Spotlight on Joseph Grano
President George W. Bush’s former chairman for the Homeland Security Advisory, Joseph J. Grano, is also a respected business leader. Georgetown University named him Business Leader of the Year in 2000, while a survey from the Investment Dealers’ Digest cited him as Best Retail Marketing Executive in 1987.
Between 2002 and 2005, Grano worked under Secretary Michael Chertoff while carrying out his Homeland Security duties. Today, he reports to no one but himself; he is presently serving as CEO and president of Centurion Holdings LLC.
However, Grano is more popularly known in the business community as the driving force behind PaineWebber. He gained employment to the company in 1988, then serving as head of the firm’s sales and marketing division. Six years later, he became the PaineWebber Group president, initiating takeovers of companies like J.C. Bradford.
In 2000, Joseph Grano fused UBS and his company to create UBS PaineWebber, which was renamed UBS Financial Services the year after.
Joseph Grano began as a broker for Merrill Lynch in 1972. For 16 years, he worked for the company, which eventually designated him as director for national sales.
Grano is the 1996 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and is the 2002 winner of the Corporate Leadership Award from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.
Joseph Grano completed an honorary degree in humane letters from Queens College – City University of New York. He also owns an honorary doctor of laws degree from Pepperdine University.
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