Robert Crants (born 1944) is an American businessman. He is a co-founder of the

Corrections Corporation of America CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley ...

. He served as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1994 to 1999.

Early life

Doctor Robert Crants was born on November 17, 1944, in

Salamanca, New York Salamanca (Seneca language, Seneca: ''Onë:dagö:h'') is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, Cattaraugus County, New York (state), New York, United States, inside the Allegany Indian Reservation, one of two governed by the Seneca Nation of Ne ...

. His mother gave him the first name of "Doctor", but he has not generally used it as an adult.Karin Miller
Doctor Crants is no doctor -- he's America's private prison warden
''South Coast Today'', January 4, 1998 He is one quarter

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

from his maternal side, and he grew up on a Seneca reservation in New York. He was educated at Lansing Central High School. He graduated from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

, where he was

Thomas W. Beasley Thomas W. Beasley (a.k.a. Tom Beasley) (born 1943) is an American lawyer, political activist and businessman based in Tennessee. He served as the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. In 1983 he was a co-founder of the Corrections Corporat ...

's roommate. He served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He received a master's degree in business administration and a law degree from the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 1974.

Career

Crants served as chief financial officer of a real estate company in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. Later, he founded Broadcast Management Services, and established several television stations. In 1983, he co-founded

with his former roommate,

, by then a leader in the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

in Tennessee, and

T. Don Hutto Terrell Don Hutto (June 8, 1935 – October 22, 2021), known as T. Don Hutto, was an American businessman and one of the three co-founders of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), whose establishment marked the beginning of the private priso ...

, creating a private prison management company. CCA received initial investments from

Jack C. Massey Jack Carroll Massey (June 15, 1904 – February 15, 1990) was an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur who owned Kentucky Fried Chicken, co-founded the Hospital Corporation of America, and owned one of the largest franchisees of Wendy's.Gle ...

, the founder of

Hospital Corporation of America HCA Healthcare is an American for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and, as of May 2020, owns and operates 186 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including sur ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

.Donna Selman, Paul Leighton
''Punishment for Sale: Private Prisons, Big Business, and the Incarceration Binge''
New York City: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010, pp. 81-82 He served as its treasurer. By 1987, Crants became its president. He served as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1994 to 1999.''Dow Jones News Service,'
"CEO to step down"
''The Chicago Tribune'', December 28, 1999 As of 2015, it is the largest prison management company in the nation. By 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) along with

Geo Group The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...

were running "more than 170 prisons and detention centres". CCA's revenues in 2015 were $1.79bn. Shortly after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001, Crants co-founded the Homeland Security Corporation with one of his sons, D. Robert Crants, III.Pierce Greenberg
"Crants duo, associates getting $2M+ to cover RICO case costs"
''Nashville Post'', March 29, 2013 Crants serves as its chief executive officer, while Joseph S. Johnson serves as president."Company Overview of Homeland Security Company, LLC"
''Bloomberg Business''

Personal life

Crants is married to Shirley Crants. They have two sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crants, Robert Living people 1944 births Seneca people People from Cattaraugus County, New York People from Nashville, Tennessee United States Military Academy alumni Harvard Business School alumni American company founders American chief executives CoreCivic people