Babson College - Babsonian Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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Diane bn Furstenberg Feel like a woman - wear a dress. This is the deceptively simple statement that rejuve- nated an entire languishing in- dustry. It was the point of view that translated an easy-to-wear dress and an initial investment of $20,000 into a world wide trend and a multitude of pro- ducts bearing the DVF name that will retail for approximate- ly $150 million in 1979. The Belgian-born Ms. Von Furstenberg moved to America in 1969 with her husband. Prince Egon Von Furstenberg, and immediately became part of New York ' s social scene. However, this was not fulfilling for her goals as a modern wom- an. It was Diane ' s contention that there was a lack of comfortable feminme dresses at moderate prices and she decided to try her hand at designing clothing that would feel comfortable, look chic, and wear well. With the help of a friend in Italy, she began to learn manufacturing processes and developed a small line of simple dresses. These featherweight classic dresses were the beginning of Diane Von Furstenberg, Ltd. Says Diana Vreeland, fashion consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a past fashion editor of Vogue, Fashion isn ' t a thing of variety, it ' s a thing of line. The girls is definitely a designer. Traveling across the country, meeting with women and relating closely to them, perceiving their needs, she decided to go onto the beauty world, and began her own fragrance and cosmet- ics company. Her first fragrance, named for her daughter, Tatiana, is fast becoming one of the top-selling perfumes in department stores all over America. Diane Von Furstemberg now designs products which span virtually every category of fashion and beauty, from lingerie to luggage to home furnishings. Her Design Studio provides all six- teen of her domestic licensees with creative work and marketing involvement.

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John H. Johnson Keep your options open, he ad- monishes others, and John H. Johnson is living proof of what can happen when you follow his advice. Now President and Publisher of Johnson Publishing Company, Chair- man and Chief Executive Officer of Supreme Life Insurance Company, Chairman of WJPC, Chicago ' s first and only black-owned radio station, and President of Fashion Fair Cosmet- ics, the 6 1 -year old Johnson has bat- tled poverty and racial prejudice and discrimination to become recognized as one of this nation ' s most outstanding entrepreneurs. He has been honored by more than a dozen colleges and univer- sities, and has been invited to the White House by Presidents Eisenhow- er, Johnson, and Nixon. It ' s all a far cry from Johnson ' s early days. As a part-time college student working for $25 per month in the of- fices of the black-run Supreme Life Insurance Company of America, his future successes could hardly have been foretold. At 24, he borrowed $500, mortgaging his mother ' s furni- ture to determine how many people would be interested in reading a magazine geared to the black community. About 3,000 interested people sent $2 each, and the $6,000 was enough to launch Negro Digest. Today, Negro Digesthas become Black World, and although no longer profit- able, Johnson continues to publish the magazine as an outlet for creative young black writers. Ambitious though he was, Johnson has no dreams of building a publishing empire. I just wanted to improve the situation I was in at the time, he states. Thus, step by tedious step, John Johnson did build an empire. In 1945 ffconvwas born, using the Life magazine format and concentrating on Negro success sto- ries. This was followed by Jet, a pocket-size weekly of black news. Black Stars, a magazine devoted to the entertainment world, and Ebony. Jr., a magazine for children. You have to set reasonable goals and move from one plateau to another, says the entrepreneur. John H. Johnson - a man who keeps his options open. 119 mmamaamaa

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Thomas Evans has acquired a reputation as a financial genius and corporate entrepreneur as chairman of the Crane Company. With stalces in steel, copper, oil and gas, coal, and cement, among other things. Crane ' s initial plumbing business now represents less than five percent of the company ' s operations. Evan ' s strategy has been to buy into companies in the extractive industries where assets are reported well below their worth, to assume control, and eventually build a substantial profit. Although only distantly related to the Mellon family, Evans started his career with Gulf Oil Corporation, a Mellon holding, following his graduation from Yale in 1931. At Gulf, he borrowed some Gulf shares at a low interest rate, and within a few years made a small return on his investment. His next move was to buy the defaulted bonds of the H. K. Porter Company, manufacturer of locomotives. By World War II he had become the major stockholder and was turning the business around through diversification. In 1955 the company was selling $80 million worth of rubber products, electrical and steel materials, and Evans was ready for new acquisitions. The first was the Crane Company, an old-line plumbing manufacturer. Within four years he gained control and began an equity tie-in between Crane and Porter. Evans maintains Crane ' s New York headquarters as the base of his operations, and ha; made over eighty acquisitions to date. Crane ' s sales since 1972 have risen by over forty percent to over $1.2 billion. The company has manufacturing plants in six countries, employing 19,800 people. Porter ' s sales have remained stable at around $300 million. In recent years Evans has spread into areas outside the industrial field. He holds a majority interest in a St. Louis based television station, Evans Co. and a brokerage house. He also owns a Virginia horse-breeding farm. Sport is not the object, however, as with Evans there is one main concern. We call it the bottom line, he says. Come meet, hear, and question these five outstanding entrepreneurs: Thoiniis Vi. E ' ans Chairman Crane Company President and Publisher Johnson Publishing Co., Inc. 121 WBBI