Randy is an Operating Partner with a boutique investment firm, Seven Point Equity Partners. After 38 years in the building materials industry, Randy retired as CEO of one of the largest window companies in the United States. His advice to students and entry-level professionals is to have an idea of where you’d like to end up but to focus primarily on the job at hand.
Transcript
>> My name is Randy [inaudible]. I'm a 1973 graduate of Smeal in Marketing and my current assignment; I'm an operating partner with a small boutique private equity firm. Maybe to explain a little bit about what that is, prior to this I spent 38 years in building materials from a sales marketing and general management role, and retired as CEO of the largest, one of the largest, window companies in the United States, and from that I'm now involved with private investors who are looking to acquire businesses in building materials and my role is to be as an operating partner is to be the bridge between how businesses work, what the channels of distribution are, and help the investors access whether this is a company that they would like to buy. Well, my typical day is not very typical, so I spend a lot of time looking at businesses that are being offered for sale, and that can entail doing research on the Web. It can entail visiting companies and meeting with owners, trying to understand why their business is for sale, and what the potential opportunities to grow and improve the business would be, so it really is a very varied day that I have. My hours on a typical day are kind of crazy so it kind of depends on when the conference calls need to take place. There is a fair amount of travel involved, but presently I can work at home. My prior careers you always went to the office were now the office is at home, and I travel where the opportunities are.
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