Andrew Mead Murstein (born June 29, 1964) is founder,
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
,
board member
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
and, with his family, the largest
shareholder
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
of Medallion Financial Corp., an investment company publicly traded on the
Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol MFIN.
[Medallion Financial Corp. Reports 2016, First Quarter Results And Announces Ticker Symbol Changes To MFIN and MFINL, Medallion Financial Corp. (Website), May 10, 2016] MFIN and its predecessor companies have invested over $10 billion in various companies throughout the U.S. Murstein received a B.A. in economics, cum laude, from
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
and an M.B.A. in finance from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. He was named among Crain's New York Business' "40 Under 40", and has been featured in numerous business publications.
["Andrew Murstein, 29," by Peter Grant "40 under 40," Crain's New York Business, Jan. 31, 1994/Feb. 6, 1994, p. 11][Medallion Financial Corp. Retrieved Oct. 7, 2010 (Website) (www.medallion.com)] In 2013, he was appointed to the Board of the Javits Center.
Early life and career
Murstein was born in
Roslyn, New York
Roslyn ( ) is a village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the Greater Roslyn area's anchor community. The population was 2,770 at the 2010 census.
History
Ro ...
to Alvin and Aileen Murstein.
His grandfather of
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
descent, Leon Murstein, came to the United States from
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, became a
New York cabdriver and purchased one of the first New York
taxi medallions, issued in 1937, for $10.
["So you want to go public," by Stan Luxenberg, Family Business magazine, Winter, 2003 Issue (Magazine)]["Hailing New Customers," by Tania Padgett, Newsday, Nov. 3, 2003, p. A31 (Magazine)] The family went on to purchase several hundred medallions for prices as little as $10 each—medallions peaked at over $1,300,000 each and currently sell for around $85,000 each.
[“Industry Information,” New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission⚫
website (http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/misc/avg_med_price.shtml ), retrieved Oct. 7, 2010]
In the 1970’s, Alvin Murstein founded Medallion Funding Corp. to build a taxi medallion lending business. Medallion Funding earned returns on investment over 20 percent per year.
The price of NY City medallions peaked in 2013, as the emergence of ride-hailing companies caused the first significant and sustained decline in medallion values. In order to navigate this challenge, Murstein reduced medallion lending, expanded consumer lending and restructured existing medallion loans. To better communicate the more diversified lending strategy, a stock symbol change was made from "TAXI" to "MFIN" on May 10, 2016
A decision was also made to eliminate the dividend and convert to a C corp from a Business Development Company due to tax and capital considerations. After a steep decline, shares of MFIN began to rebound in the second half of 2017. As recently as December 12, 2017, 9% senior notes issued by Medallion Financial traded for over 100% of par value, which is a significant recovery from distressed levels reached earlier in 2017, and an indication of improved investor confidence. Medallion Financials stock price (NASDAQ: MFIN) has tripled in the last year.
On May 19, 2019,
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
published an investigative report on how medallion lending practices effected a generation of taxi drivers, citing Murstein, among others, as moving the industry toward riskier lending practices.
Later life and career
After completing his studies at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, Murstein spent several years on
Wall Street, including time at
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...
, where he learned the important of
equity
Equity may refer to:
Finance, accounting and ownership
* Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
** Home equity, the dif ...
in funding a business. He joined Medallion Funding full-time in 1990 and eventually took the company public.
[Medallion Financial Corp. website (www.medallion.com), retrieved May 26, 2016]
In 1996, Murstein successfully launched Medallion Financial Corp., established to be the parent company of Medallion Funding, as a public company trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol MFIN.
["New York cabs try to become ideal vehicle for advertisers," by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Financial Times, April 8, 1999] The company has financed the purchase of thousands more in Newark, Cambridge,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, is an established industry leader.
[Medallion Financial Corp. annual report, 2009, p. 4, and 2004 and 2005, both p. 2 (http://www.medallionfinancial.com/pdf/annual_reports/Medallion_AR_2009.pdf)] But taxi loans are only a part of the story. The company also established or bought successful businesses that lend to a variety of small businesses such as dry cleaners, convenience stores, manufacturers, distributors, and later public companies.
In 1994, Murstein invested $1 million to create a subsidiary which sold advertising on the tops of taxis. The subsidiary, eventually named Medallion Taxi Media, was enhanced in 1996 with the acquisition of See Level Advertising. Murstein sold Medallion Taxi Media to
Clear Channel yielding $35 million in 2004.
About this time Medallion Financial Corp. set up its own bank, Medallion Bank, to fund many of the company's endeavors. On February 27, 2009, Medallion accepted an $11.8 million investment from the U.S. Treasury, a security which was repaid on July 21, 2011.
In 2008, Murstein along with former baseball player
Hank Aaron
Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...
, former
New York Governor
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...
, both Medallion Financial board members, and former football star and Congressman
Jack Kemp, formed a
special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which raised $230 million to buy a professional sports team. The SPAC reportedly bid for the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
and other sports properties but ended up not making a purchase because none of the properties the company evaluated had the right mix of profit potential and risk avoidance.
["Medallion Financial Corp. Reports 2010 Second Quarter and Full Year Results," press release issued August 4, 2010, posted on Business Wire (http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100804005928/en/Medallion-Financial-Corp .-Reports-2010-Quarter-Results), Yahoo, Dow Jones, Reuters, businessweek.com, marketwatch.com, and Medallion's website] Later that same year, Murstein organized and filed publicly a SPAC focused on the security industry and assembled a board of directors that included former
FBI Director
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a single ...
Louis Freeh
Louis Joseph Freeh (born January 6, 1950) is an American attorney and former judge who served as the fifth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from September 1993 to June 2001.
Graduated from Rutgers University and New York Univers ...
and former
Pennsylvania Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces.
The governor has a duty to enforc ...
and
Homeland Security Secretary
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...
Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. ...
.
In 2012, Medallion Sports Group, along with partners Richard Mack and NFL player
Jim Brown, Murstein acquired the Long Island Lizards of
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...
, and renamed the team
the New York Lizards. The team plays at
Hofstra University on Long Island, and won the MLL championship for the third time in 2015.
NASCAR team ownership
On November 8, 2010, Medallion Financial Corp., as part of an investment group which included
Richard Petty, acquired the racing assets of
NASCAR's,
Richard Petty Motorsports
Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded as a result of the merger between Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) and Petty Enterprises, with ...
.
In 2017, Murstein and Petty announced that they had hired Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., to drive the No. 43 car, becoming the first African-American driver to drive regularly in NASCAR's premier Cup Series in over 40 years. After the
2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Murstein sold his stake in Richard Petty Motorsports (the majority ownership) to
Maury Gallagher
Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., also known as Maury Gallagher, is a commercial airline entrepreneur and current CEO and Chairman of Allegiant Travel Company. Prior to Allegiant, he co-founded and invested in WestAir and ValuJet. He is also the founder ...
, the Chairman and CEO of
Allegiant Air
Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a major air carrier, the fourteenth-largest commercial airline in North America.
Allegiant was founded in 1 ...
and owner of NASCAR team
GMS Racing
Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field ...
. As a result, RPM was renamed
Petty GMS Motorsports
Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they fiel ...
.
References
External links
Medallion BankMedallion Financial GroupAndrew Murstein Richard Petty Motorsports biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murstein, Andrew
1964 births
Living people
People from Roslyn, New York
American people of German-Jewish descent
New York University Stern School of Business alumni
Tufts University alumni
NASCAR team owners