played host to business executive and philanthropist Joseph Grano Jr. as he spent Thursday, April 26 on campus lecturing to students, meeting with an AP Economics class and talking with members of the School’s board of trustees.
Grano, a regular on CNN and FOX News, is current chairman and CEO of Centurion Holdings LLC, a firm he founded in 2004 that, according to its Web site, “advises public and private clients on all facets of business strategy, planning, development, management, marketing, directorship and obtaining access to capital markets.”
Grano’s first stop at KO was as the featured speaker of an Upper School Assembly, where he was introduced by granddaughter Joanie Grano Burzymowska of West Hartford, a member of KO’s freshman class.
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Grano offered a quick history of his life, explaining how he grew up on Hartford’s Franklin Avenue and joined the Army after a brief stint in college. An intelligence test vaulted him to officer status at age 18, and he attained the rank of captain at 21 and served as a Green Beret. After being seriously injured in Vietnam, suffering 19 broken bones, he returned to Connecticut and a sales position at Merrill Lynch, starting his successful career in the business world.
Grano spoke about how his struggle to overcome his wartime injuries affected his ambition. He was told that he would need braces to walk and would have trouble lifting even light objects, which he found unacceptable. “When you run into adversity … the lesson there is in the power of your mind. Your mind is the most powerful part of your human being.”
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He also reminded students of the opportunities that lie ahead of them. “You live in a country that anything is possible,” he said. “Your education … will help you do what you want to do.” He also stressed the importance of having a “passion” about whatever path one chooses. “It’s all in your hands,” he said.
His parting advice was to “reach, lift and embrace,” saying that as graduating seniors throw their caps in the air, they should keep one arm extended to reach for the stars, reach down with the other arm to help lift up those in need and use both arms to embrace the United States.
Grano’s resume includes his facilitation of the merger of PaineWebber with UBS in 2000. From 2001-2004, he served as chairman of UBS Financial Services (formerly UBS PaineWebber). Prior to 2000, he worked for 16 years in various senior management positions, including director of national sales, with Merrill Lynch.
A decorated war hero, Grano also authored the book “You Can’t Predict a Hero: From War to Wall Street, Leading in Times of Crisis,” which was on Business Week’s bestseller list in 2009. He also served as the chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council for three years after his appointment in 2002 by President George W. Bush.
Grano is a former chair of the board of governors of National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and a member of the NASD’s executive committee. He has served as the vice chairman of the Queens College Foundation board of trustees and as a member of the boards of the YMCA of Greater New York and Lenox Hill Hospital.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Corporate Leadership Award from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund in 2002, the USO Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service in 2000 and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1996. He also was named Business Leader of the Year by Georgetown University’s School of Business in 2000.
Grano received honorary doctors of law degrees from Pepperdine University and Babson College and an honorary doctor of human letter degree from Queens College, City University of New York.
