A day at work for Dr. Jerry Caulder could include a board meeting in New Zealand, guest lecturing at a university or researching a new investment opportunity.  Claiming “normal” days don’t exist in his life, the 1964 Southeast graduate has been presented a wealth of opportunities since he left Cape Girardeau.

Caulder continued his education at the University of Missouri and completed his doctorate in physiology and agronomy in 1969.  His career has subsequently included 15 years at Monsanto and tenures as chief executive officer for biotechnology firms Mycogen, Myelos, Xyris and Akkadix.  In August 2003, Caulder assumed the head role at Advanced Stent Technologies, a leading medical-device producer.

“The most rewarding thing about what I do is being involved in a technology (biotechnology) that creates products that really make a difference in our society—from new drugs and medical devices to improvements in our food chain,” he said.

Southeast allowed this sharecropper’s son from Gideon, Mo., to “step out into a whole new world.”  Caulder said his parents strongly believed education was the way to create choices in life.

“The education I received at Southeast created the ability for me to have choices,” he said.
 
He fondly recounts, “Everything was so new to a boy from the Bootheel—college sports, interacting with new people, the marathon poker games in Cheney Hall, the pool games, and all the time learning, learning and learning.”

Caulder suggests students become perpetual freshmen and never lose the enthusiasm or desire to learn.  The executive still follows this philosophy today as he lectures to high schools and universities, avidly reads, and has traveled to more than 100 countries.

Caulder’s ongoing list of accomplishments definitely demonstrates how to “Experience Southeast…Experience Success.”

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