Steve Devick, OD, Chairman and CEO of King-Devick technologies, inc. and KDT PERR Group, Inc. has founded/co-founded a series of successful public and private companies, including Platinum technology (NASDAQ: PLAT), a software company which was acquired for $3.6B, Platinum Entertainment (NASDAQ: PTET), the largest publicly traded independent music company, Blue Rhino (NASDAQ: RINO), a propane exchange company which was sold for $400M, and King-Devick (KDt) which initially studied the relationship between eye movements and reading fluency.
Devick testified before the Senate Armed Service Committee providing information regarding research, diagnosis and treatment for traumatic brain injury and concussion in the United States Military. KDt was also selected as a national winner of the Veterans Affairs InnoVAtion Awards for its Recovery Acceleration Program; furthering the opportunity to provide rehabilitative technology for Veterans impacted by TBI.
KDt products have been utilized worldwide in measuring saccadic eye movements, balance, and low contrast visual acuity as they relate to a variety of brain functions. Over 250 peer reviewed articles have been published featuring KD products related to neurological function, concussions, and reading remediation.
Devick also produced a feature length film, Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis, which was directed by Academy Award honored Steve James and addressed the epidemic of concussions in sports. Head Games won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival and many other awards including Best Sports Documentary from both Sports Illustrated and iTunes.
Devick was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the Forty Under Forty business leaders; a regional finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year; New City’s Most Influential People Top 20; and Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). He also received the Ernst Jokl Sports Medicine Award from the United States Sports Academy for outstanding sports related medical research. The King-Devick Test in association with Mayo Clinic was awarded the Chicago Innovation Award. In 2016, Devick received the Innovation of the Year Award from the Concussion Legacy Foundation. In 2018, the company was listed as a Top 10 Health Care Innovation by the Mayo Clinic. In 2020, KDt was awarded the Most Disruptive Innovation Award at the DPharm Conference following his presentation at that national big pharma innovation competition.
In 2021, Devick was a founding executive/director of Precon, Inc., a nutraceutical company for concussion treatment which was sold, pre-revenue, to Thorne Health Tech (NASDAQ: THRN) in 2023.