Doctor Robert Crants | |
|---|---|
| Born | Doctor Robert Crants November 17, 1944 |
| Alma mater | United States Military Academy Harvard Business School |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Co-founder of Corrections Corporation of America |
| Spouse | Shirley Crants |
| Children | 2 sons, including D. Robert Crants, III, and 1 daughter |
Doctor Robert Crants (born November 17, 1944), better known professionally as Robert Crants, is an American businessman. He is a co-founder of the Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic) and served as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1994 to 1999. [1] [2]
Doctor Robert Crants was born on November 17, 1944, in Salamanca, New York. His mother gave him the first name of "Doctor", though he has not generally used it as an adult. [3] [4]
He is one quarter Seneca from his maternal side, and he grew up on a Seneca reservation in New York. [3]
He graduated from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he was Thomas W. Beasley's roommate. [3] He served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. [3] He received a master's degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School in 1974. [3]
Crants was chief financial officer of a real estate company in Nashville, Tennessee. [3] Later, he founded Broadcast Management Services, and established several television stations. [3]
In 1983, he co-founded Corrections Corporation of America with his former roommate Thomas W. Beasley, by then a leader in the Republican Party in Tennessee, and T. Don Hutto, creating a private prison management company. [3]
CCA received initial investments from Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America, Vanderbilt University, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. [5]
He was its treasurer, [3] became president in 1987, [3] and served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1994 to 1999. [3] [6]
By 2015, it was the largest prison management company in the nation. By 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), along with GEO Group, were running "more than 170 prisons and detention centres". CCA's revenues in 2015 were $1.79bn. [7]
Shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Crants co-founded the Homeland Security Corporation with one of his sons, D. Robert Crants, III. [8] Crants is its chief executive officer, while Joseph S. Johnson is president. [9]
Additional reporting has referred to him by his legal name "Doctor" in industry and bankruptcy coverage. [10] [11]
Crants is married to Shirley Crants. [3] They have two sons and a daughter. [3]
(Doctor is his legal name from birth, but Crants has gone by Robert throughout his adulthood.)
References "Doctor R. Crants"