Thomas John Rattigan (born 20 July 1937, in Boston) is an American businessman.

Early life

Rattigan earned a BS at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in 1960 and an MBA at

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 1962. He joined

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

in 1970 where he rose to the position of CEO of

PepsiCo International PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the fo ...

in 1982. In 1985 Commodore, an early producer of home computers, hired Rattigan as COO intending to prepare him to become CEO (competitor

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

had hired Pepsi president John Sculley in 1983). In 1986 Rattigan took over as CEO from Marshall F. Smith. He continued the downsizing his predecessor had initiated, cut unprofitable product lines and initiated the development of two more models of Commodore's flagship Amiga 1000 computer. Despite turning the company from a US$237 million three-quarter loss to a $22 million profit in one quarter, Rattigan was fired by major shareholder

Irving Gould Irving Gould (1919–2004) was a Canadian businessman credited with both saving and sinking Commodore. Commodore was originally formed in Canada and initially produced mechanical typewriters and calculators. In 1965, Jack Tramiel, Commodore's foun ...

, who temporarily took over as CEO. Rattigan sued Commodore for $9 million of lost income, due to the breach of contract.Rattigan won the suit. In 1991 Rattigan was appointed by the court as CEO of

G. Heileman Brewing Co. The G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, was a brewery firm that operated from 1858 to 1996. It was ultimately acquired by Stroh's, and its independent existence ceased. From 1872 until its acquisition, the brewer ...

He steered the company through

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and left in 1994, pocketing almost $20 million in severance pay. "You can't say he did a terrible job with Heileman. But he certainly didn't turn it around", PaineWebber analyst Goldman told the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

in 1996. In 1996 and 1997 Rattigan headed financier Carl Icahn's slate for the RJR Nabisco board, netting him $2 million in salary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattigan, Thomas Living people 1937 births American chief executives of food industry companies Harvard Business School alumni PepsiCo people Boston College alumni