Jeffrey Lorberbaum

Last updated
Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum
Born (1954-10-24) October 24, 1954 (age 70)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Denver
OccupationBusinessman
Known forChairman and CEO of Mohawk Industries
SpouseSarah Lorberbaum
Children
Lauren Lorberbaum-Donohue
Brian Lorberbaum
Parent(s)Alan Lorberbaum
Shirley Lorberbaum

Jeffrey Lorberbaum (born October 24, 1954) is an American billionaire and the chairman and chief executive officer of Calhoun, Georgia-based Mohawk Industries, the world's largest flooring company.

Contents

Early life and education

Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum is the son of Shirley and Alan Lorberbaum, [1] [2] migrants to the South from New York City. [1] In 1957, his parents founded Aladdin Mills, Inc., in Dalton, Georgia. Aladdin initially produced bathmats and rugs for discount retailers and during the 1970s expanded into tufted carpet manufacturing, eventually growing the business into one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the country. [1] He has one sister, Suzanne Helén of Denver, and one brother, Mark Lorberbaum of Miami Beach. [1] He graduated with a B.A. from the University of Denver. [3]

Career

Jeffrey joined the family business, carpet and rug manufacturer Aladdin Mills, in 1976, after graduating from the University of Denver. Lorberbaum held a number of leadership positions, eventually serving as vice president of operations from 1986 to 1994. [4]

In 1994, Aladdin merged with Mohawk Industries, which had gone public in 1992, creating one of the largest flooring manufacturers in the United States – and his father became Mohawk's largest shareholder. Jeffrey and Alan Lorberbaum then joined Mohawk's board of directors. [1]

In 1995, Lorberbaum became president of Mohawk; and, in 2001, he became CEO. Since then he has grown the company to $5.8 billion in revenues (2012) [3] partly through acquisitions that expanded the scope of the company into hard surface flooring (ceramic tile, laminate, hard wood) and provided access to new geographies. [5] [6]

In 2002, Lorberbaum orchestrated the $1.8 billion (~$2.92 billion in 2023) purchase of Dal-Tile of Dallas making Mohawk the world's largest tile-maker. In 2005, Mohawk purchased Unilin, a Belgium-based maker of laminate flooring and MDF board (a composite used in do-it-yourself furniture) for $2.6 billion (~$3.9 billion in 2023). [7]

In 2023, Lorberbaum's total compensation from Mohawk was $4.4 million, or 103 times the median employee pay at Mohawk for that year. [8]

Personal life

Lorberbaum is married to Sarah Lorberbaum. They live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They have two children, a daughter, Lauren, who works as a consultant at PwC Advisory in New York City, and a son, Brian, an ex-associate of Mohawk Industries.

As of August 2016, Lorberbaum holds 9.6 million shares of Mohawk amounting to 14 percent of the company which is valued at $2.14 billion (~$2.66 billion in 2023). [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalton, Georgia</span> City in Georgia, United States

Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties.

Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carpet</span> Textile floor covering

A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester have often been used, as these fibers are less expensive than wool. The pile usually consists of twisted tufts that are typically heat-treated to maintain their structure. The term carpet is often used in a similar context to the term rug, but rugs are typically considered to be smaller than a room and not attached to the floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laminate flooring</span> Type of manufactured floor covering

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Interface, Inc. is a global manufacturer of commercial flooring with an integrated collection of carpet tiles and resilient flooring, including luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) and nora brand rubber flooring.

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Cormar Carpet Company is a British manufacturer of tufted carpet based in Greater Manchester. It produces and distributes over 15 million sq metres of primarily residential carpet per annum, from its three sites - Holme Mill and Brookhouse Mill in the Bury area and a regional distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead.

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Godfrey Hirst Carpets is the largest manufacturer and exporter of residential and commercial carpets in Australasia.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Flooring News: OBITUARY: ALAN S. LORBERBAUM Article Number: 1327
  2. Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life - Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities: Dalton Georgia Archived 2013-04-15 at archive.today retrieved March 23, 2013
  3. 1 2 "Jeffrey Lorberbaum". Forbes . 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  4. Businessweek: Jeffrey S. Lorberbau retrieved March 23, 2013
  5. Textile World: "Executive Forum: Jeff Lorberbaum, Mohawk president and CEO" by Jim Borneman Archived 2013-04-11 at archive.today July/August 2006
  6. Funding Universe: "Mohawk Industries, Inc. History" retrieved March 23, 2013
  7. 1 2 Coffey, Brendan (January 10, 2013), "Mohawk Chief Lorberbaum Emerges as Billionaire With Tiles", Bloomberg, retrieved March 30, 2016
  8. Anderson, Sarah (2024-08-29). "Executive Excess 2024: The "Low Wage 100" corporations are enriching CEOs at the expense of workers and long-term investment" (PDF). Institute for Policy Studies . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-08-29. Retrieved 2024-08-31.