CENTURY CITY, CA, July 25, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to name Professor John William Kercheval, III a Lifetime Achiever. An accomplished listee, Mr. Kercheval celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued across a broad range of fields of business, education, sports, technology, and philanthropy.
Having served the aerospace and defense industries for many years, as Director FP&A for ORBCOMM, Treasurer of ORBCOMM, Chief Operating Officer of Astrium EADS, and CFO of Comtech AeroAstro Professor John William Kercheval, III is now the senior managing director of the Vulture Capital Fund, and The Caspian Partners IV Fund/Trust both based overseas but operated in The United States that specialize in buying assets from distressed corporations and making investments in the aerospace, defense, satellite and wireless telecommunication industry groups.
He is the co-founder of these funds as well as creator of the John Kercheval Global Sports Sponsorship Program within the company that supports projects such as LowCountry Aquatic Project Swimming (LAPS), which teaches swimming techniques to prevent drowning to socioeconomically challenged kindergarteners and first graders in communities near large bodies of water.
Professor Kercheval is a philanthropist and financier whose efforts have united young swimmers in Boca Raton, Australia, Canada, South Carolina, London, New York City, Guyana, Norway, and the Ukraine, indeed, from every continent of the globe except Antarctica. Currently, the program helps approximately 12,000 young athletes every year and it is the largest sports philanthropy program in the world.
Born in Arlington, Virginia, to Captain John William Kercheval, II, JAGC, USN and Carolyn Ann Booth Kercheval in 1965, Mr. Kercheval initially studied chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a BS in 1987 on an alumni scholarship from the university. While on the swim team (Captain 1986-1987) at the University of California he was invited on a foreign scholars program to attend The State University of Leningrad, CCCP (now St. Petersburg State University) where he earned an AM in interdisciplinary studies. During this time, he swam for the school (1988-1989, Captain, 1989). The City of Leningrad was part of the Soviet Union making him the only athlete in the history of any sport to compete at the highest levels for teams on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
In the 1988 and 1999 USA-USSR dual swim meets he won a combined 12 gold medals and three bronze medals and led The Soviet Union to its first team victories over The United States' team in eight years.
For his athletic and academic contributions to the USSR he was awarded The Order of Lenin and The Hero of The Soviet Union both twice, in 1988 and 1999 He is the only American in history to receive the latter award.
Those experiences inspired him to start the Global Sports Sponsorship and the LAPS program later in life to bring disadvantaged but accomplished young swimmers together through the sport.
From 1986 to 1987, while still in college, Professor John William Kercheval, III conducted research with Genentech Inc, moving on to the firm of Hambrecht & Quist in the corporate finance department. He earned a Master of Engineering Degree (M.Eng.) from The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) (1989-1991) Then went on to earn an MBA in finance and operations from Berkeley in 1993, and entered the private equity industry as vice president of merchant banking for the Pierce Group, a division of Merrill Lynch & Co. In 1995, he joined the Orbital Sciences Corporation, in its ORBCOMM Subsidiary as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and, in 1997 he was appointed VP/Treasurer of the company, managing a capital flow of $860,000 per business day. During his time there, he raised a total of $660MM for the organization and grew ORBCOMM from 39 employees to over 700.
Following the sale of ORBCOMM, in 2001 he was appointed Senior Vice President, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer of EADS/Astrium, a large satellite and launch vehicle builder jointly owned by The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, N.V. and The Daimler-Chrysler Automotive Corporation.
In 2004, he joined the satellite builder AeroAstro as Senior Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer a position he held for six years exiting it when he arranged for the sale of the company to the Comtech Corporation.
In 2010, he founded the Vulture Capital Fund and Caspian Partners, which became very successful, and taught from 2005 to 2013 as a Professor of Finance at Georgetown University. As of 2017, Professor John William Kercheval, III, runs the Caspian Trust Fund and gives guest lectures and focuses on his philanthropic efforts for student athletes worldwide.
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