🔒Stanley, Black & Decker deal tops Lundgren’s CEO accomplishments

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John Lundgren could be the poster child for people who get to retire at the top of their game.

On Aug. 1, Lundgren stepped down as president and CEO of New Britain-based Stanley Black & Decker and will remain as chairman through April, 2017, after which he will cease to be an employee of the company. But his name will forever be engraved in company history as the person who engineered Stanley Works' much acclaimed acquisition of Black & Decker in 2010 for $4.5 billion.

As mega-deals go, the marriage between the world's leading tool supplier with the world's leading tool manufacturer made perfect business sense. Yet, several attempts to make the merger happen over 30 years before Lundgren's arrival as chairman and CEO of Stanley Works had failed, mainly because the two companies could never agree on value and who should be in charge.

Lundgren worked it out so that he stayed on as president and CEO of the new company, while his counterpart at Black & Decker, Nolan D. Archibald became executive chairman for three years. Black & Decker shareholders also received 1.275 shares of Stanley common stock for each share of Black & Decker stock they owned. The deal generated $350 million in cost savings from cutting overhead and consolidating business units. The new company was instantly valued at $8.4 billion. Today, Stanley Black & Decker is five times its original size in revenue, with a market capitalization of $18 billion.

“It's been nothing short of a grand slam success for shareholders and employees of both companies,” he said.

Life, itself, has been nothing short of a grand slam for Lundgren, who was born and grew up in Weymouth, Mass., until he passed up an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy to attend Dartmouth College. While there, he majored in math and psychology and was captain of Dartmouth's Division 1 golf team. His father, Henry, a Boston native, and his mother, Martha, from Tulsa, Okla., met in England during World War II, while she was a civilian volunteer for the American Red Cross and he was an officer in the Army Air Corps. They reunited in Paris after the Normandy invasion and returned to the United States to marry and settle in the Boston area, where Henry worked as a manufacturer's representative for several New England paper companies. The couple had two sons; Henry Jr., 67, and John, 65.

After graduating from Dartmouth, John Lundgren earned an MBA from Stanford University. He began his career in brand management at the Gillette Corp. in Boston. Prior to joining Stanley Works in 2004, he worked 27 years in various executive positions at Georgia Pacific Corp. and its predecessor companies in Fairfield, Richmond, Va., Brussels, Belgium and London.

In 2000, while Lundgren served as president of European consumer products for Georgia Pacific in London, he met Tamara Adler, then a managing director at Deutsche Bank and they fell in love. Living in the same location made it relatively easy for them to spend quality time together. But, their courtship went “global” when, in a span of five years: Lundgren took charge of Stanley Works in New Britain (2003); Adler left investment banking to join Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. in Portland, Ore., as head of strategy (2005); they were married (2005); and Tamara Lundgren became CEO of Schnitzer (2008), making them the only CEOs in the Fortune 1,000 who were married to each other.

Yet, throughout their 11-year relationship, and despite having high-pressure jobs based at opposite ends of the country, the Lundgrens have kept a commitment to spend every weekend — Friday night through Sunday night — together, no matter where their careers take them, which could literally be any place in the world on any given day.

“It might be on the West Coast; it might be on the East Coast; it might be in London,” Lundgren said. “But we've figured it out over the last 15 years.”

Tamara Lundgren explained that her husband's unique ability to balance risk and reward and figure out ways to make seemingly unmanageable situations, such as their work routines, function is also part of what makes him such a talented executive.

“He always wanted to grow Stanley, which he was very successful in doing,” she said. “That interest of his in growing — in not wanting to stay still — is also a great thing in terms of a partner or spouse.”

The Basics

Title: Chairman & CEO, March 2004-July 2016; Currently board chairman

Name of organization: Stanley Black & Decker

Size of organization: 50,000 associates, $11 billion in sales

Education: Dartmouth College; Stanford University, MBA

Previous job(s): Gillette; American Can; James River/Fort James; and Georgia Pacific

On the job

Guiding business principle: Values based, numbers driven

Best way to keep your competitive edge: Listen carefully, then act quickly

Proudest accomplishment: The successful merger of The Stanley Works and Black & Decker. (This of course is second to marrying my wife Tamara)

Goal yet to be achieved: Living to age 100 in perfect health

Favorite part of the job: Interacting with associates and customers at all levels.

Least favorite part of the job: Managing some of the shorter-term expectations of the public investment community

Personal touch in your office: Autographed Jersey from the members of the 2007 World Champion Red Sox and limited edition replica of Phil Mickelson's Masters Championship putter

Judgment calls

Best business decision: Retaining 100 percent of the world-class management team at Stanley upon my arrival in 2004

Best way to spot trends: Ask the right questions.

Next big move: Transitioning from Stanley Black & Decker to the world of private equity and additional board service

Personal side

City of residence: Farmington

Favorite way to relax: Walking on the beach

Hobbies: Golf, travel

Last vacation: August in Newport, Rhode Island

Favorite movie: “Animal House”

The car you drive: BMW 650i

Currently reading: “Super Power” by Ian Bremmer

Favorite cause: The First Tee (introducing children to life's nine core values through golf)

Second career choice: Sports broadcaster