Lynn Tilton: Is She The Richest Self-Made Woman in America?
She was fired from her next job, at Merrill Lynch, andsued for wrongful termination, claiming ual harassment and retaliation.
Merrill denied the allegations, and sought to depose former employers Oppenheimer and Goldman Sachs. They wanted to see all the documents relating to Tiltons compensation and job performancebut also to any criticism of her work attire, as well as prior ual harassment grievances and details of her relationship with Goldman colleague Fred Eckert. The case was dismissed in April 1992; each party was responsible for its own costs and attorneys fees.
How good a businesswoman is Lynn Tilton? And how much is she worth? Look for my next post.
Tilton spent two decades surrounded by men while working atMorgan Stanley,Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer, Kidder Peabody and Amroc Investments.
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In that complaint, Tilton alleged that her boss in the merchant banking department made harassing comments, saying, among other things that her body was voluptuous, that her large breasts were difficult to hide and that a y woman in a work environment made male colleagues uncomfortable. She claimed she was canned after complaining to associates during an October 1989 salary review.
I began mylast postby asking, Who is Lynn Tilton?
Cant wait to see the reality show on this.
Lynn Tilton: Diva In Distress?
After a sunny childhood in Jacksonville, Fla., I journeyed to the Northeast to study journalism and sociology at NYU. Now I work and play in New York Citya classroom that never lets out. Ive wielded my pen at Forbes, BusinessWeek and Ladies Home Journal magazines, and chatted with hosts of CBS, FOX and CNBC. In my three years on the ForbesWoman beat, Ive explored the business worlds other half--the women who now make up 50% of the workforce. While here Ive glimpsed inside the homes, offices, hearts and minds of the worlds richest and most powerful women, puzzling over the meaning, navigation of and obstacles to success as a modern woman. If you have story ideas or tips, tweet @Jenna_Goudreau or email jgoudreau@forbes.com.
Lynn Tilton: Court Docs Reveal Accusations Of Fraud
Click for full photo gallery: Lynn Tilton
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While at Goldman Sachs, she began dating a very senior man in the companysomething she now regrets. I left because of the relationship, says Tilton. If I had to do that again, I wouldnt. I chose never to choose a man over what I needed to do for my career and child.
As a newly divorced single mother working on Wall Street, Tilton says she lived in constant fear. The early years were horrible because I was afraid every day, she says. There is nothing harder than that fear of leaving a child alone, working until midnight seven days a week, not knowing if [I]d have a job the next day.
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Maybe that kind of brassiness is what it takes to survive the banking environment she came froma crude, rough-and-tumble boys club. Wall Street was a very difficult place to balance striving in a mans world and being a woman, she tells me. You either got comfortable or you left.
Do I like to take people off balance? Tilton asks. Yeah. Once people are off balance, they listen.
When she left Amroc in 1998, she sent a raunchyChristmas cardto former customers, with two pictures of her provocatively posing in boots and lingerie. I was an attractive woman in an industry with few women, says Tilton. It was a joke to those men who bugged her about what she was wearing underneath her clothes. Do I recommend it? No.
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Her outlandish style is clearly a tactic to gain the upper hand. But it can also backfire. She is quick with a one-liner and doesnt mince words, says Stephen Gray, a managing partner at crisis management firm CRG Partners, who has worked with Tilton for the last five or so years, suggesting deals and consulting on many of her business turnarounds. She dresses in ways that are extreme for a room full of bankers, he adds. She tries to distract them from the deal.
Lynn Tilton: Is She Really A Billionaire?
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Tilton has her ns, too. Many of them happen to be employed by her. I have worked seven days a week for three solid years, says Emil Giliotti, head of Patriarchs consumer products division. Lynn is tough on everyone. Shes toughest on herself.
Theres the public persona. Thats the carefully crafted image you get from herwebsite: the Bronx, N.Y.-raised teen tennis star who attendedYale, became a single mom at age 23, slugged it out on Wall Street for 20 years (while managing to get an M.B.A. fromColumbia), then went off on her own to start a private equity firm thats on a mission to rebuild America one company at a time. Thanks to the deals shes done at Patriarch Partners, the firm she founded and runs, shes made piles of money, and won multiple awards as a woman entrepreneur. If theres one thing I hope, Tilton told me, its that Ill be an inspiration to other women.
Lynn Tilton: The Wild Woman of Wall Street, lynn tilton aviation awards 2012,Then theres the private personality, which isnt quite so inspirational. People who have worked with or for Tiltonat least, those who arent too frightened to talkdescribe her as a terrifying, evil and tyrannical boss prone to rage, who once seized a male executive by the collar, dragged him to a mirror to ask what he saw in his reflection and then unleashed a string of expletives. They tell of her gathering employees for an 11 p.m. company meeting on a weeknight to tell everyone she was better, smarter and worked harder than any of them, and to say that they should feel lucky to be in the presence of greatness. Tilton&8217;s people have declined to comment on allegations they call &8220;vague,&8221; &8220;ist attempts to impugn&8221; her &8220;personal and professional reputation.&8221;
Thats more than good p.r. The U.S. Small Business Administration recently launched aprogramto set aside federal contracts strictly for women-owned businesses; just 5% of all contracts would be roughly $20 billion to $25 billion worth of work a year.
Five Things Investors Should Know About Lynn Tiltons CLO Deals
Fredy Bush will cut a deal with the DA around her latest indictment and spill the beans around this Ponzi Scheme. Lynn&8217;s General Giliotti knows where all of the bodies are hidden and will become a key lynn tilton aviation awards 2012witness to the prosecution as well.
Several former employees, who declined to be named because theyre afraid of being sued, complain that Tilton, 51, uses her uality as a blunt instrument.
Give the woman her due. She is one of few leading ladies of private equityand something of a rarity in male-dominated industries like auto parts, aviation and manucturing. Tilton plays up the woman owner shtick. With majority ownership of 52 portfolio companies, she has registered 12 as woman-owned businesses with theWomens Business Enterprise National Council.
Forbes is self proclaimed as a leading source for reliable business news and financial information per the description. These posts are focused on sensational storytelling about Lynn Tilton&8217;s wardrobe, physical characteristics, personality, and comments from a few bitter ex-employees. There are thousands of people who are inspired by her and literally have been saved by her.Lynn Tilton: The Wild Woman of Wall Street, lynn tilton aviation awards 2012 The color of her hair, length of her skirt and height of her heels are irrelevant to these people (and myself) when it&8217;s time to pay the bills and support their milies. She saved my job and the jobs of my colleagues and friends. She turned around our distressed company and made it successful through her strong leadership by demanding financial responsibility and inspiring innovation. She lives and breathes female empowerment. She is kind, caring and has a sense of humor. The positive impact she has had on thousands of people r exceeds the alleged negative experiences of the few disgruntled ex-employees featured in the article.
Im am sure Tilton&8217;s ns would like to be on the receiving end of this kind of treatment&8230;..
Lynn Tilton: Keeping Her Lawyers On Speed Dial
The part that Jenna left out regarding the story about the executive that was dragged by the collar to stand in front of the mirror to get verbal abuse was that on the way back to the office she also told him that he could stand to loose some weight and start looking like a CEO!!!
Some recall the 50thbirthday partyTilton threw for herself at the office, where employees did jello shots off her belly. Others remember an outdoor meeting she held while wearing a revealing bikini at her beach-side home. In a breach of contractsuit, former Patriarch managing director Andrzej Wrobel, fired for allegedly stealing, says Tilton conduct[ed] a work atmosphere so filled with ual innuendos and river of vulgarities as to create needless job stress, tension, emotional distress and humiliation on the part of the employees in her presence. These allegations were in a complaint that was stricken on procedural grounds.
Lynn Tilton: In Her Own Words
Maybe she&8217;s a brilliant businesswoman. Maybe she&8217;s saved thousands of jobs. If so, great. I&8217;m just happy that I never had to work for a psycho like her.
Most women feel they need to be more like men to be successful, says Tilton, who is fond of low-cut designer tops, miniskirts, spiky heels, bleach-blond hair worn to the waist and heavy makeup. I believe that women should be women.
Tilton played the -kitten card during the mid-1990s when she worked on the sales and trading desk of Amroc Investments, on the phone with buyers of loans and high-yield debt. I spent most of my career listening to men ask me what I was wearing and what color my underwear was, she says.
