Our Advisors

Our Advisors

Donald S. Perkins

Advisory Board Chairman

Mr.Perkins is the chairman of the Blue Ridge Partners Advisory Board. Mr. Perkins was the Chairman of Jewel Companies, Inc., from which he retired after 30 years. Mr. Perkins serves as a Director for LaSalle Hotel Properties, Nanophase Technologies, and several other start-up companies. He has served for more than 30 years on corporate boards, including AON, AT&T, Corning Glass, Cummins Engine, Eastman Kodak, Firestone, Kmart, Springs Industries, Time Warner and the Putnam Funds. He has been a Trustee and Vice Chairman of Northwestern University and chaired Campaign Northwestern, a university-wide effort to raise $1.4 billion. He was the founder of The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago and honorary chairman of The Illinois Coalition.

Mr. Perkins is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School.

Jerry K. Pearlman

Advisory Board Member

Mr. Pearlman is the retired Chairman and CEO of Zenith Electronics Corporation. Serving at Zenith for 24 years, Mr. Pearlman was Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of the company’s computer division before being selected as Chief Executive Officer in 1983. Earlier in his career, he served in management positions with Ford Motor Company and Behring Corporation. Mr. Pearlman is currently a director of Ryerson-Tull, Inc. and Nanophase Technologies Corporation. He was also previously a director of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, First Chicago Corporation and Luminant Worldwide. He has been very active in not-for-profit boards and commissions including Northwestern University, The Business Roundtable, Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and Metropolis 2020 Committee of the Chicago Commercial Club.

Mr. Pearlman received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ellen R. Marram

Advisory Board Member

Ellen R. Marram is a Senior Advisor of Brock Capital Group and an Operating Advisor at North Castle Partners, LLC.   Previously, she served as Managing Director of North Castle Partners, LLC. Ms. Marram was President and CEO of Tropicana and the Tropicana Beverage Group until its sale in 1998 to PepsiCo and was President and CEO of Nabisco Biscuit Company. Ms. Marram currently serves on the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company, The New York Times Company, Eli Lilly, as well as several private companies. She is a Trustee of the Conference Board and also serves on the boards of The New York & Presbyterian Hospital, Lincoln Center Theater, Families and Work Institute and Citymeals-on-Wheels.

She is graduate of Wellesley College and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, and has received Alumni Achievement Awards from both institutions.

John M. Richman

Advisory Board Member

Mr.Richman is the former Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods. After the acquisition of Kraft by Philip Morris, he served as Vice Chairman of Philip Morris. Earlier in his career, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Kraft. He serves as a trustee of Archstone-Smith Trust and as a director or advisory director of several other companies and as counsel to the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Mr. Richman is a retired director of Bank of America, USX Corporation and R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, and served as acting Chairman and CEO of that company from October 1996 to April 1997. He also serves as Director of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and Lyric Opera of Chicago and as a trustee of the Norton Museum of Art. In addition, he is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Northwestern University.

Mr. Richman received an undergraduate degree from Yale University and has a LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School.