JOE ADORJAN (Jan 1957)

Joe Adorjan was a member of the Class of January 1957. He was on the Student Council and on the Bowling Team.

What follows is from St. Louis University’s website:

Mr. Adorjan is Chairman of Adven Capital, a private equity firm. Previously he served as a partner of Stonington Partners, a private equity firm. From 1995-2000, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Borg-Warner Security Corporation, a provider of global security services with revenues of $1.3 billion. During his tenure, net earnings increased from $1.2 to $29.1 million. Earnings per share rose from .05 to $1.21 per share and net debt of the corporation was reduced from $461.7 to $21.0 million. Return on total capital rose from 6.7% to 16.2%. Prior to joining Borg-Warner Security Corporation, Mr. Adorjan was president of Emerson Electric Company, where he was responsible for the successful integration of the Fisher Controls Company into Emerson’s existing process control companies, creating Fisher-Rosemont, the world’s leader in process control and instrumentation.

Mr. Adorjan served as chairman and chief executive officer of ESCO Electronics Corporation from 1990 to 1992. ESCO Electronics was formed as an independent NYSE corporation in 1990 through the spin-off of Emerson’s government and defense business. From 1968 to 1990, Mr. Adorjan held a variety of management and executive positions with Emerson Electric Company. In 1978 he was appointed senior vice president of Corporate Development, responsible for Emerson’s planning, acquisition and technology development activities. He was promoted to executive vice president in 1983, responsible for Emerson’s finance, international, planning, acquisition and technology functions. In 1988, Mr. Adorjan became vice chairman of the board, where he assumed additional responsibility for Emerson’s government and defense operations.

Mr. Adorjan serves as a director of Cisco Eagle, Inc. and the Advisory Board of Juniper Investors LLC. He also serves as a member of the United Way of Greater St. Louis board, a member of the Grand Center Inc. board, and a member of the Missouri Council for a Better Economy board of directors. He is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Hungarian-Missouri Educational Partnership, a not-for-profit scholarship program. Previously he served as a member and chairman of the board of Saint Louis University for over 25 years. He has served on a broad variety of both private and public companies and has been actively engaged in both business and civic affairs. Mr. Adorjan received a B.S. degree in 1963 and a M.S.C. degree in 1967 from Saint Louis University.