Michael F. Cronin
A Focus on the Fundamentals
The real deal: Up from the streets of Boston, a venture capitalist helps companies and people flourish.
On the 50th floor of the John Hancock Tower, the east side of Michael Cronin’s corner office offers picture-perfect vistas of Boston’s waterfront and harbor. But to the immediate south lies a less glamorous prospect — several of the city’s grittier neighborhoods, including blue-collar Dorchester, where Cronin grew up.
To Cronin, the memories of his Dorchester days are as constant as the view from his window. With his down-to-earth manner, his gratitude to those who have lent him a hand, and his determination to help others in turn, it can truly be said of Michael Cronin that he has never forgotten where he came from.
When Cronin was six years old, his father died of cancer. To provide for the family, his widowed mother became a teacher in order to support young Michael and his four siblings. Cronin soon went to work, too, as a Boston Herald paperboy, the first of innumerable jobs on a résumé that would eventually top out with his current position: cofounder and managing partner of Weston Presidio, a late-stage, private-equity firm with $2.3 billion under management.
Given Cronin’s background, it’s not surprising that the WP portfolio favors traditional industrial and service companies that are strong on business fundamentals. Examples include Herald Media (publisher of the newspaper Cronin used to deliver), Tekni-Plex (a manufacturer of garden hoses and egg cartons), Tweeter Home Entertainment, and Casella Waste Systems. To keep diversified, there’s also the start-up airline, JetBlue, and some dot-coms, most notably MapQuest. Says Cronin, “Our preferred MO is to be a strong minority partner with an experienced entrepreneurial firm, one that needs our capital and strategic advice but also has a solid organization and lots of operational know-how.”
As a scholarship student at Harvard College, Cronin was president of the Harvard Student Agencies (HSA). “Unlike most of my classmates, I had to work a number of jobs to help out my family,” says Cronin, who later comanaged the Pub & Galley while at HBS. It was two HSA advisors, Brad Howe (MBA ’69) and HBS professor Pat Liles, who helped convince him he should apply to the School. After earning his MBA, Cronin worked for two years at the California Investment Counsel; then, in 1979, he joined Los Angeles–based Security Pacific Capital (SPC) on the advice of his HBS roommate, Dan Dye (MBA ’77), who worked there. Under the guidance of SPC chairman and president Tim Hay (MBA ’57), Cronin rose to senior vice president and eventually became managing director of Security Pacific’s Boston office. In 1991, with Michael Lazarus, he founded Weston Presidio.
Cronin and his wife, Marian, whom he met while at HBS, have been married for 22 years and are the parents of three teenagers. He has given generously of his time and talents to his children’s schools, as well as to Harvard College and to HBS, where he has worked on and chaired several gift and reunion committees. In addition to serving as chairman of the board of Harvard Student Agencies, he has helped set up a venture fund that aids social and nonprofit enterprises and sits on the venture advisory board of the Center for Women & Enterprise. Cronin also funds four HBS fellowships.
“Helping deserving people help themselves is as exciting as working on a deal,” he says. And for Cronin, that’s fundamental.
— Garry Emmons (send e-mail to the author)
From Harvard alumni bulletin 2002