Nationality United States Spouse(s) Nan G. Swid | Name Stephen Swid Education Ohio State University | |
Occupation Businessman and investor Known for founding of SBK Entertainment Children Jill H. Swid
Robin S. Swid
Scott L. Swid | ||
Stephen Swid (born 1940) is an American businessman and investor. He currently serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SESAC, Inc., one of the three performing rights organizations in the USA.
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Swid is also noted for founding SBK Entertainment and was also previously the co-owner of General Felt Industries, Sheller-Globe Corporation, Knoll International and the 21 Club, along with partner Marshall Cogan.
Biography
Born to a Jewish family, Swid is graduate of Ohio State University, Swid was Founder and Senior Partner of Swid Investors, an investment limited partnership, general partner of City Associates, a private management company, senior investment officer of the Oppenheimer Funds and securities analyst of the Dreyfus Fund.
Swid's first deal was the takeover of General Felt Industries (GFI) in 1974 which he completed with fellow investment banker Marshall Cogan. Swid and Cogan would then merge GFI with Knoll International and use Knoll as a holding company to acquire a series of businesses. For twelve years until July 1986, Swid was Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Knoll.
Among Swid and Cogan's most notable acquisitions were takeover of the Sheller-Globe Corporation and later the purchase of the 21 Club. Cogan was unsuccessful in his high-profile bids to acquire the Boston Red Sox, Sotheby's and L.F. Rothschild in the buyout boom of the 1980s.
In 1986, Swid purchased CBS Songs, the music publishing unit of CBS, which would later become the beginning of SBK Entertainment World, a leading music publisher and worldwide entertainment services company. From November, 1986, until May, 1989, Swid was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SBK Entertainment World.
From February, 1990 until January, 1995, Stephen was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Westview Press, an academic publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado and from 1989 until 1997 the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of SPIN, a music and youth culture magazine.
Other affiliations
Due to his interest in foreign relations and international diplomacy, Swid is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and past Director of the East West Institute.
Stephen Swid is an active supporter of the arts and education and currently serves as a Director of The Municipal Art Society of New York. He is a Trustee and Chairman of the Executive & Finance Committee of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and is a member of the Visiting Committee on 20th Century Art for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He and his wife, artist Nan G. Swid, are financial supporters of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
He has also served as a Trustee of the Horace Mann School and as Executive Vice President of the Board of the Lenox School, both located in New York City.
Personal life
He is married to artist, Nan Swid.