Alan Wurtzel is an American businessman, author, speaker, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. He spent 13 years as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

before retiring in 1986. He now acts as trustee for the

Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...

and the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation has ...

Career

Wurtzel received a B.A. from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in 1955 and a J.D. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

. He joined Circuit City in 1966 as vice president of legal affairs and then was CEO from 1972 to 1986. He was chairman of the board from 1984 to 1994 and vice-chairman from 1994 to 2001. Circuit City was profiled as one of the eleven companies in Jim Collins' 2001 book '' Good to Great''. Wurtzel sold all of his Circuit City Stock in 2000, and left the company in 2001. Under his leadership, the company grew to be the best performing

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

Company for any fifteen-year period between 1965 and 1995. Wurtzel was director of Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., retiring from the board in 2009, and from 1989 to 1996, was on the board of

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply retailer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company operates 922 retail stores in the United States under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands, as well as e-commerce sites and a business ...

. He has been an active investor in startup companies and remains on the board of two privately held companies. On October 9, 2012, Wurtzel released his book on the history of Circuit City, ''Good to Great to Gone'', with Diversion Books.

Personal life

Since retiring from Circuit City, Wurtzel has split his time between commercial and non-profit activities. Early on, much of his time was devoted to higher education and K-12 educational reform. He was a trustee of

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

where he endowed a professorship in memory of his father, a member of the Virginia State Board of Education and the State Council for Higher Education. He was also a director of not-for-profit standards-based education policy organizations including New American Schools, National Center on Education and the Economy, and the Council for Basic Education. As a member of Virginia's State Board of Education, he actively participated in the formulation and adoption of the current Standards of Learning program. Currently, Wurtzel is a trustee of The Phillips Collection, where he has been active in developing its expansion and investment plans; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group that works to protect the Bay; the

Brady Campaign Brady: United Against Gun Violence (formerly “Handgun Control, Inc”., the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against ...

, a gun violence prevention organization, and his alma mater Oberlin College. He is married to the playwright Irene Rosenberg Wurtzel, and has three grown children. He lives in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and Delaplane, Virginia.

References

External links

* http://www.jimcollins.com/ * http://circuitcitystory.com/ * http://www.circuitcity.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurtzel, Alan American chief executives American businesspeople in retailing American philanthropists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people