After completing his undergraduate work at Northwestern University in 1962, Gleacher served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years prior to earning his MBA at Booth in 1967.
Gleacher joined Lehman Brothers in 1968 in New York. He became a partner in 1973 and founded the firm's mergers and acquisitions business. He went on to head the mergers and acquisitions practice at Morgan Stanley, where he played a pivotal role in some of the highest-profile business deals of the 1980s: Revlon, Texaco, Union Carbide, and RJR Nabisco, among others. With others, Gleacher is credited with creating the business of merger advice.
In 1990, he founded Gleacher and Company, a successful mergers and acquisition boutique which he ran and developed until 2009 when he sold it and retired as CEO.
“The Marines taught me a great deal about leadership, which is crucial to the success of every business,” Gleacher said. “Most veterans have learned those same leadership skills, which can be successfully applied in a variety of business contexts. A Booth MBA can inspire veteran students as future business leaders, preparing them for successful careers as entrepreneurs and executives in major companies."
In 1996, Gleacher gave $15 million to Booth to help finance its downtown Chicago riverfront Gleacher Center, which houses Booth’s evening and weekend programs, as well as its North American executive program.
