How Blindness Spurred One Entrepreneur to Fund Research to Help Others

San Francisco-based entrepreneur Yat-Pang Au, CEO of Veritas Investments, directs the operations of a company that currently oversees approximately $2 billion in investment assets. Yat-Pang Au, who founded Veritas a decade ago, works with his team to acquire, improve, and manage a range of multi-family buildings located in some of San Francisco’s best-known historic neighborhoods.

In recognition of his professional achievements, he has additionally earned a place on the list of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2017. Every year, Goldman Sachs sponsors a Builders + Innovators Summit, where it honors those named to the list and hosts an array of informational programming and networking events. 

Among the notable programs at the 2017 summit featured the story of entrepreneur Gordon Gund, who developed retinitis pigmentosa as a young man, and the condition caused him to become completely blind. But, as demonstrated in The Illumination, a documentary about how his personal struggle with blindness led him to an aggressive search for improved treatments, the disability has hardly held him back. Gund has excelled as a businessman, venture capitalist, artist, and founder of the non-profit Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB).

Gund’s inspirational story also involves his work with his own family foundation, devoted to building on the success of the FFB with grants of matching funds made through June 2016. By that time, the FFB’s research had already led to a partial restoration of vision for nearly 100 people who participated in clinical trials.