William Craig

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William F. Craig was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1931, the second son of Irish immigrant parents. He grew up in Upper Darby, a town just west of Philadelphia. After graduating from Villanova University in 1953, he served in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). He married Louise A. Haenn in 1958. In 1959 he earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Drexel University while working as a statistician and tax accountant at the Philadelphia Electric Company. At Drexel he wrote articles that were published in the Public Utility Fortnightly. This led to an offer to join Irving Trust Company at One Wall Street, NYC, where he became a loan officer in the Public Utility Department. He continued to write business related articles that were published in magazines and trade journals, e.g., Investment Dealer’s Digest, American Banker, and the Wall Street Journal. Irving Trust accelerated his progress throughout the bank. He became Assistant Division Head of the National Division and created an Energy and Mineral Division, designed to finance oil, gas, and minerals production worldwide. In 1974 he became a Director of the Pittston Company, which owned Metropolitan Petroleum Co., Pittston Coal Co., Brinks, the armored car company, and BAX (Burlington Air Express), a worldwide next day heavy freight airline.

Through a headhunter firm he was offered the position of Executive Vice President at Shawmut Bank, N.A., Boston, MA, a 30 billion dollar asset bank. In 1976 he moved his wife Louise and their nine children to Concord, MA. At Shawmut, he oversaw the investment portfolio, Credit Administration, and asset/liability management. He was elected President in 1980 and Vice Chairman in 1984. Bill Craig formed a private equity investment firm, Charter Capital Corporation, in 1990, and proceeded to reinvent himself, buying banks without borrowing any money.