Sam Campbell

After graduating from LHS in 1966, Sam attended the University of Kansas, graduating in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in Business and earned his MBA in 1972. After living and working in Topeka for several years, he returned to Lawrence where he worked as a loan officer for the First National Bank and later for the Douglas County Bank.

While at the banks, he become acutely aware of the need for "venture capital" funding to help new business develop and grow. He was ahead of his time in encouraging economic development in Lawrence and Kansas. In 1983 he founded Campbell-Becker enterprises to secure funding for promising new businesses. In those first years, he had a business relationship with Pine International and KanTronics as they grew to become the established companies they are today. He established himself with state leaders in economic development and consulted with experts in Europe and Asia to open international business pathways.

For the past 9 years, he has led CritiTech as its President. It is a pharmaceutical company that has developed a process to deliver cancer drugs in a way that minimizes or eliminates the poisonous side effects of those drugs. This product was clinically trialed at the Kansas Medical Center. Bringing any new drug to a clinical trial is an arduous process and the fact that this has occurred so quickly and from a new company is jaw dropping.

Sam is also invested in several other biotech companies. When "Smart Corridor" between Manhattan, Lawrence, and Johnson County and the KU Med Center reaches its potential in development you can count on Sam Campbell as one of the major players who made it happen. He will always be looking forward for the next economic opportunity for Lawrence and Kansas.

Sam's service to the area is not limited to his business endeavors. He has served as President of the Lawrence Rotary Club, on the board for the University of Kansas Center for International Business and Research, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trustees for the Center for Research at the University of Kansas and numerous other organizations. He also participated in Leadership Lawrence.