Robert H. Shelton

Chairman

In addition to serving as Chairman of KS&A, a volunteer position to which he was elected in September 2003, Robert works in the fields of health care information technology, real estate development and early-stage stategic planning and implementation.

In the health IT field, Robert serves as CEO of Private Access, Inc., a company he founded in December 2006 to commercialize a unique approach to better protecting consumers’ privacy and the accessibility to confidential records. In December 2008, the KS&A Board voted to use the Private Access solutions to help speed researchers’ ability to find better treatments for the medical conditions that KS&A serves. Before Private Access, Robert served as a founding director and principal in a privately-held licensing company that controls a pioneer health care patent.  In his capacity as Vice President of Licensing, Robert negotiated licenses for use of the patent with over 30 companies, including some of the largest and most prominent firms in the health care industry, among them Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New York, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, G.E. Medical Systems, McKesson-HBOC, Merck-Medco, Express Scripts and WebMD.

In the field of real estate development, Robert served as the executive in charge of assembling approximately 30 acres of property in downtown Palm Springs, CA from 19 separate Native American landowners.  He negotiated a complex 99-year ground lease, secured approvals from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the City of Palm Springs, and coordinated the pre-development and financing of the $103.5 million Palm Springs Convention Center and attached Headquarters Hotel project.  Robert also assembled approximately 20 acres of property valued in excess of $35 million and involving seven separate land parcels and 15 individual owners immediately across from Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.  He subsequently negotiated development rights, zoning approvals, financial assistance and other concessions, and received unanimous approval for such rights from the City of Anaheim for a lifestyle entertainment center that opened in May 2008.

Along with his wife, Leah, Robert was the co-founder and president of a digital photography company, for which he was responsible for negotiating license agreements addressing several hundred motion picture properties and related talent clearances with Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Hanna Barbara and Turner Home Entertainment for use of these images in the field of consumer photography.  He subsequently arranged for financing and coordinated research and development, technology implementation and construction of several award winning, all-digital photography studios, before selling controlling interest in the firm to a multi-national retail photography company.

Robert earned a B.S. degree in Public and International Affairs from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an MBA degree with a concentration in marketing and finance from The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he attended the Ontological Design Course, a multi-disciplinary study focusing on philosophy of language, information technology and the use of computers.  Robert was awarded his first US patent in 1983, and currently holds three patents for which he is the sole inventor, and three currently pending patent applications.

Robert is married to Leah Ruth Shelton, and is the father of two children: Adam, born in 1998; and Eli, born in 2005, on Adam’s seventh birthday.  Adam was pre-natally diagnosed as 47,XXY, placing him at risk of developing Klinefelter syndrome.

•   Read about why Robert is interested in X and Y chromosome variations…