Christopher Galvin
Encyclopedia
Christopher B. Galvin (born March 21, 1950) is the grandson of Paul Galvin
(founder of Motorola) and the son of Robert Galvin
(Chief of Motorola, 1959–1990), and is chairman, CEO and co-founder of Harrison Street Capital LLC.
In addition, Galvin is also co-founder and Chairman of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC http://www.harrisonst.com, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of UniqueSoft Inc. a real-time software authoring services company, and Chairman of Cleversafe Inc.
, a digital storage company.
Mr. Galvin is member of the board of MCR Inc., a Harrison Street Capital LLC financed roll-up in US Department of Defense services; a member the Executive Committee of Northwestern University's
Board of Trustees; the American Enterprise Institute Board, the Legion D’honneur, Tsinghua University School of Management and Economics (Beijing); Business Council (U.S.), the American Society of Corporate Executives; the Board of the Chicago Council of Global Affairs and Chair of the Rhodes Scholars selection committee for Illinois-Michigan.
Mr. Galvin’s former relationships include: Chairman of Navteq
, the leading supplier of global digital mapping databases; Chairman and CEO of Motorola Inc.; member of the Bechtel Corporation's Board of Counselors; chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council; director of the Rand Corporation; member of the U.S. Department of Defense Board; member of the U.S. Department of Defense Science Board; advisor to the City of Tianjin, China; advisor to the CEO of Hong Kong
; and advisor to the Searle Family Trusts.
Mr. Galvin co-founded The Galvin Projects in 2004, a virtual global think tank that published three books (2008–09); Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC in 2005, a private equity company that today hosts $2.4B in assets under management
in medical office buildings, storage, student housing, and senior housing represented in 192 properties across 31 states in U.S.; and Gore Creek Asset Management LLC in 2005, a large capital investment company utilizing 90-100 global investment managers diversified across most major asset classes.
Christopher Galvin received his BS
in Political Science from Northwestern University and his MBA
from the Kellogg School of Management
at Northwestern University.
In 2010 Mr. Galvin was featured in the Andrea Redmond book “Comebacks: Powerful Lessons from Leaders Who Endured Setbacks and Recaptured Success on Their Terms” which details his unplanned departure from Motorola, and how he responded.
product management, taking leave 1975-77 to attend graduate business school full time. From 1983 to 1985, he became Marketing Director then General Manager of the Tegal
semiconductor equipment unit owned by Motorola Inc. In 1985, he became Vice-President and Director of Motorola’s radio paging Division where he sponsored the team that created one of the first virtually completely automated manufacturing operations in the US, called Project Bandit. Galvin was promoted to Corporate Vice-President and General Manager of Paging. In 1988, he was named Chief Corporate Staff Officer of the corporation, later Senior Vice President and appointed to the Policy and Operating Committees of Motorola Inc. In 1990, he was promoted to Assistant Chief Operating Officer and joined as the third member of the Office of the CEO of Motorola Inc. In 1993, he was elevated to President
and Chief Operating Officer
. In 1997, he became CEO. In 1999, he added the role of Chairman of the Board
to that of CEO. 1
Following the dot.com crash in 2000, Galvin led a massive three year restructuring of Motorola that included large lay-offs, closure of manufacturing facilities and reducing break-even costs. 2 Simultaneously, Galvin led the renewal of Six Sigma Quality through Digital Six Sigma and introduced Motorola’s MOTO
language advertising campaign in 2002.3 The RAZR cellular phone was designed by Galvin’s innovators in new product development methodologies created during the 2001-2003 timeframe. RAZR was introduced July 27, 2004.4The innovation behind the RAZR was so cutting edge that even Galvin's eventual successor, Ed Zander, stated “There was a small team developing the RAZR before I got there. When I saw the technology, it blew me away.”5
On September 19, 2003, Motorola’s Board of Directors announced publicly it would seek a CEO other than Galvin.6 Galvin stated his objection to the Board’s view of Galvin’s turnaround efforts, and stated, "The Board and I do not share the same view of the pace, strategy and progress at this stage of the turnaround.”7 Sixteen working days later, on October 13, 2003 Motorola Inc. reported that its global customer new product orders were up 25% company-wide and up 44% for cellular mobile phones in Q3 2003 compared to Q3 2002. Similarly, on January 20, 2004 Motorola Inc. reported on Galvin's last full quarter serving as CEO and the quarter of the Board's search for a new CEO, Q4 2003, that Motorola's collection of global telecom, semiconductor, automotive, broadband-media and public safety customers increased new product line orders by 42% and by 64% in their cellular mobile phone business compared to Q4 2002.8
Galvin was forced to resign on January 4, 2004.9 Seventy-seven working days later, on April 20, 2004, Motorola announced its financial performance for Q1, 2004, the quarter of Galvin's departure. The data showed that the then $30 billion run rate in annual revenue resulted in a 42% increase in sales corporatewide revenue growth, a 532% improvement in operating earnings, $0.9B in pre-tax earnings, $0.7B in free cash flow, and a resulting $0.9B net cash position on the balance sheet.10 Motorola Inc.’s cellular mobile phone business recorded an uptick of 67% sales revenue growth ($4.1B in quarterly sales) and earned a 9.8% operating margin for the period, three months before the RAZR phone was to be announced.11 At the time Motorola Inc.’s business portfolio included four Fortune 500 sized multi-billion business sectors compared to its six business sectors at the time.12 Zander, who assumed the CEO role on January 5, 2004, stated after the announcement of Q1 2004 financial results "The first 90 days I talked to everybody. My agenda was very simple: learning the business as fast as I could. I did not want to shoot from the hip."13
The following quarter, the financial performance initiated by Galvin proved sustainable and repeatable. On July 20, 2004, Motorola reported Q2 2004 results of increased sales revenue growth by 41% to $8.7B, an improvement in operating earnings by 394%, $800 M in pre-tax earnings, $800 M in free cash flow, and a $1.8B net cash position on the balance sheet. The cellular mobile phone business recorded an increased sales revenue growth of 67%, equating to $3.9B in quarterly sales while maintaining a 10.2% operating margin. 14
In 2008, several years after Galvin's departure, a study was completed by the Monitor-Global Business Network consulting company to identify and compare the best + $5B in revenue global high tech corporate turnarounds since 1990. In comparing six year periods including three years of turnaround actions and the corresponding companies’ resulting financial performance, the study placed Galvin’s turnaround of Motorola as one of the top five large high tech turnarounds. The companies compared were IBM
, Apple
, Xerox
, HP and Motorola. 15
, a cloud storage
company, which specializes in secure redundant data storage.
The company was created in November 2004.
Paul Galvin
Paul Vincent Galvin was one of the two founders of telecommunications company Motorola. Founded as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation on September 25, 1928, Motorola is now a leader in communications equipment.-Biography:...
(founder of Motorola) and the son of Robert Galvin
Bob Galvin
Robert William "Bob" Galvin was a US executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986.-Motorola career:...
(Chief of Motorola, 1959–1990), and is chairman, CEO and co-founder of Harrison Street Capital LLC.
In addition, Galvin is also co-founder and Chairman of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC http://www.harrisonst.com, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of UniqueSoft Inc. a real-time software authoring services company, and Chairman of Cleversafe Inc.
Cleversafe
Cleversafe, Inc. is a privately held company based in the United States which is pioneering Dispersed Storage technology and software. Dispersed storage is a technology that uses erasure codes to split data into multiple slices, each of which is then stored to an independent storage appliance via...
, a digital storage company.
Mr. Galvin is member of the board of MCR Inc., a Harrison Street Capital LLC financed roll-up in US Department of Defense services; a member the Executive Committee of Northwestern University's
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
Board of Trustees; the American Enterprise Institute Board, the Legion D’honneur, Tsinghua University School of Management and Economics (Beijing); Business Council (U.S.), the American Society of Corporate Executives; the Board of the Chicago Council of Global Affairs and Chair of the Rhodes Scholars selection committee for Illinois-Michigan.
Mr. Galvin’s former relationships include: Chairman of Navteq
NAVTEQ
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...
, the leading supplier of global digital mapping databases; Chairman and CEO of Motorola Inc.; member of the Bechtel Corporation's Board of Counselors; chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council; director of the Rand Corporation; member of the U.S. Department of Defense Board; member of the U.S. Department of Defense Science Board; advisor to the City of Tianjin, China; advisor to the CEO of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
; and advisor to the Searle Family Trusts.
Mr. Galvin co-founded The Galvin Projects in 2004, a virtual global think tank that published three books (2008–09); Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC in 2005, a private equity company that today hosts $2.4B in assets under management
Assets under management
Assets under management is a financial term used denote the market value of funds being managed by a financial instutition on behalf of its clients, investors, depositors, etc. This metric is a sign of size and success against competition...
in medical office buildings, storage, student housing, and senior housing represented in 192 properties across 31 states in U.S.; and Gore Creek Asset Management LLC in 2005, a large capital investment company utilizing 90-100 global investment managers diversified across most major asset classes.
Christopher Galvin received his BS
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in Political Science from Northwestern University and his MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from the Kellogg School of Management
Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management is the business school of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, downtown Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Kellogg offers full-time, part-time, and executive programs, as well as partnering programs with schools in China, India, Hong Kong, Israel,...
at Northwestern University.
In 2010 Mr. Galvin was featured in the Andrea Redmond book “Comebacks: Powerful Lessons from Leaders Who Endured Setbacks and Recaptured Success on Their Terms” which details his unplanned departure from Motorola, and how he responded.
Harrison Street Capital, LLC
In 2005, Galvin co-founded Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC, a real estate private equity firm, with his brother Michael P. Galvin and Christopher N. Merrill. Harrison Street Real Estate has launched a series of focused and differentiated closed-end opportunity funds. The Company’s focus is investing in sectors of the real estate market that have their own compelling demand generators. These sectors include: Education, Healthcare and Storage. Between HSRE Partners I (closed May 2007) and HSRE Partners II (closed July 2008) the firm has raised $640 million of capital from over 60 limited partners that include US and European corporations, pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies and family offices. As of October 1, 2010, the Company had approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management consisting of 192 properties in 33 states.Motorola career
From 1967 to 1973, during college, Galvin held part-time summer assignments at Motorola. From 1973-1983, he served full-time positions in sales, sales management, marketing management and mobile two-way radioTwo-way radio
A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive , unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. The term refers to a personal radio transceiver that allows the operator to have a two-way conversation with other similar radios operating on the same radio frequency...
product management, taking leave 1975-77 to attend graduate business school full time. From 1983 to 1985, he became Marketing Director then General Manager of the Tegal
Tegal
Tegal is the largest city in the Tegal Regency, Indonesia. It is situated on the north coast of Central Java, about from Semarang, capital of Central Java....
semiconductor equipment unit owned by Motorola Inc. In 1985, he became Vice-President and Director of Motorola’s radio paging Division where he sponsored the team that created one of the first virtually completely automated manufacturing operations in the US, called Project Bandit. Galvin was promoted to Corporate Vice-President and General Manager of Paging. In 1988, he was named Chief Corporate Staff Officer of the corporation, later Senior Vice President and appointed to the Policy and Operating Committees of Motorola Inc. In 1990, he was promoted to Assistant Chief Operating Officer and joined as the third member of the Office of the CEO of Motorola Inc. In 1993, he was elevated to President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
. In 1997, he became CEO. In 1999, he added the role of Chairman of the Board
Chairman of the Board
The Chairman of the Board is a seat of office in an organization, especially of corporations.Chairman of the Board may also refer to:*Chairman of the Board , a 1998 film*Chairmen of the Board , a 1970s American soul music group...
to that of CEO. 1
Following the dot.com crash in 2000, Galvin led a massive three year restructuring of Motorola that included large lay-offs, closure of manufacturing facilities and reducing break-even costs. 2 Simultaneously, Galvin led the renewal of Six Sigma Quality through Digital Six Sigma and introduced Motorola’s MOTO
Moto
Moto or MOTO may refer to:* Moto , a restaurant in Chicago known for its "high-tech" food* Motorola, the American multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois* Motorola MOTO, a mobile phone...
language advertising campaign in 2002.3 The RAZR cellular phone was designed by Galvin’s innovators in new product development methodologies created during the 2001-2003 timeframe. RAZR was introduced July 27, 2004.4The innovation behind the RAZR was so cutting edge that even Galvin's eventual successor, Ed Zander, stated “There was a small team developing the RAZR before I got there. When I saw the technology, it blew me away.”5
On September 19, 2003, Motorola’s Board of Directors announced publicly it would seek a CEO other than Galvin.6 Galvin stated his objection to the Board’s view of Galvin’s turnaround efforts, and stated, "The Board and I do not share the same view of the pace, strategy and progress at this stage of the turnaround.”7 Sixteen working days later, on October 13, 2003 Motorola Inc. reported that its global customer new product orders were up 25% company-wide and up 44% for cellular mobile phones in Q3 2003 compared to Q3 2002. Similarly, on January 20, 2004 Motorola Inc. reported on Galvin's last full quarter serving as CEO and the quarter of the Board's search for a new CEO, Q4 2003, that Motorola's collection of global telecom, semiconductor, automotive, broadband-media and public safety customers increased new product line orders by 42% and by 64% in their cellular mobile phone business compared to Q4 2002.8
Galvin was forced to resign on January 4, 2004.9 Seventy-seven working days later, on April 20, 2004, Motorola announced its financial performance for Q1, 2004, the quarter of Galvin's departure. The data showed that the then $30 billion run rate in annual revenue resulted in a 42% increase in sales corporatewide revenue growth, a 532% improvement in operating earnings, $0.9B in pre-tax earnings, $0.7B in free cash flow, and a resulting $0.9B net cash position on the balance sheet.10 Motorola Inc.’s cellular mobile phone business recorded an uptick of 67% sales revenue growth ($4.1B in quarterly sales) and earned a 9.8% operating margin for the period, three months before the RAZR phone was to be announced.11 At the time Motorola Inc.’s business portfolio included four Fortune 500 sized multi-billion business sectors compared to its six business sectors at the time.12 Zander, who assumed the CEO role on January 5, 2004, stated after the announcement of Q1 2004 financial results "The first 90 days I talked to everybody. My agenda was very simple: learning the business as fast as I could. I did not want to shoot from the hip."13
The following quarter, the financial performance initiated by Galvin proved sustainable and repeatable. On July 20, 2004, Motorola reported Q2 2004 results of increased sales revenue growth by 41% to $8.7B, an improvement in operating earnings by 394%, $800 M in pre-tax earnings, $800 M in free cash flow, and a $1.8B net cash position on the balance sheet. The cellular mobile phone business recorded an increased sales revenue growth of 67%, equating to $3.9B in quarterly sales while maintaining a 10.2% operating margin. 14
In 2008, several years after Galvin's departure, a study was completed by the Monitor-Global Business Network consulting company to identify and compare the best + $5B in revenue global high tech corporate turnarounds since 1990. In comparing six year periods including three years of turnaround actions and the corresponding companies’ resulting financial performance, the study placed Galvin’s turnaround of Motorola as one of the top five large high tech turnarounds. The companies compared were IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
, Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
, HP and Motorola. 15
Navteq tenure
After departing Motorola, Galvin served as chairman of Navteq Inc. (2004–2008). In mid-2004 Navteq Inc. went public with an IPO. In July 2008, Navteq closed a $8.1B gross cash sale to Nokia generating a positive 255% return to shareholders in at the time of Navteq's IPO.16Cleversafe
Galvin is Chairman of CleversafeCleversafe
Cleversafe, Inc. is a privately held company based in the United States which is pioneering Dispersed Storage technology and software. Dispersed storage is a technology that uses erasure codes to split data into multiple slices, each of which is then stored to an independent storage appliance via...
, a cloud storage
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...
company, which specializes in secure redundant data storage.
The company was created in November 2004.