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Warren Kanders
Warren Beatty Kanders (born 1957 or 1958) is an American businessman and investor. From 1996 to 2007, he was chairman of Armor Holdings, a company involved in the defense and law enforcement industries. He has been chairman and CEO of Cadre Holdings since 2012.
An arts patron, Kanders joined the board of the Whitney Museum, in New York, in 2006. He resigned as vice chair in 2019 following protests over sales of tear gas by Safariland, a subsidiary of Cadre Holdings.
Warren Beatty Kanders was born in 1957 or 1958 to Jeanne and Ralph Kanders. His father worked as a periodontist in Montclair and Convent Station New Jersey. He studied at the Choate School, a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut, and earned a bachelor's degree at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Kanders first worked in mergers and acquisitions at the investment firm Morgan Stanley, and then in the 1980s was employed by the New York firm Oppenheimer & Company in the same line of work. He also worked for Canadian businessman Jim Pattison. Since 1990, he is the owner and president of a Connecticut-based investment firm, Kanders & Company.
Kanders was one of two bankers who created Benson Eyecare in 1992 from the merger of shell public company Ehrlich Bober, an optical retail chain and Benson Optical, which was acquired from the pension fund of General Electric for $2.3 million. Benson Eyecare relisted from the American Stock Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and Martin E. Franklin served as its CEO, making Franklin the youngest CEO of a corporation listed on the NYSE. Through a series of acquisitions and organic growth, Benson Eyecare grew from $40 million in annualized revenue in 1992 to $150 million in 1996, when the company was sold to Essilor for $300 million, creating a 23-fold return for early investors. Forbes estimated that Kanders received more than $30 million from the transaction.
Kanders spent $3 million of his $30 million profit to buy 70% of the Florida-based American Body Armor, a company which was a predecessor to Armor Holdings, a manufacturer of body armor equipment and provides security services. Armor initially focused on customers in municipal governments and the private sector. It acquired Safariland, a policing equipment manufacturer, in 1999, and shortly before the September 11 attacks in 2001, Kanders predicted that "there would be more friction" in the world and the company acquired O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, which provided the armoring for military Humvees. The company armored 51 Humvees each month in 2003. The company had made 28 acquisitions by 2006 and had gone public; Forbes wrote that Kanders and Robert Schiller, the CEO, had converted Armor into a "prime military contractor". He was chairman of Armor Holdings from 1996 until 2007, when Armor Holdings was bought by BAE Systems for $4.1 billion in 2007. Kanders received a $300 million payout as a result of the purchase.
Kanders began an effort in 2008 to become CEO of the Federal Signal Corporation after announcing he held a 5.7% stake in the company. He also criticized the company for the sale of a subsidiary and later publicly alleged that its chairman of "may have been involved in a coverup of insider trading". In response to the allegation, the company said that it was "nothing more than another desperate attempt to undermine the credibility of the company's highly qualified board of directors". Also in 2008, Kanders bought outdoor equipment manufacturer Gregory Mountain Products, which was part of Armor Holdings when it was purchased by BAE Systems. Kanders and Schiller were managers at Clarus Corporation, based in Connecticut, when in 2010, it purchased Gregory Mountain Products and the Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment, for a combined $135 million. Following the deal, the two companies were combined into one company, named Black Diamond, with Kanders as executive chairman. Kanders returned to Safariland as its chairman and CEO after its purchase from BAE Systems for $124 million in 2012.
Forbes estimated his net worth at $700 million in 2018, mostly derived from Safariland's value. In 2021, the parent company of Safariland, Cadre Holdings, announced that it was going public, with Kanders remaining as CEO and maintaining a 51% voting interest.
Warren Kanders
Warren Beatty Kanders (born 1957 or 1958) is an American businessman and investor. From 1996 to 2007, he was chairman of Armor Holdings, a company involved in the defense and law enforcement industries. He has been chairman and CEO of Cadre Holdings since 2012.
An arts patron, Kanders joined the board of the Whitney Museum, in New York, in 2006. He resigned as vice chair in 2019 following protests over sales of tear gas by Safariland, a subsidiary of Cadre Holdings.
Warren Beatty Kanders was born in 1957 or 1958 to Jeanne and Ralph Kanders. His father worked as a periodontist in Montclair and Convent Station New Jersey. He studied at the Choate School, a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut, and earned a bachelor's degree at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Kanders first worked in mergers and acquisitions at the investment firm Morgan Stanley, and then in the 1980s was employed by the New York firm Oppenheimer & Company in the same line of work. He also worked for Canadian businessman Jim Pattison. Since 1990, he is the owner and president of a Connecticut-based investment firm, Kanders & Company.
Kanders was one of two bankers who created Benson Eyecare in 1992 from the merger of shell public company Ehrlich Bober, an optical retail chain and Benson Optical, which was acquired from the pension fund of General Electric for $2.3 million. Benson Eyecare relisted from the American Stock Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and Martin E. Franklin served as its CEO, making Franklin the youngest CEO of a corporation listed on the NYSE. Through a series of acquisitions and organic growth, Benson Eyecare grew from $40 million in annualized revenue in 1992 to $150 million in 1996, when the company was sold to Essilor for $300 million, creating a 23-fold return for early investors. Forbes estimated that Kanders received more than $30 million from the transaction.
Kanders spent $3 million of his $30 million profit to buy 70% of the Florida-based American Body Armor, a company which was a predecessor to Armor Holdings, a manufacturer of body armor equipment and provides security services. Armor initially focused on customers in municipal governments and the private sector. It acquired Safariland, a policing equipment manufacturer, in 1999, and shortly before the September 11 attacks in 2001, Kanders predicted that "there would be more friction" in the world and the company acquired O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, which provided the armoring for military Humvees. The company armored 51 Humvees each month in 2003. The company had made 28 acquisitions by 2006 and had gone public; Forbes wrote that Kanders and Robert Schiller, the CEO, had converted Armor into a "prime military contractor". He was chairman of Armor Holdings from 1996 until 2007, when Armor Holdings was bought by BAE Systems for $4.1 billion in 2007. Kanders received a $300 million payout as a result of the purchase.
Kanders began an effort in 2008 to become CEO of the Federal Signal Corporation after announcing he held a 5.7% stake in the company. He also criticized the company for the sale of a subsidiary and later publicly alleged that its chairman of "may have been involved in a coverup of insider trading". In response to the allegation, the company said that it was "nothing more than another desperate attempt to undermine the credibility of the company's highly qualified board of directors". Also in 2008, Kanders bought outdoor equipment manufacturer Gregory Mountain Products, which was part of Armor Holdings when it was purchased by BAE Systems. Kanders and Schiller were managers at Clarus Corporation, based in Connecticut, when in 2010, it purchased Gregory Mountain Products and the Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment, for a combined $135 million. Following the deal, the two companies were combined into one company, named Black Diamond, with Kanders as executive chairman. Kanders returned to Safariland as its chairman and CEO after its purchase from BAE Systems for $124 million in 2012.
Forbes estimated his net worth at $700 million in 2018, mostly derived from Safariland's value. In 2021, the parent company of Safariland, Cadre Holdings, announced that it was going public, with Kanders remaining as CEO and maintaining a 51% voting interest.