Edward d breen biography books

President and chief executive officer, Tyco International

Nationality: American.

Born: 1956, in Pennsylvania.

Education: Grove City College, BS, 1978.

Family: Married Lynn Branster; children: three.

Career: General Instruments, 1978–1988, salesman; 1988–1994, senior vice president of sales; 1994–1997, various positions as president of Broadband Networks Group, president of Eastern Operations for the Communications Division, and vice president of Terrestrial Systems; 1997–2000, chairman, president, and chief executive officer; Motorola, 2000–2001, executive vice president of Motorola, president of Broadband Communications Sector (BCS), and subsequently head of the Networks Sector (which included the Global Telecom Solutions Sector; the Commercial, Government, and Industrial Solutions Sector; and BCS); 2001, president; 2002, president and chief operating officer; Tyco International, 2002–, president and chief executive officer.

Awards: Vanguard Award, National Cable Television Association, 1998; one of 100 Most Influential People in Cable, CableFAX magazine, 1999.

Address: Tyco International, 90 Pitts Bay Road, 2nd Floor, Pembroke HM 08, Bermuda; Tyco International (U.S.), 9 Roszel Road, Princeton, New Jersey 08540; http://www.tyco.com.

■ Edward D. Breen took over as president and CEO of the troubled Tyco International in July 2002. Made notorious by scandals that included questionable accounting practices and former CEO Dennis Kozlowski's unwarranted personal use of company funds, Tyco had become known as one of America's most corrupt companies. According to industry analysts, Breen's reputation as a man of honesty and integrity, as much as his standing as a successful, world-caliber executive at both General Instruments and Motorola, landed him the position at Tyco.

PROVES CAPABILITIES AT GENERAL INSTRUMENTS

Breen grew up in suburban Pennsylvania and attended Grove City Colleg

In a career spanning 34 years, Edward Breen has faced many difficult situations, perhaps none as challenging as his most recent assignment — CEO of Tyco International — which he took on when the company was facing bankruptcy. In an interview with Michael Useem, director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, Breen, who just stepped down from Tyco, talks about the importance of knowing when and how to make the “bold, big decisions,” mentoring and always raising your hand for assignments, among other topics.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Michael Useem: We’re going to talk about your rather amazing career. You worked at General Instruments. You were the president of Motorola. For the past 10 years, you have run Tyco. I’m going to begin in the middle. Tyco got into a lot of trouble with malfeasance at the top. You were recruited to come in as chief executive at the end of July 2002. As I recall, you were in your office at Motorola knowing that, at the end of the day, you were going to be announced as the new chief of Tyco, then a company of almost a quarter million employees — a huge enterprise. Across the ticker on the screen on your desk it said: “Tyco to declare bankruptcy.” So picking up on that, tell us about that day.

Edward Breen: I think it was a Thursday in late July that it came across the screen that Tyco was looking at declaring bankruptcy. It showed me what was about to happen. It was just chaos the first months, and events were like that every day. What was kind of scary is that the stock continued to plunge. If I remember the numbers right, on that day, the stock had opened around $12 and ended around $8. That’s a huge percentage drop in a company that’s already got a lot of other chaos going on around it. So that was the backdro

On December 11th, The Cable Center celebrated the official ribbon cutting of the “Edward D. Breen Technical Archives” and the “Breen Room” meeting lounge. The ribbon cutting was commemorated with a reception and celebration of the many improvements made possible through a generous donation from Ed Breen.

These improvements focused on enhancing the overall presentation of the collections, including additional displays and display furniture, digital and print signage, large prints of historic photos, monitors for educational slideshows, enhanced lighting, reorganization of the collection, and the creation of the Breen Room lounge.

This project would not have been possible without the efforts of The Cable Center’s librarian, Brain Kenny, and Cable Center champion, Cathy Wilson, recently retired founder and publisher of Broadband Library, and with expert assistance from Ron Hranac, cable industry guru, Technical Leader at Cisco and active member of SCTE•ISBE since 1979.

For 10 years, Ed Breen was the worldwide sales point person for set top boxes. His own history is tied up in these boxes and is now displayed in the technical archive’s set top box aisle, along with the rest of the engineering and tech side of the industry. The collection as a whole tells the story of the industry from a hands-on perspective, through artifacts, highlighting the prominence of innovation and creation. Ed Breen’s investment helps The Cable Center to preserve, expand, and share the industry’s rich history.

For more information on the Edward D. Breen Technical Archives and the Breen Room, or to set up a tour, please contact bkenny@cablecenter.org.

Courtesy of The Cable Center; Photos by Paul Weinrauch

American politician

Edward Grimes Breen (June 10, 1908, in Dayton, Ohio – May 8, 1991, in Dayton, Ohio) was an American politician of the Democratic party.

Biography

Ed Breen was born in the Phillips House, a fine old hotel in Dayton, Ohio. He was the son of John P. Breen, manager of the Phillips House.

Breen attended Corpus Christi Grammar School and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton. After attending Ohio State University, Breen returned to Dayton to work in the hotel business, where he ran the Hilton Biltmore Hotel and later the Van Cleve Hotel.

During the Second World War, Breen, a Roman Catholic by faith, served as a Major (United States) in the United States Army Air Forces. He saw active duty in North Africa and in Italy. He was released from active duty and awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Infantry Reserve.

In 1945, Breen was elected to the Board of Commissioners of Dayton, Ohio. His fellow commissioners elected him mayor.

In 1948, Breen resigned his seat on the city commission in order to seek the Democratic nomination for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. In that election, Breen successfully unseated Republican incumbent Raymond H. Burke. In 1950, Breen won re-election to the House, defeating Republican challenger Paul F. Schenck. However, ill health prompted Breen to resign from his seat early, on October 1, 1951. His old opponent Schenck was elected in a special election in 1951 to complete his term.

Returning to Dayton, Breen worked in the real estate and insurance industries. A few years later, he re-entered politics, running successfully for a seat on the Board of Commissioners of Montgomery County, Ohio, serving in that capacity from 1955 to 1960.

In 1956 he married Constance Focke and they had two children. Edward Grimes Breen is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Dayton. His son has written a book about his father called "Lucky Eddie".http://www.thelocal