Frank H. Murray | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Frank Hardart Murray 1953 (age 69–70) New York City, U.S. |
Education |
|
Occupation | Business executive |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Relatives |
|
Frank Hardart Murray (born 1953) is an American business executive. He is founder, president and chief executive officer of InterTech Media. In the 1990s, Murray was the chairman and CEO of Goodman Manufacturing Company and engineered Goodman's purchase of Amana Corporation from Raytheon and initiated Amana's successful brand-revitalization campaign. [1] Under Murray, Goodman moved up Forbes' list of 500 Biggest Private Companies from #405 to 66. [2] Murray has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics from Ohio Wesleyan University. [3]
Born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, [4] Murray came from a family of entrepreneurs. He is named after his maternal great grandfather, Frank Hardart, co-founder of Horn & Hardart, the company known for the Automats – the self serve cafeterias popular in Philadelphia and New York. On his father's side, he is the grandson of William J. Murray and the great-grandson of Samuel J. Murray, who revolutionized the manufacturing of playing cards through the United States Playing Card Company. On his grandmother's side he is the great-grandson of John F. Ahearn who was a prominent Tammany Hall leader and served as Manhattan Borough President from 1903–1909. His father, Samuel J. Murray, was a decorated veteran of World War II. [5]
Early in his career, Murray was a partner in the Beacon Group, a managing director of Mergers & Acquisitions at Merrill Lynch and a vice president at Dillon Read. At Dillon Read, he was a key member in the defense team for Unocal Corporation which prevented a takeover-attempt by T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Petroleum in 1985. The case resulted in the Delaware Supreme Court landmark decision Unocal v. Mesa Petroleum. [6]
He first came into contact with Goodman Manufacturing, the largest privately held heating and air conditioning company in the United States, as a financial adviser to Goodman's founder, Harold Goodman. When Harold Goodman died in January 1995, the Goodman family asked Murray to take his place as chairman and CEO at the company's headquarters in Houston, Texas, the following year. [4]
At the time, Goodman was the number four heating and air conditioning company behind Carrier Corporation, and reaching market saturation. Murray saw Amana as "an opportunity to expand into new product lines with a well-known brand." [1] The sale of Amana to Goodman was announced July 14, 1997. The deal included Amana's home appliance, commercial cooking and heating and air conditioning business, but not Raytheon's commercial laundry business. [1] Amana was headquartered in Amana, Iowa, and had 5,500 employees. [4]
In keeping with his promise to "enhance the Amana brand," [4] Murray initiated a $20 million brand revitalization campaign for the long dormant Amana brand, by DDB Worldwide's New York branch. The ads, with the tag, "Built Better Than It Has To Be," featured female comedians, including Mad TV's Debra Wilson, on a bright pastel-colored background, talking about mishaps with refrigerators, ranges and washers and dryers and how Amana features can solve them. [7]
Murray left Goodman in 1999 to return to his Connecticut roots and in 2000, launched InterTech Media. [8] InterTech "is the world's fastest growing provider of Internet-based services to media companies. With more than 1,200 client radio and television station clients." [9]
In 1993, Murray married Sachi Parker, daughter of Shirley MacLaine and Steve Parker. They lived for a while in Houston, Texas, while Murray was the chairman and CEO of Goodman Holdings and Amana Appliances. The couple divorced in 2011. The couple have two children, a son, Frank Murray Jr. (born 1996), and a daughter, Arin Murray (born 1998). [10] [11]
The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon was the world's largest producer of guided missiles. In April 2020, the company merged with United Technologies Corporation to form Raytheon Technologies.
Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore.
Caloric is a brand of kitchen appliances, which dates back to 1903.
The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006.
Ferguson plc is a British-American multinational plumbing and heating products distributor with its head office in Wokingham, England and Newport, Virginia, United States. Its brands include Ferguson Enterprises.
White-Westinghouse is an American home appliance brand used under license by trademark owner Westinghouse Licensing Corporation. It was created in 1975 when White Consolidated Industries bought the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's major appliance business. White Consolidated Industries was in turn acquired by Electrolux in 1986.
Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. The Fortune 500 company has annual revenue of approximately $21 billion, 78,000 employees, and more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centers globally.
Elmore Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of veteran and brass era automobiles and bicycles (1893–97), headquartered at 504 Amanda Street, Clyde, Ohio, from 1893 until 1912. The company took its name from a small parcel of land in Clyde with the name Elmore associated with it where a stave mill was established originally, then evolved into bicycle production. The village of Elmore, Ohio is located 20 mi (32.2 km) to the east. Founded by Harmon Von Vechten Becker and his two sons, James and Burton, the Elmore used a two-stroke engine design, in straight twin or single-cylinder versions. They later produced a straight-3 followed by a straight-4 beginning in 1906 until production ended in 1912. The company advertising slogan was "The Car That Has No Valves", referring to the two-stroke engine.
Magic Chef, Inc. is an appliance brand currently owned by CNA International Inc.
The Amana Corporation is an American brand of household appliances. It was founded in 1934 by George Foerstner as The Electrical Equipment Co. in Middle Amana, Iowa, to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers. The business was later owned by the Amana Society and became known as Amana Refrigeration, Inc. It is now owned by the Whirlpool Corporation.
Worthington Industries, Inc. is a global diversified metals manufacturing company based in Columbus, Ohio. It is a steel processor and manufacturer of pressure vessels, such as propane, oxygen and helium tanks, hand torches, refrigerant and industrial cylinders, camping cylinders, exploration, recovery and production products for global energy markets; water system tanks for storage, treatment, heating, expansion and flow control, and compressed natural gas storage cylinders. The company also manufactures framing systems for mid-rise buildings and steel pallets and racks for shipping. It is the largest independent processor of flat-rolled steel in the United States. The company takes steel from steel producers and processes it for customers in industries including automotive, lawn and garden, construction, hardware, office furniture, electrical control, leisure and recreation, appliance, agriculture and HVAC.
Stephanie Sachiko Parker is an American actress who has film and television credits.
Temperzone is a privately owned large-sized organisation specialising in manufacturing air conditioning units and ventilation equipment for both residential and commercial markets. It operates in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and other parts of Asia. Temperzone has over 500 employees.
Goodman Manufacturing is an American company operating as an independent subsidiary of Daikin Group, the world's largest manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning products and systems. The company, founded in 1975 and based in Waller, Texas, manufactures residential heating and cooling systems.
Midea Group is a Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Beijiao town, Shunde District, Foshan, Guangdong and listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange. As of 2021, the firm employs approximately 150,000 people in China and overseas with 200 subsidiaries and over 60 overseas branches. Midea Group is listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 2013. It has been listed on the Fortune Global 500 since July 2016. Midea produces lighting, water appliances, floor care, small kitchen appliances, laundry, large cooking appliances, and refrigeration appliances. It is the largest microwave oven manufacturer, and acts an OEM for many brands. It also has a long history in producing home and commercial products in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). It is the world's largest producer of robots and appliances.
John Bailey Goodman is an American businessman and polo player whose wealth originates in the family appliance and air conditioning businesses, Goodman Manufacturing Company. A Houston, Texas, native, he became more widely known in the United States for his legal difficulties stemming from a manslaughter conviction in 2012.
Rheem Manufacturing Company is an American privately held manufacturer that produces residential and commercial water heaters and boilers, as well as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. The company also produces and sells products under the Ruud brand name. It is an independent subsidiary of Paloma Industries.What became Rheem started in 1925 as a supplier of packaging to the petroleum industry, and is currently headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. The company is one of the largest manufacturers of both water heating and HVAC equipment in the United States, and also produces and markets products in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, China, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Iraq, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, Perú, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE, and Ukraine.
Frank Hardart Sr. was the co-founder with Joseph V. Horn of Horn & Hardart, the food service company that launched the Horn & Hardart Automat cafeterias in Philadelphia and New York. Patrons at the Automats could serve themselves by putting coins into a wall of glass-fronted dispensers, opening a door to an individual serving of everything from a hot entree or sandwich to a piece of pie.
The Daikin Goodman Texas Technology Park is a major factory and office building in Waller, Texas, United States near Houston. Opened in 2017 as the manufacturing, logistics, and engineering center for Daikin's American subsidiary Goodman, the plant makes heating and air conditioning products sold under the Goodman, Amana, and Daikin brands.
RTX Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization, as well as one of the largest providers of intelligence services. RTX manufactures aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity solutions, guided missiles, air defense systems, satellites, and drones. The company is also a large military contractor, getting a significant portion of its revenue from the U.S. government.