Monday, April 27, 2015

Altegirty Executives Like Costa Concordia Captain


Few leaders go down with their ship anymore.  Most scamper to grab a few goodies and flee for the lifeboats.  WSJ reported:

Court records show that Altegrity Inc., a company linked to some notable U.S. security stumbles of recent years, shelled out $25.7 million to top executives the year before it filed for bankruptcy protection.
Bankruptcy is the sinking of a company.   Here's Altergrity's private equity underwriting journey:

USIS paid $125,000 to the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who was called on for advice around the time the unit’s government contracts began to slip away. Mr. Mullen is identified as an insider because he is a senior adviser to Providence Equity Partners, the Rhode Island buyout firm that owns USIS and Altegrity.

Providence, led by Jonathan M. Nelson, bought USIS for about $1.5 billion from the Carlyle Group in 2007. A year later, USIS combined with HireRight, and in 2010 Providence, which manages some $40 billion in assets, acquired Kroll from Marsh & McLennan Cos. for $1.1 billion.
Going back further President Bill Clinton privatized USIS, once an arm of the federal government.  The Carlyle Group first invested in USIS in 1998.

Providence Equity Partners and Altegrity Executives are like the captain of the Costa Concordia.  The poor quality of their work endangered lives.  As of now all remain free.  SkyNews reported:

A Florence court has rejected a public prosecutor's request for the immediate arrest of Francesco Schettino, the captain convicted over the Costa Concordia cruise liner disaster. The prosecutor claimed Schettino, who was found guilty of manslaughter over the deaths of 32 people killed in the 2012 sinking, was a flight risk, the Ansa news agency reported. 

 Schettino was sentenced in February to 16 years and one month in prison for his role in the shipwreck off the Italian island of Giglio. Under Schettino's command, the Concordia left its planned route and steered close to the island, where it hit rocks and partially capsized. There were 4229 people on board. 

The 54-year-old Naples native was accused of multiple counts of manslaughter and other serious charges including negligence, causing a shipwreck, mishandling emergency procedures, lying to authorities about the seriousness of the accident and abandoning ship
Increasingly people in charge abandon ship with their haul and little remorse, no matter how many little people are impacted.  It's hard to call them leaders.