Greg Brown (businessman)

Last updated
Gregory Q. Brown
Born1960 (age 63–64)
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Alma mater Rutgers University
TitleChairman and Chief Executive Officer (Motorola Solutions) since 2008

Gregory Q. Brown (born 1960) is an American businessman. [1] He has been chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions since 2008. [1]

Contents

Education

Brown graduated from Rutgers University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Economics in 1982. [2] [1] [3] He graduated from Highland Park High School in New Jersey.

Career

Early career

After graduating from Rutgers with a degree in economics, Brown took a position with AT&T in 1982. [4] [5] He led a team that won a contract to sell over 10,000 computers to General Motors and Electronic Data Systems. [4] He eventually left AT&T for Ameritech. [4]

In 1996, Brown was appointed as president of Ameritech Custom Business Services (Ameritech Corporation), a position he held until 1999. [1] [6] He was also named president of Ameritech New Media Inc. from September 1996 to February 1999. [1] [6] In these roles he was responsible for all consumer cable TV operations, programming, and content relationships. [1] [7] The Ameritech CEO, Dick Notebaert, chose Brown to build a cable business inside Ameritech. [5] That business was sold to Wide Open West LLC in 2001 for $1 billion (estimated). [5]

Brown left Ameritech for the company Micromuse. [5] He was the Chairman and CEO for the San Francisco-based network management software company(acquired by IBM) for four years until his resignation in December 2002 [8] [9] Under his leadership, the company’s annual revenue grew from $28 million to over $200 million. [4] Brown left Micromuse to join Motorola. [4]

Motorola and Motorola Solutions

Brown is chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions, which builds and connects safety and security technologies that help protect people, property and places, including communications, video security and the command center. [10] [11] [12] [6] [13] He is the company’s longest-serving CEO, after the founder Paul Galvin and his son Bob. [3] An analyst at Northcoast Research noted Brown "...has been a success on many levels. (Motorola Solutions) stock has blossomed, and the company has been transformed completely" during his tenure as CEO. [14]

Brown joined Motorola in January 2003 as head of the communications, government, and industrial solutions sector. [8] [9] In this role, he led the acquisition of Symbol Technologies for $3.9 billion. [14] [5] In 2007 he was promoted to chief operating officer and, in 2008, was named CEO. In 2011 he was named Chairman of the Board. [5] [10]

In March 2008, with the company losing money, Brown announced that Motorola would split in two. [14] Motorola became Motorola Mobility (the cellphone side of the company), and Motorola Solutions. [15] [16] Brown continued to run the new Motorola Solutions, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011. [17] [14] The company’s three business areas are land-mobile-radio communications (LMR), video security and the command center. [11] [12] [13]

In the first 15 years after Brown became CEO, the company had more than 40 acquisitions and its stock returned 668% while the S&P 500 index was up 338%. [10] [14] The private equity firm Silver Lake has made two $1 billion investments in the company as of 2023. [10] In 2022, sales were just over $9 billion and earnings were at $1.3 billion. [14]

Boards and other work

Brown served on President George W. Bush’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). The NSTAC is a group of chief executives representing various different service providers including communications and network services as well as finance, aerospace and IT companies. The committee advises the President on issues related to implementing national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications policy. [18]

Brown also served on President Obama’s Management Advisory Board. The PMAB advises the President on how to implement best business practices on matters related to Federal Government management and operation, focusing on productivity, the application of technology, and customer service. [19]

Brown is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. [20]

Awards and honors

Personal life

Brown, the youngest of five, grew up in North Brunswick, New Jersey. He spent the summers soliciting door to door to paint house numbers on curbs in exchange for donations. [27] Brown and his wife, Anna, have two children. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola</span> American telecommunications company (1928–2011)

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin. The company changed its name to Motorola in 1947. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, Motorola was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, on January 4, 2011. The reorganization was structured with Motorola Solutions legally succeeding Motorola, Inc., and Motorola Mobility being spun off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Wright (businessman)</span> American businessman

Joseph "Joe" Wright is an American businessman. From 1988 to 1989, he worked in the United States government as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for president Ronald Reagan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice R. Greenberg</span> American business executive (born 1925)

Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg is an American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Zander</span> American business executive

Edward J. Zander is an American business executive. He was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Motorola from January 2004 until January 2008, remaining as chairman until May 2008. His work in the technology sector included management positions at Data General and Apollo Computer before joining Sun Microsystems in 1987, where he was later promoted to Chief Operating Officer and President.

Tellabs, Inc. is a global network technology company that provides networking and communications solutions to both private and governmental agencies. The company offers a range of products and services, including optical transport systems, access systems, managed access solutions, and network management software. The company was founded by Michael Birck in 1974 and is headquartered in Carrollton, Texas. It is currently owned by Marlin Equity Partners, who established an independent business for its product portfolio to accelerate the development of Optical local area network (OLAN) technology. This technology was designed for Enterprise and Government agency clients. OLAN uses fiber, which is faster, more secure, and more stable in comparison to traditional copper infrastructure.

Robert William "Bob" Galvin was an American executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Solutions</span> American data communications and telecommunications equipment provider

Motorola Solutions, Inc. is an American video equipment, telecommunications equipment, software, systems and services provider that succeeded Motorola, Inc., following the spinoff of the mobile phone division into Motorola Mobility in 2011. The company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Zafirovski</span> American business executive

Mike Svetozar Zafirovski is a Macedonian American business executive.

Richard H. Brown was chairman and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems Corporation from 1999 to 2003; chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless plc from 1996 to 1998; a director of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 2001 to 2015 and a director of Home Depot.

Richard C. Notebaert is the former Chairman and CEO of Qwest, Tellabs and Ameritech. He was credited for saving Qwest from bankruptcy, and making Ameritech the most successful "Baby Bell".

Maggie Wilderotter is an American businessperson who is the chairwoman of DocuSign and the former chief executive officer of Frontier Communications, from November 2004 to April 2015; then executive chairman of the company until April 2016. During her tenure with Frontier, the company grew from a regional telephone company with customer revenues of less than $3 billion to a national broadband, voice and video provider with operations in 29 states and annualized revenues in excess of $10 billion.

Stanley T. Sigman was the former Chief Executive Officer of Cingular Wireless at AT&T, the United States's largest wireless provider.

George Myles Cordell Fisher is an American business executive. He served as the chief executive officer and chairman of Eastman Kodak Company from 1993 to 2000. Prior to joining Kodak, Fisher worked at Motorola, Inc. from 1976 to 1993 and was named president and chief executive officer in 1988 and chairman and CEO in 1990. Prior to joining Motorola, George was involved in research and development at Bell Laboratories for ten years. Fisher retired as a senior advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts after serving from 2003 to 2014.

The President's Management Advisory Board is or was a council of 17 corporate executives from leading American companies. Its purpose was to provide the administration of the executive branch advice and recommendations on effective strategies for the implementation of the best business practices on matters related to federal government's management and operations, with focus on productivity, the implementation of innovative methods, customer service, and technology. The board will be chaired by former Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Director Jeffrey Zients as part of the General Services Administration of the Executive Office. On March 10, 2011, board appointees were announced, including Greg Brown, president and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions, Inc.; Sam Gilliland, Chairman and CEO of Sabre Holdings; Debra L. Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks; Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe Systems, Inc.; and Tim Solso, Chairman and CEO of Cummins, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Costolo</span> American businessman (born 1963)

Richard William Costolo is an American businessman. He was the CEO of Twitter, Inc. from 2010 to 2015; he also served as the COO before becoming CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Schriesheim</span>

Robert A. Schriesheim is an American business executive. According to a published interview with FTI Consulting in November 2021 he has served as a board director of 11 public companies, including as board chairman, and as a CFO of 4 public companies with revenues from approximately $1 billion to over $40 billion. He is chairman of Truax Partners LLC and has partnered with institutional investors leading large enterprises through complex transformations serving in various executive leadership and board roles. According to a 2016 Wall Street Journal article, he has a "history of working in partnership with private equity firms, hedge funds and institutional investors in special situation circumstances". According to Barron's and CFO magazine, Schriesheim has "spent most of his career at the high end of the strategy spectrum, embroiled in complex restructurings" focused on capital allocation. He is also an adjunct professor at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he teaches a course titled "Corporate Governance and Activism: The Role of Boards in Critical Decisions".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Smith (Ciena CEO)</span> British-American executive

Gary B. Smith is a British-American executive, currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Ciena, an American telecommunications networking multinational.

Micromuse Inc. was an American company based in San Francisco which provided network management software. The company's partners included Psytechnics.

Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick is the graduate and undergraduate business school located on the Newark and New Brunswick campuses of Rutgers University. It was founded in 1929. It operated under several different names before consolidating into Rutgers Business School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PJT Partners</span> Global advisory-focused investment bank

PJT Partners, Inc. is a global advisory-focused investment bank, founded in October 2015 as part of The Blackstone Group's spin-off of its financial and strategic advisory services businesses. The firm was founded by Paul J Taubman after his 30-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, where he served as Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Global Head of Investment Banking and until the end of 2012, Co-President of the Institutional Securities Group, which included Investment Banking as well as Sales and Trading.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bloomberg BusinessWeek
  2. ↑ "Greg Brown, Chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, will be Keynote Speaker at Rutgers' 246th Commencement May 13". rutgers.edu. April 3, 2012. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  3. 1 2 3 "Greg Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | Motorola Solutions". newsroom.motorolasolutions.com. Retrieved 2019-12-22.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Executive profile: Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions". Chicago Tribune. February 13, 2012. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Greg Brown's Motorola". Crain's Chicago Business.
  6. 1 2 3 "Motorola names Greg Brown new CEO - Nov. 30, 2007". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  7. ↑ Writer, CBR Staff (1999-02-18). "MICROMUSE FINALLY APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO". Tech Monitor. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  8. 1 2 "Micromuse CEO to Join Motorola". WSJ. December 13, 2002. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  9. 1 2 "Micromuse loses CEO/Chairman Brown to Motorola". MarketWatch. Dec 13, 2002. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Serwer, Andy. "Greg Brown Has Remade Motorola Solutions Into a Growth Machine". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  11. 1 2 Jackson, Donny (10 February 2023). "Motorola Solutions highlights renewed LMR strength, growth in video, command-center arenas". Urgent Communications. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  12. 1 2 Team, Trefis. "What's Happening With Motorola Solutions Stock?". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  13. 1 2 Shepherd, Daniel (2023-01-23). "Motorola brings its latest and greatest to Intersec 2023". TahawulTech.com. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "How Motorola built a turnaround on public-safety tech | Fortune". 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  15. ↑ Woyke, Elizabeth. "Motorola Solutions: The Other Motorola". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  16. ↑ Ante, Spencer E. (2011-01-03). "Motorola Split Will Impart More Focus". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  17. ↑ "Motorola Solutions CEO: Cell Phone Business Would've Bankrupted Company". Fortune. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  18. ↑ "President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee - SourceWatch". www.sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  19. ↑ "President Obama Announces Members of President's Management Advisory Board". whitehouse.gov. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  20. ↑ slater, elias (2015-12-29). "Greg Brown". Prostate Cancer Foundation. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  21. 1 2 Parker, Garrett (2019-05-22). "The 20 Most Notable Rutgers University Alumni in Business". Money Inc. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  22. ↑ "Chicago History Museum 29th Annual Making History Awards". PJH & Associates, Inc. 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  23. ↑ "Past Honorees". Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  24. ↑ jdlugosz (2022-03-01). "Chicago Police Officer's Training Put to the Test on Seventh Day on the Job: Award Sponsor Motorola Solutions Foundation Honors 2021 Red Cross Law Enforcement Hero". Better Chicago. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  25. ↑ "Chicago History Museum 29th Annual Making History Awards". PJH & Associates, Inc. 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  26. ↑ Hough, Jack. "Here Are Barron's Top CEOs of 2023". barrons. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  27. ↑ "Executive profile: Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions". Chicago Tribune. 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.