weening founded Caribbean Communications Company, an FM radio network in the English-speaking Caribbean headquartered in Montserrat. GEM Radio 93.9 went on the air May 15, 1984. In 1989, following the sale of AgriData Resources to ABC Publishing, Weening founded QUAESTUS & Co., Inc, a private venture capital firm which specializes in start-up companies.

In 1993 funds managed by QUAESTUS (Quaestus Partner Fund and Network Partners) acquired another online services company Connect Inc. and converted it into an enterprise software company that built the first e-commerce platform for business. Connect did an initial public offering in 1995 (formerly NASDAQ:CNCT) and was later acquired by another e-commerce company. In 1996 Weening co-founded Cumulus Media (NASDAQ:CMLS), a radio broadcasting company which grew quickly to own and operate 260 stations in 48 US cities. Among the company’s early acquisitions was Caribbean Communications Company. Weening served as Cumulus’ Executive Chairman until 2000 when he resigned following a shareholder lawsuit against the Company for an earnings restatement of the 1999 year. He remained active on the Board until 2002.

In 2001 the Security and Exchange Commission accused Weening of attempting to improve the earnings of Cumulus when he proposed to refund a part of his 1999 compensation to enhance Cumulus earnings in the 4th quarter. Though Weening’s proposed refund was never implemented, the SEC pursued the accusations and filed civil charges which Weening settled by paying a $75,000 fine without admitting or denying guilt.

In 2003, QUAESTUS acquired Prolitec SA, a French technology company specializing in fluid dynamics applications including the creation and diffusion of scent in public places and the use of scent as a marketing and communications medium. The Company was relocated from France to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and operates as Prolitec Inc., a provider of ambient scenting and scent media services. Its customers include a variety of hotel, casino, health care, and retail businesses. Prolitec is Weening’s 7th start-up company. He is Chairman and CEO. Weening resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Seattle, Washington.

External links

• Electra Private Equity Web Site
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online -- Entry for British Printing Corporation/Robert Maxwell
• The New York Times, Technology -- THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER; A New Crop of Services Takes Root, PETER H. LEWIS, April 9, 1989
• Cumulus Media Web Site, News Releases -- CUMULUS WINS CONNOISSEUR GROUP, 35 Stations in 9 Midwest Markets for $242 Million, November 29, 1999
• Funding Universe -- Cumulus Media Inc.