Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> October 25, 1999
ARNOLD DRATT has been the President, CEO and a director of Sames
Corporation since October 1, 1998. He also serves as President of Sames'
largest subsidiary, Sames SA, based in Grenoble, France. Mr. Dratt was
first hired as a financial advisor by the predecessor to Sames Corp. in
January 1998 to advise the company on the shape of its restructuring and
assist in the sale negotiations of a part of the business to Illinois
Tool Works in October 1998. Mr. Dratt was then President of The Dratt-
Campbell Company, a Chicago-area financial advisory group that he
founded in 1991. His consulting firm has assisted in over 100
engagements in the United States, Canada and Western and Central Europe,
including Gander Mountain and Schwinn Bicycle, and arranged and
restructured over 1 billion dollars in debt. Previously, Mr. Dratt held
senior positions in the areas of corporate finance, consulting, and
operations, for both public and private businesses in a wide range of
industries. Mr. Dratt was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944. He is a
1966 graduate of Amherst College, cum laude, spent a year in Paris,
France at the Sorbonne and the Institute of Political Studies, and
received an LLB from Harvard Law School in 1969. Profile
give us a context as you then bring us up-to-date and tell us what you
see as your business and company today.
Mr. Dratt:
