John Grunow

Background

About John Grunow

In 1975, Mr. Grunow left Ernst & Ernst to form the predecessor to International Marine Industries (IMI). Over the next 19 years, as Chairman and founder of International Marine, he bulit the company from a small instrument supplier to the marine market into an international organization with sales of more than $250 million and over employees. The Company had manufacturing and distribution facilities in the U.S, Europe, Australia, and Far East. International Marine under Mr.Grunow's leadership grew through internal expansion as well as acquistions to become the world's leading supplier of equipment and accessories to the recreational marine market. It owned the world's leading brand names such as Lewmar( marine winches), Brooks & Gatehouse(marine electronics) and Sparcraft, Isomat and Kenyon( mast and booms for sailboats) and was a major supplier to the America's Cup yachts.In 1990, Mr. Grunow successfully acquired the Benjamin Priest Group in a tender offer on the London Stock Exchange. With it, International Marine acquired the Lewmar, Navtec and Brookes & Gatehouse marine companies, as well as a large components manufacturing and engineering group based in England serving the automotive, construction and other industrial markets. Mr. Grunow was a member of a number of various marine trade organizations, and served as a Director of the National Sailing Industry Association (NSIA). As a Director of the NSIA, he developed the first industry statistics report for the US sailboat market. He was a frequent contributor to industry publications such as International Boat Industry, Marine Business Journal, Boating Industry and Big Boat. He developed the IMI’s Matrix Strategy” to balance the company financially through the tough economic climate of the 1990’s.Mr. Grunow sold his interest in International Marine in 1994.