Jeffrey Steiner

Jeffrey Josef Steiner, born on April 3, 1937 and died November 1, 2008, was the longtime Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Fairchild Corporation. He piloted the company in this capacity from December 1985 until his resignation in 2008.

At around the same span of time, Jeffrey Steiner was also director of the company. Between July 1991 and September 1998, he served as Fairchild’s president. Upon learning that he had cancer, Jeffrey Steiner resigned from the company in May 2008.

During his time, Jeffrey Steiner oversaw the company’s three main subsidiaries: Hein Gericke, PoloExpress, and Banner Aerospace. PoloExpress and Hein Gericke sell gear, apparel, and accessories for motorcyclists in over 200 stores all across Europe, while Banner Aerospace distributes aircraft parts.

Jeffrey Steiner was also affiliated with Global Sources Ltd. as director since 1999.

In his childhood, Jeffrey Steiner’s parents raised him in Turkey during the Second World War. Following his father’s lead, he later studied textiles at the Bradford Institute of Technology in the UK.

Eventually, Jeffrey Steiner moved to the US in 1958 to work for Texas Instruments. In his 10 years with the company, he swiftly rose up the ranks to lead the international manufacturing department. He returned to Europe and started a textile-based business, which was eventually sold. Afterwards, he founded the Paris-based Cedac S.A., a $500 million-a-year company manufacturing pre-cast plants for various Middle East clients. It coincided with the oil boom in the region.

The oil industry’s boom times weren’t to last and Jeffrey Steiner segued into the financial industry. By then, the US was caught in the grip of mergers. Jeffrey Steiner already had indirect experience in leveraged takeovers so the industry for him was a veritable goldmine. (He is credited for supplying $20 million to Carl Icahn, who needed it to take over department store chain Marshall Field.)

He struck gold by pouring his investments, worth some $15 million, into Banner Industries, an aerospace company for which he became chief executive. Later on, Jeffrey Steiner merged it with another aerospace firm, Fairchild Industries. His acquisitions soon became a growing list that raked in $1 billion in revenues as early as the 80s.

Additional Information about Jeffrey Steiner:

This article announces the resignation of Jeffrey Steiner as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors.

Forbes.com profile of Jeffrey Steiner.

An executive profile on Jeffrey Steiner and Fairchild Corporation.

This article talks about the death of Jeffrey Steiner and how his demise affected the people at Fairchild Corporation.

A personal background on Jeffrey Steiner.

This article that proves how effective Jeffrey Steiner was as a “takeover” artist.