Kevin Kalkhoven
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Kevin Kalkhoven, born Kevin Oscar Newton Kalkoven, former CEO of JDS Uniphase, is an Australian venture capitalist and auto racing magnate based in Menlo Park, California. He is a partner in the Kalkhoven, Pettit, Levin and Johnson Venture capital firm (KPLJ llc) based in Menlo Park.
Kalkhoven was one of the owners of the Champ Car World Series, (with Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi and Dan Pettit. Kalkhoven was originally a partner (with Dan Pettit and Jimmy Vasser) in a Champ Car team, PKV Racing, which has Tristan Gommendy and Neel Jani as full time drivers, but Pettit left to purchase the RuSport team from Carl Russo, who decided to step away from the sport.
Kalkhoven purchased the Cosworth and Pi Group companies from Ford in 2004 with Gerald Forsythe as a strategic measure to ensure the future of the Champ Car series.
He was named as the Number 5 in Racer Magazine's 2005 Power and Influence in racing list in their November 2005 issue.
Kalkhoven is also a licensed aviator and is known to fly his own Gulfstream 550 Transcontinental luxury jet all over the world.
Recently, it has been observed that Kalkhoven has exhibited a decreased interest in the Champ Car series, reducing his visibility, and taking a two month sabatical in Antarctica after a disagreement between the series owners.
As of March 2008, the series formerly known as "ChampCar" has declared bankrupcty, and will be merged into a new series with "IRL" (Indy Racing League) owned by Tony George.
He was educated at the Whitgift School in Croydon, England. After leaving school he joined Mobil in Sevenoaks, England before leaving to join IBM as a systems analyst.
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