Jerry Perenchio

Jerry Perenchio
Perenchio in January 2016
Born	Andrew Jerrold Perenchio (1930-12-20) December 20, 1930 (age 86) Fresno, California, U.S.
Education	B.S. Business Administration
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Years active	Former Chairman and CEO of Univision (1992-2007)
Known for	Rules of the Road
Net worth	US$2.6 billion (February 2016)
Board member of	The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation (2000-Present)
Children	1 son, 2 daughters
Parent(s)	Andrew Perenchio, Dorothea Harvey Perenchio
Awards	Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Cal State University, Fresno

A. Jerrold (Jerry) Perenchio (born December 20, 1930) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Univision.

Perenchio is the grandson of Italian immigrants Giovanni (John) Batiste Perenchio and Madeline D’Adda, who came to the United States in 1896 from the northern Italian village of Pavone. His grandfather established the Fresno Grape Exchange, built a packinghouse that shipped fresh fruits and vegetables to the Great Lakes region, and later – at the age of 60 – founded the Crestview Winery. Perenchio was raised in Fresno until the age of fifteen when he was sent to Black Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles for three-and-a-half years, graduating in 1949. In the fall of that year he enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and attended for five years, completing his B.S. in Business in 1954. He financed his own way through college, first with a series of odd jobs and then by establishing a small company – Party Management – that booked bands and catered parties at UCLA and the University of Southern California.

During his last two years at UCLA, Perenchio was a member of the Air Force ROTC, which required that he serve a three-year term in the Air Force after graduating. In 1955 he entered the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and earned his wings as a single-engine jet fighter pilot. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and received an honorable discharge in 1958.

Perenchio’s first foray into business was Party Management, founded during his freshman year in college. It was highly successful and became the major service that fraternities and sororities at UCLA and USC used to organize entertainment and menus for their social events. The company also catered private parties outside collegiate circles. While in the Air Force, Perenchio booked bands for officers’ clubs at air bases in Northern California. He supplemented his flight pay considerably, and made contacts with talent agents in the entertainment business that would set the course of his career.

In 1958 Perenchio joined MCA in the Band and Act Department. He moved up the ranks to become the youngest vice president in the agency’s history, and was made Head of the Concert Department for the eleven Western states and the Far East. Perenchio has said that he got his "MBA at MCA" and learned basic tenets that later informed his Rules of the Road: "take options, never grant them"; "never sell assets – lease them on a very short string"; "stay in the business you understand"; "make the calls and know the territory." He worked at MCA for four years until July 13, 1962 when the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department shut down MCA’s talent-representing operations.

After the break-up of MCA, Perenchio started Perenchio Artists with a partner in 1963. Their roster of clients included Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Henry Mancini, José Feliciano, Glen Campbell, Sergio Mendes, the Kingston Trio and the Righteous Brothers, among others, many of whom followed Perenchio from MCA. Perenchio eventually merged with the Hugh French Agency to form Chartwell Artists, which represented actors, directors, writers, musicians and singers. Perenchio’s focus remained on live entertainment. In 1969, while in London with Henry Mancini, Perenchio was introduced to Elton John, who had just recorded his first album. By the following summer, in August, 1970, Perenchio brought John from London to Los Angeles and rented out the Troubadour club in Hollywood for two weeks to showcase John’s talent. Word got out after the first performance and John became an overnight sensation, launching his career in the United States. Chartwell Artists grew to be the fifth-largest talent agency in the world. It was sold to International Creative Management (ICM) in 1972 when Perenchio decided to leave the agency business.