Brian Webber, global head of technology investment banking at UBS, is leaving the firm to focus on his family and his work on behalf of the Vision Center of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, he said in an interview with IDD.
He and his wife have joined the Vision Center's board, and the cause is a personal one. The Vision Center is where Webber's 6-year-old son Benjamin has been undergoing treatment for Coats' disease, a disorder that affects the retina. Benjamin, who lost vision in his left eye, has already gone through surgery and requires more procedures.
"It's a traumatic experience for a parent to watch a child lose his vision," said Webber.
Webber and his wife will assist the Vision Center board with fundraising as well as establishing an outreach network of parents whose children have been treated at the facility. They will also help form support groups for patients and their families.
Webber is assisting his UBS colleagues with transition efforts over the next month. "I'm transitioning deals and clients and trying to leave on excellent terms," he said. "I'm still working, but I don't know exactly when my last day will be."
Webber's departure will give UBS' joint global heads of media and telecommunications banking, Aryeh Bourkoff and Mark Lewisohn, responsibility for technology banking.
Webber, 46, joined UBS in 2001 from Credit Suisse, which acquired his former employer, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He advised EMC Corp. on its hostile acquisition of Data Domain Inc., which had originally accepted a bid from NetApp Inc. but ended up selling itself to EMC for $2.1 billion last summer. Webber also helped underwrite initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges for China Real Estate Information Corp. and other Chinese companies. His other clients over his 17-year career have included Accenture.
