Ronald Kramer (business)

Last updated
Ronald J. Kramer
Born1958 (age 64–65)
U.S.
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania (B.S.)
New York University (MBA)
Occupation(s)Chairman and CEO of Griffon Corporation 2008–present
President and Director of Wynn Resorts 2002–2008
SpouseStephanie Blau Kramer (1992–present)

Ronald J. "Ron" Kramer (born 1958) is an American business executive. He is the Chairman and CEO of Griffon Corporation, a conglomerate holding company headquartered in New York, New York. [1] [2]

Contents

Biography

Kramer received a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and a MBA from New York University in 1981. [3] [4] He started his career at Citibank and then worked as a corporate finance specialist at Ladenburg Thalmann, a New York-based investment bank, for thirteen years, becoming Chairman and CEO in 1995. [5] In 1999, Kramer became a Managing Director and Partner at Wasserstein Perella & Co. and its successor Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Kramer left Wall Street in 2002 to become President and Director of Wynn Resorts Ltd (Nasdaq :  WYNN), a Las Vegas-based developer and operator of destination casino resorts. [6]

Kramer succeeded his father-in-law Harvey R. Blau as CEO of Griffon in 2008. [2] [7] To improve Griffon's balance sheet, Kramer secured a new $100 million revolving line of credit from JPMorgan Chase, exited the residential installation services business, refinanced Griffon's senior debt, and raised approximately $250 million through a common stock rights offering with investments by Goldman Sachs and Kramer himself. [8] This recapitalization built a foundation to transform the company for growth. In 2017, Kramer repositioned Griffon's Portfolio by selling its Clopay Plastics business and acquiring ClosetMaid a home storage and organization business. In addition, Griffon executed a number of smaller tuck-in acquisitions for Griffon's subsidiary, The AMES Companies, which expanded the company's geographic footprint in Australia and the United Kingdom as well as expanding the AMES product portfolio. In May 2018, Griffon announced the acquisition of CornellCookson, a leader in rolling steel commercial doors, to further expand Griffon's Clopay Building Products in the commercial market.

Griffon operates as a diversified management and holding company, conducting business through its wholly owned subsidiaries: Clopay Building Products, the largest manufacturer of residential garage doors in North America; The AMES Companies, a leading global manufacturer of non-powered lawn and garden tools and accessories; ClosetMaid, a leading North American manufacturer and marketer of closet organization, home storage, and garage storage products; and Telephonics Corporation, a manufacturer of advanced electronic surveillance, intelligence and communication systems for defense, aerospace and civil applications. [9]

Kramer has served on the Board of Directors of Leap Wireless International, Monster Worldwide, Sapphire Industrials Corporation, Grand Casinos, Republic Properties, New Valley Corporation, and Lakes Entertainment. [1] Kramer currently serves as the Chairman of the Undergraduate Board of the Wharton School. He resides with his wife, Stephanie, and two daughters in New York City.

Personal life

In 1992, he married Stephanie Blau, daughter of Harvey R. Blau, in a Jewish ceremony at the Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compaq</span> American information technology company

Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compatible computers, being the second company after Columbia Data Products to legally reverse engineer the IBM Personal Computer. It rose to become the largest supplier of PC systems during the 1990s before being overtaken by Dell in 2001. Struggling to keep up in the price wars against Dell, as well as with a risky acquisition of DEC, Compaq was acquired for US$25 billion by HP in 2002. The Compaq brand remained in use by HP for lower-end systems until 2013 when it was discontinued. Since 2013, the brand is currently licensed to third parties for use on electronics in Brazil and India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell</span> American multinational technology company

Dell Inc. is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seagate Technology</span> American data storage company

Seagate Technology Holdings plc is an American data storage company. It was incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology and commenced business in 1979. Since 2010, the company has been incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Fremont, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micron Technology</span> American company producing semiconductor devices

Micron Technology, Inc. is an American producer of computer memory and computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and USB flash drives. It is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Its consumer products, including the Ballistix line of memory modules, are marketed under the Crucial brand. Micron and Intel together created IM Flash Technologies, which produced NAND flash memory. It owned Lexar between 2006 and 2017.

RentPath Inc. is a media company that owns Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com, Lovely, and Rentals.com, which combined see 16 million visitors each month. It was previously called K-III and PriMedia. The company was acquired by Redfin in April 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerson Electric</span> American multinational corporation

Emerson Electric Co. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Ferguson, Missouri. The Fortune 500 company manufactures products and provides engineering services for industrial, commercial, and consumer markets. Emerson has approximately 86,700 employees and 170 manufacturing locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wynn Resorts</span> American casino company

Wynn Resorts, Limited is an American publicly traded corporation based in Paradise, Nevada, that is a developer and operator of high-end hotels and casinos. It was founded in 2002 by former Mirage Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, and is now run by CEO Craig Billings. As of 2020, the company has developed six properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasserstein Perella & Co.</span> American investment bank

Wasserstein Perella & Co., sometimes referred to as "Wasserella", was a boutique investment bank established by Bruce Wasserstein, Joseph R. Perella, Bill Lambert, and Charles Ward in 1988, former bankers at First Boston Corp., until its eventual sale to Dresdner Bank in 2000 for some $1.4 billion in stock. The private equity business of the investment firm was not included in the sale and was to be sold off to existing Wasserstein shareholders.

Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in London. They merged in 1961 to create Kleinwort Benson Lonsdale, later Kleinwort Benson. Following its acquisition by Société Générale in June 2016, it was merged with SG Hambros, already a subsidiary of Société Générale, to form Kleinwort Hambros in November 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Amelio</span> American business executive

William J. "Bill" Amelio is an American business executive who was the CEO of Lenovo. He was also the CEO of Avnet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essendant</span> American office supply distributor

Essendant, formerly known as United Stationers, is a national wholesale distributor of office supplies, with consolidated net sales of $5.3 billion. Essendant stocks over 160,000 items including traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial and break room supplies, and technology products. Essendant is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and also has operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exide</span> American manufacturer of lead-acid batteries

Exide was originally a brand name for batteries produced by The Electric Storage Battery Company and later became Exide Corporation doing business as Exide Technologies, an American multinational lead-acid batteries manufacturing company. It manufactures automotive batteries and industrial batteries. It is based in Milton, Georgia, United States.

Griffon Corporation is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in New York City. The company conducts its operations through five subsidiaries: The AMES Companies, ClosetMaid, Clopay Building Products, CornellCookson, and Telephonics Corporation. Griffon has been publicly traded since 1961 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as a component stock of the S&P SmallCap 600, S&P Composite 1500, and Russell 2000 indices.

Ronald "Ron" D. Boire is an American businessman. He has served as an executive for several companies, including Sony Electronics, Best Buy and CEO roles with Barnes & Noble, Brookstone, Sears Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ames True Temper</span>

Ames True Temper is a multinational corporation headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation. Ames True Temper specializes in the manufacture of non-powered lawn and garden products. Their manufacturing plant is located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and produces 85% of the wheelbarrows in the United States and Canada producing 1.7 million wheelbarrows each year. The Harrisburg plant has been in continual operation since 1876.

Esterline Technologies Corporation was a publicly traded company that designs, manufactures, and markets specialty products primarily for aerospace and defense customers. The company is best known as a supplier of products and equipment for aerospace companies such as Boeing and Airbus; and for American and allied military forces.

Harvey R. Blau was an American attorney and business executive. He was the Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Griffon Corporation. He became a practicing attorney in New York in 1961, and in 1966 was the founding partner of the law firm Blau Kramer Wactlar & Lieberman PC in Jericho, New York.

Edward J. Garrett was an American business executive. He was the Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of Instrument Systems Corporation.

References

  1. 1 2 "Executive Profile: Ronald J. Kramer". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Griffon Corporation Names Ronald J. Kramer Chief Executive Officer". PR Newswire. March 17, 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Wharton Undergraduate Executive Board". Wharton School. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Class Notes Fall/Winter 2008". STERNbusiness. NYU. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Citrano, Virginia (12 October 2012). "Where is Ronald J. Kramer now?". Crain's 40 Under 50 Anniversary Coverage. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Stutz, Howard (18 March 2008). "Wynn loses company president". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Bernstein, James (March 18, 2008). "Griffon gets new credit line, CEO". Newsday . pp. A48. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Bernstein, James (23 September 2008). "Griffon expects to raise $250M". Newsday . pp. A48. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Griffon Corp. 2015 Annual Report" . Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Stephanie Blau Has Wedding". New York Times . April 12, 1992. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
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.