Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> October 27, 2003
ROBERT L. KRAKOFF joined Advanstar, Inc., in July 1996 as Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer. Advanstar, Inc., based in Boston,
Massachusetts, operates business communications activities through its
subsidiary, Advanstar Communications Inc. Mr. Krakoff has spent most of
his career in publishing and other communications-related businesses.
Advanstar, Inc., is owned by DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, III, LP,
which in turn is owned by Credit Suisse First Boston. Before joining
Advanstar, Inc., Mr. Krakoff chose to take early retirement from his 23
year career at Reed Elsevier Plc, a leading international publisher and
information provider. At the time of his retirement, he was Vice
Chairman of Reed Elsevier Inc., a Director of Reed Elsevier Plc, and
Chairman and CEO of Cahners Publishing Company. During his tenure with
Reed, he also held the position of Chief Executive of Reed Exhibition
Companies and Reed Reference Publishing. Prior to joining Reed Elsevier
in 1973, Mr. Krakoff was President, Chief Executive Officer and a
Director of AITS, Inc., then a large wholesale travel company. He also
held executive positions in finance, marketing and planning with Ford
Motor Company, Trans World Airlines, The Singer Corporation and RCA. Mr.
Krakoff graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Business Administration. He also earned an MBA from
the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Mr. Krakoff is
the immediate past Chairman and a Director of the Association of
American Business Media (ABM), and the 2002 recipient of the ABM's
McAllister Top Management Fellowship award for career leadership in
business-to-business media. He also is an overseer of the Beth Israel
Deaconess Hospital in Boston. He is a member of the Board of Freedom
Communications, Inc., of Irvine, California; a prior Director of three
mutual funds of the Aquila Corporation (Capital Cash Management Trust,
Narragansett Insured Tax Free Income Fund, and Trinity Liquid Assets
Trust); and he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Harvard
Business School Association of Boston. Profile
communications that Advanstar is involved in?
Mr. Krakoff: Advanstar is one of the leading providers of what we call
one-stop
