Joseph Grano: Soldier and Business Leader

07.30.09 |

Long before he became the magnanimous CEO of Centurion Holdings LLC, Joseph J. Grano was, first and foremost, a soldier. He fought as a Green Beret during the Vietnam War, during which the U.S. Special Forces promoted him Captain. For an Italian-American, he remarkably served his nation well.

When that war fizzled, Joseph Grano fell back to banking. In 1972, he promptly found a job brokering for Merrill Lynch & Co. There, he climbed the corporate ladder to become director for national sales.

Sixteen years later, Grano left Merrill Lynch for PaineWebber Inc, which offered him the leadership of their retail division. The presidency of the PaineWebber group of companies eventually went to Grano in 2000. Around this time, he instigated the merger of his company with UBS, establishing UBS Financial Services Inc in 2001. He led this company until 2004.

During his tenure at PaineWebber, Joseph Grano chaired the Board of Governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). He has been a member of many other boards, such as that of D.A.R.E., Lenox Hill Hospital, and YMCA in Greater New York. Grano is also affiliated with the City University of New York’s Business Leadership Council as well as the Council for the United States and Italy.

As a philanthropist, Grano likes to give to educational causes. He took home the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund’s Corporate Leadership Award in 2002 for such efforts.

In recognition of his patriotism, Joseph Grano also received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1996. Finally, in 1998, he received a United Service Organizations (USO) gold medal for his valiant efforts during the Vietnam War.