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Gilbert W. Harrison founded Financo, Inc. in 1971, and has served as Chairman since the Firm's inception. Between 1971 and 1985, Mr. Harrison oversaw the growth of Financo into one of the nation's largest independent mergers and acquisitions firms. By 1985, the Firm had completed over 140 transactions. That year, Mr. Harrison sold Financo to Lehman Brothers, then a subsidiary of The American Express Company. At Lehman, Mr. Harrison was appointed to the Investment Banking Operating Committee, led the Merchandising Group, and remained Chairman of Financo (whose name was changed to the Lehman Middle Market Group). Under Mr. Harrison's leadership, Lehman's Merchandising group specialized in providing retail apparel, footwear and distribution enterprises with investment banking services, including advice on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, equity offerings, debt offerings and other similar financings. In March 1989, Mr. Harrison reacquired the Financo name and left Lehman in order to re-establish Financo as an independent entity.
Past and present clients of Mr. Harrison include Allied Department Stores Corporation, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., BlueLight.com, Brooks Fashion Stores, Inc., Casual Corner Group, Inc., CVS (Melville) Corporation, Coty Inc., The Gap, Inc., Groupe André plc, Federated Department Stores, Inc., Revlon Inc., Kingfisher plc, Kmart Corporation, The Limited, Sears plc, Schottenstein Stores Corporation, Syms Corporation, and other domestic and international clients.
Mr. Harrison's other activities include: creating and teaching a course on mergers and acquisitions at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania; publishing various articles and academic studies, including articles on the state of retailing in Mergers and Acquisitions magazine and a chapter in the book entitled, The Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook; and lecturing on mergers and acquisitions throughout the country, including chairing seminars for the International Council of Shopping Centers, the National Retail Federation, Young President's Center, The Wharton Aresty Institute of Executive Education and The President's Association of the American Management Association.
Mr. Harrison recently retired from the Board of American Eagle Outfitters, and, in view of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, is not sitting on any public boards. His charitable boards include The Educational Foundation of the Fashion Institute of Technology, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection of the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, the Wharton School Undergraduate Advisory Board of the University of Pennsylvania and The Penn Club of New York.
Mr. Harrison received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania in 1962 and his Juris Doctor from The University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1965. From 1965 through 1971, he practiced corporate and securities law in New York and Philadelphia. He is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Florida, and is a member of the American Arbitration Association. |
