Paul M. Montrone

For more than three decades, Paul M. Montrone has directed the development of a number of businesses in a diverse set of industries.  These include both the public companies indicated below, and his private business interests which have been conducted through Liberty Lane Service Company (formerly, Latona Associates), Liberty Lane Partners, and Perspecta Trust LLC. He is presently Chairman of these entities.  

Mr. Montrone was the CEO of Fisher Scientific International Inc. from its initial public offering in 1991 until its merger with Thermo Electron in 2006, forming Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.  Under Mr. Montrone’s leadership, Fisher was transformed from a North American manufacturer and distributor into a global enterprise supplying research, testing and clinical laboratories in 150 countries with over 600,000 products and services.  Annual sales increased from $760 million in 1991 to approximately $6.0 billion in 2006.  Over this 15 year period, the equity value of Fisher increased from approximately $200 million to $12 billion and the annual return to shareholders was 26% compounded.

Prior to leading Fisher Scientific, Mr. Montrone was the Chairman and CEO of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., a leading environmental services company that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc..  Annual shareholder returns at Wheelabrator under his leadership were 22% compounded.  

Previously, Mr. Montrone was Executive Vice President of The Signal Companies, Inc. and its successor, AlliedSignal Inc. (now Honeywell International Inc.), as well as President of The Henley Group, Inc. and Executive Vice President and CFO of Wheelabrator-Frye Inc.

Mr. Montrone began his career at the Pentagon, serving in the Systems Analysis Group in the Office of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara while a Captain in the U.S. Army.  A helicopter pilot, he is now Chairman of the New England Helicopter Council.

For many years, Mr. Montrone also participated in healthcare policy matters at the national level.  During the Clinton Administration, he was a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, as well as a founder of the National Forum for Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting.  He was a Director of The Healthcare Leadership Council and the New England Healthcare Institute, a member of the Health and Retirement Task Force of the Business Roundtable, and is currently a Director and Treasurer of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

He has also been involved in Washington, DC business policy matters, mainly through his activity with the Business Roundtable, where he was a member of its Planning Committee, and Chairman of the Civil Justice Reform Taskforce.

Mr. Montrone has served on a number of corporate boards and has also been active in many non-profit institutions, especially The Metropolitan Opera, where he has served in various capacities over three decades including President and CEO.  He is now President Emeritus.  His current other non-profit boards include the New England Conservatory, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.  

Born in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Montrone was graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University.