Kevin Czinger ’87 to Share Lessons Learned from Two Decades of New Business Creation

Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management will co-sponsor the Yale Symposium on Law and Management on Monday, January 31, 2011. Guest speaker will be Kevin R. Czinger ’87, co-founder and strategic advisor to CODA Automotive who has extensive experience operating start-up and growth companies. Czinger will discuss “Lessons from Two Decades of New Business Creation—From Satellite Television to Electric Cars.” The lecture begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Alumni Reading Room.

Kevin Czinger previously served as president and CEO of CODA, an electric car and battery company headquartered in Santa Monica, California, where he oversaw the management and strategic direction of the company. Prior to CODA, he was a partner and managing director at Fortress Private Equity, an alternative asset management firm, and an entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. He also served as senior vice president, Operations and Finance, and chief financial officer of Webvan Group.

Prior to Webvan, Czinger was a managing director in the media and telecommunications group at Merrill Lynch and also served as the CEO of Volcano Entertainment, a record and music publishing company he founded. In the early 1990s, he was executive director and head of the media-banking group at Goldman Sachs International in London.

Czinger holds a B.A. from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.