Industry Icon Krakoff Dies
Nielsen Business Media CEO, Robert Krakoff, dies unexpectedly
By Rachel Wimberly -- Tradeshow Week, 4/2/2007
Tradeshow industry veteran Robert Krakoff, 72, died March 22 of natural causes in his Boston apartment.
The well-known leader of a number of business-to-business companies most recently served as president and CEO of Nielsen Business Media. Before that, he held top jobs at Advanstar Communications and Reed Elsevier.
"A publishing industry veteran, Bob was a consummate professional, a valued adviser and a wonderful friend," said David Calhoun, chairman and CEO of the Nielson Co., in an internal memo. "Since joining Nielsen last year, Bob has made a strong impact on our organization, both personally and professionally."
Krakoff joined Nielsen (at the time VNU Business Media USA) in August, succeeding Michael Marchesano as president and CEO. Under Krakoff's leadership, the company restructured into what it called "an integrated information and marketing services business."
He combined the New York-based firm's three separate divisions — VNU Business Publications, VNU Expositions and VNUeMedia & Information Marketing — into one entity with units defined by the audiences they serve.
His intention was to then divide the company into six market-focused operating groups, each with its respective publications, tradeshows, conferences and online products.
At the time, Krakoff told Tradeshow Week, "I did the same thing in 1997 at Advanstar. ... It worked very well. I think it will work even better (at VNU)."
Krakoff's B-to-B career started in 1973, at the age of 37, when he was group president of Cahners Publishing's ill-fated travel division. Six months later, the company sold the group because it wanted to go public and no longer needed the division.
Cahners had acquired Sherman Exhibition Co. and a few other small tradeshow companies. Krakoff told Tradeshow Week in an interview two years ago, "They said, 'We have this little tradeshow company, and we don't know anything about that. Would you like to do it?' Having three young children and being about to lose my job, that sounded pretty good to me." Krakoff enthusiastically threw himself into his new job, turning a $6 million business into one worth $400 million.
In his 23 years at the company, he held the positions of chairman and CEO of Cahners Publishing Co. and — after Reed Elsevier bought the company — CEO of Reed Exhibition Cos. and Reed Reference Publishing, and vice chairman of Reed Elsevier.
The Reed Elsevier board had a mandatory retirement at age 60, but Krakoff took early retirement and went to work at Advanstar seven days later as chairman and CEO.
He was known for launching the careers of numerous people in the tradeshow industry. When Tradeshow Week asked which one he was proudest of, he said, "There's a tradition at SISO that they use the first half-hour to introduce everyone, and eight or nine people in a row would say they used to work for me at Cahners or Reed. So, the joke is that the next guy introduces himself by saying, 'I never worked for Bob Krakoff.'"
And, just for the record, he refused to pick a 'favorite' saying there were just too many, and it would be unfair.
From 2004 to 2006, Krakoff was chairman and CEO of Blantyre Partners, a strategic management and investment company for the media industry. He held executive positions at Ford Motor Co., Trans World Airlines, the Singer Corp. and RCA, as well.
He held many other titles beyond those:
- chairman and director of the Assn. of American Business Media,
- trustee of the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital of Boston,
- member of the Board of Freedom Communications, chairman of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee,
- director of three mutual funds of the Aquila Corp., and
- member of the Board of Governors of the Harvard Business School Assn. of Boston.
