Gregory F. Rayburn
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Gregory F. Rayburn (born 1958) is an American
businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...
. He formerly served as chairman and CEO of
Hostess Brands Hostess Brands Inc. is an American bakery company formed in 2013. Its main operating subsidiaries are Hostess Brands, LLC, and Voortman Cookies Limited. The company owns several bakeries in the United States that produce snack cakes under the ...
.


Career

After receiving an undergraduate and Master of Arts degree in accounting from the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...
in 1982, he became a partner for Corporate Recovery Services at
Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...
until 1994. From 1996 to 1998, Rayburn was CEO of Piece Goods Shops, a
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...
, chain with 318 stores that had gone into bankruptcy in 1991. Under Rayburn, the company was sold to Mae's Fabrics. Rayburn went on to become CEO of Sunterra Resorts, which had previously entered bankruptcy in 2001, from 2002 to 2003. Sunterra successfully avoided liquidation and emerged from bankruptcy in July 2002. It became
Diamond Resorts International Diamond Resorts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilton Grand Vacations. Diamond Resorts was an independent timeshare and vacation ownership company until it was purchased by HGV in 2021. Following the purchase, Diamond's resorts became part of HGV ...
. From 2003 to 2004, he served as
Chief Restructuring Officer A chief restructuring officer (CRO) is a senior officer of a company given broad powers to renegotiate all aspects of a company's finances to deal with an impending bankruptcy or to restructure a company following a bankruptcy filing. The use of CR ...
(CRO) of
Worldcom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...
at a time when it changed its name from Worldcom to MCI. The company eventually emerged from bankruptcy in 2004 and subsequently was purchased by
Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
. After leaving MCI, Rayburn was CRO of AAIPharma Services Corp. in Wilmington, North Carolina, from 2004 to 2005. The company had run into trouble in a scandal over its accounting practices in 2004 and went into bankruptcy in 2005 after selling its pharmaceutical division to Xanodyne. Between 2005 and 2006, Rayburn was CEO of Muzak, which was struggling at the time. He failed to turn the company around and was replaced by Steve Villa, who made an unsuccessful attempt to merge Muzak with DMX Music. The company eventually went into bankruptcy in 2009, three years after Rayburn left. From 2009 to 2010, Rayburn was CEO of the thoroughbred horse-raising company
Magna Entertainment Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (formerly MI Developments Inc.) is a Canadian-based REIT engaged in the acquisition, development, ownership and management of industrial, warehouse and logistics properties in North America and Europe. It was ...
, which was in bankruptcy. After Magna Entertainment, Rayburn was CEO of New York City OTB from 2010 to 2011. Following the
New York Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term ...
rejection of his plans for a turnaround, he shut down the city's OTB operation. From 2011 to 2012, Rayburn was CRO of the
Indiana Downs Horseshoe Indianapolis (formerly Indiana Grand Racing & Casino and Indiana Live!) is a casino with a horse racing track in Shelbyville, Indiana owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment (2020), Caesars Entertainment. It is the closest casino to ...
racetrack which morphed into the
Indiana Grand Casino Horseshoe Indianapolis (formerly Indiana Grand Racing & Casino and Indiana Live!) is a casino with a horse racing track in Shelbyville, Indiana owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It is the closest casino to Indianapolis. It offers gamin ...
racino A racino is a combined horse racing track, or other live parimutuel betting facility, and casino. In some cases, the permitted form of casino gambling is limited to slot machines or video lottery terminals, but many locations also offer table ...
. In 2010, he started his private consulting business, Kobi Partners, LLC, in
Kiawah Island Kiawah may refer to * Kiawah Island, South Carolina * the Kiawah people The Kiawah were a tribe of Cusabo people, an alliance of Indigenous groups in lowland regions of the coastal region of what became Charleston, South Carolina. When Engli ...
,
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. The following year, Rayburn was named a board member of
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain store, chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until ...
, which had gone into bankruptcy. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2012. In March 2012, he became CEO of Hostess Brands, a month after the company had gone into bankruptcy. He initially was brought in as CRO in February 2012, by CEO Brian Driscoll. Rayburn was named CEO once Driscoll abruptly resigned in March 2012. After the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union went on strike in November 2012, opposing court-ordered wage concessions which had been agreed to by other unions, Rayburn requested court authority to liquidate the company because it was no longer able to meet production demands at its bakeries. Rayburn then led a sale of the brands, generating almost $1 billion to satisfy secured claims. Rayburn has appeared numerous times on CNBC, FOX business news, and Bloomberg television. He has also done guest lectures on operational turnarounds for MBA programs at NYU, Georgetown, and Wake Forest University.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayburn, Gregory F. 1958 births Living people American businesspeople People from Northport, Alabama University of Alabama alumni