Kelly Close and John Close

San Francisco, California

Kelly L. Close is CEO of Close Concerns, Inc., a healthcare information firm focused on diabetes and obesity. Close Concerns attends over 20 diabetes conferences annually, reviews extensive clinical literature on diabetes and obesity, and surveys hundreds of patients and physicians periodically on various aspects of diabetes. As part of her role at Close Concerns, Kelly is editor-in-chief of Diabetes Close Up, a monthly newsletter focused on the businesses of diabetes and obesity, diaTribe, a newsletter focused on research and products for people with diabetes, and Diabetes Round Up, a periodic overview on industry trends. Kelly’s 15-year career combines her expertise in diabetes, marketing, finance, and healthcare. She has a strong track record in these sectors, having served as medical technology equity research analyst at Piper Jaffray and Merrill Lynch. Prior to her equity research roles, she worked at McKinsey & Company, primarily in the healthcare practice. She began her career in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs.

Kelly’s passion for the field comes from her extensive professional work as well as her personal experience as a patient with type 1 diabetes for over 20 years. She has built her firm on the importance of patient perspective; many of the team members at her firm have diabetes themselves or have a child, sibling, spouse, or parent with diabetes. Stemming from her work in the diabetes arena, Kelly is a recognized authority on the business of diabetes, and is a frequent writer and speaker on this subject. A diabetes advocate for many years, she is on advisory boards for the Juvenile Research Diabetes Foundation, dLife, and the Children with Diabetes Foundation and is a regular columnist for dLife and Revolution Health. Kelly is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Business School.

John Close joined Close Concerns as co-CEO in 2006. Originally trained as a scientist, he spent six years in research, working for ICI in the UK. After receiving an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration, he worked for five years as a management consultant at Bain & Company, managing client engagements. Following Bain, he entered more entrepreneurial ventures, and has several successful high-tech start-ups now under his belt. Most recently, he was VP of Marketing at Lombardi Software. He now runs Close Concerns with Kelly, where his deep understanding of science and diabetes, along with his broad business and consumer marketing expertise, are major assets to Close Concerns.