{"id":7390,"date":"2016-07-18T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2016\/07\/18\/profile-in-leadership-george-gellert-60-mba-62-jd-63\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:16:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:16:45","slug":"profile-in-leadership-george-gellert-60-mba-62-jd-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2016\/07\/18\/profile-in-leadership-george-gellert-60-mba-62-jd-63\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile in Leadership: George Gellert \u201960, MBA \u201962, JD \u201963"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bringing a \u201cBenevolent Competitiveness\u201d to Family Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Profile<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Superstorm Sandy hit the Gellert Global Group\u2019s Elizabeth, N.J., warehouse, offices, and shipping facility in October 2012, it left behind eight feet of standing water and over $15 million in damage. Chairman and CEO George Gellert was in Paris at a food show when the storm made landfall, and his son, Andy Gellert \u201989, was in Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that didn\u2019t stop his entire team, including his other son, Tom Gellert \u201994, MBA \u201999, JD \u201900, and other top management from hauling generators and shoveling waterlogged garbage to save the facility \u2014 and the company. In fact, Gellert\u2019s IT, shipping, food safety, administrative, and executive teams prevented any lost business, and not a single employee was laid off as a result of the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could have spelled the demise of the largest private food importer in the United States quickly transformed into one of its proudest moments. When he finally got back to survey the scene, Gellert says the facility \u201clooked like World War II.\u201d But just two weeks later, the company was back in operation. \u201cEveryone was there shoveling. To see all of those employees come and help rebuild the company, I thought that was a very happy moment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gellert\u2019s long-time friends, colleagues, and business partners say it\u2019s no coincidence that his team went to bat for him like they did. They say Gellert lives his life with a sort of high-energy benevolent competitiveness, and that he expects the same level of commitment and dedication from those he leads. \u201c[Gellert] has a kind of never-stop-fighting mentality that has reached down into the entire organization,\u201d says Steve O\u2019Mara, President of J.F. Braun and Sons, the dried fruit and nut division of Gellert Global Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superstorm Sandy wasn\u2019t the only recent adversity that Gellert has overcome more quickly than anticipated. Even after being diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011 and a 50-50 chance of beating it, Gellert stayed active with the company. Doctors at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York quickly administered the experimental drug azacitidine in July 2011, followed by six chemotherapy treatments. Gellert says he was skiing again by January 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 78, Gellert still plays tennis or works out every morning at six o\u2019clock and is the first person at the office every morning. When he had cancer, \u201chis attitude was \u2018this is never going to get me down.\u2019 With Sandy, it was the same mentality. It was very motivational,\u201d O\u2019Mara says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Power of Relationships<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to his network of incredibly strong relationships, it wasn\u2019t just people within the company that rallied around Gellert in Sandy\u2019s aftermath. Where they could easily have taken their business to a competitor, long-time customers and suppliers patiently waited for the company to get back on its feet. \u201cThe thing about our business,\u201d says Gellert, \u201cis that our customers are personal friends. Our employees are personal friends. People we buy from are our friends. Our bankers are our friends. Our whole universe \u2014 even though it\u2019s business \u2014 we all socialize, and it\u2019s one big happy family,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, despite growing to encompass ten component companies with over $1 billion in total annual revenue, Gellert works to maintain an intimate, family atmosphere. For him, trust is built over meals, not through lawyers. Each quarter, the group holds a meeting with about 20 top executives from across its divisions. \u201cWe have the meeting at our house, not in a boardroom, and my mother cooks for everyone,\u201d says Andy Gellert, who, like his brother Tom runs several divisions of Gellert Global Group. \u201cMy father always entertains the suppliers at the house, too. He considers these people friends, not just business associates,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the same in his side businesses. Gellert works closely with some of the biggest players in the New York business and real estate worlds, and they often remark on his forthrightness and honesty. \u201c\u2018His word is his bond,\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s a clich\u00e9 written for George Gellert,\u201d says Charles Kushner, principal of the Kushner Companies, a New York real estate development firm. \u201cWe\u2019ve done many billions of dollars of business together, and everything is always on a handshake. He\u2019s never read a legal document I\u2019ve given him, and it\u2019s the same with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Values and the Keys to Success<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

George Gellert says he developed his sense of loyalty, respect for people of all levels and backgrounds, and an indefatigable work ethic from growing up on Pine Lane Poultry Farm in Hillsdale, N.Y., a rural town in the Berkshires. As a kid, he had to walk almost a mile to the school bus every day with his three brothers. If he arrived even a minute late, he\u2019d miss an entire day of school. \u201cWhat I knew growing up was that we would have chores when we came home. We also played sports, so we had to make the best use of our time,\u201d Gellert says. \u201cRespect for people\u2019s time is still something I pay a lot of attention to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made impressive use of his own time at Cornell. Gellert is a \u201ctriple-red\u201d who earned his bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, and JD degrees in seven years. He also completed Cornell\u2019s ROTC program, ran track, and played football for Big Red. \u201cWhen I got to Cornell, there were a lot of guys a lot smarter than I was, but they were out drinking and partying. I had football and worked my way through school, so I always tried to utilize my time in an efficient manner,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If his time management and work ethic came from working on the family egg farm, then George\u2019s life-long entrepreneurial streak was born in Ithaca. Gellert counts stationery, gifts, and cake businesses among the ten moneymaking ventures he ran with his younger and older brothers during his years on and around campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After post-Cornell stints at the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission and at the Pentagon with the U.S. Department of Defense, George joined his father-in-law\u2019s food importing business, Atalanta, which primarily imported canned hams from Poland. In 1971, he helped take the company public to spur growth. Gellert officially took over in 1976, and he took the company private again in 1980, enabling him to build one of the most successful family-owned businesses in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth \u2014 both organic and through acquisition \u2014 has been consistent throughout the years since Gellert took over from his father-in-law. He says one of his biggest breaks and best decisions came about 16 years ago, when he led the successful acquisition and integration of two companies from ConAgra Foods. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned is not to change the existing model,\u201d says Gellert. \u201cI try to let the people who were running the company before continue to run the business, and we give them some direction, rather than doing a wholesale change,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Lessons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Leading big changes seems to come easily to Gellert, but he says he draws on lessons he learned from Cornell professors, like the late Earl Brooks (1914\u20131994), professor of personnel management, and L. Joseph Thomas, Johnson dean emeritus and professor of operations management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional mentors modeled the softer skills that have made Gellert so successful. At the Pentagon, Gellert reported to a \u201cmaster networker\u201d named Colonel Salisbury. \u201cThis guy taught me how to operate,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Pentagon is a bureaucracy, and someone who knows how to network can really get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, Gellert attends industry events and networks endlessly, helping friends, business associates, and family members connect with people and opportunities. \u201cHe\u2019s really smart and has an amazing memory,\u201d says Alan Le Vine, vice president and senior credit officer, Executive Loan Committee at First Republic Bank. \u201cHe remembers people\u2019s names and things about their family. He\u2019s always trying to connect people,\u201d says Le Vine, who originally met Gellert when working as his private banker at Citi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not for personal benefit. Le Vine says Gellert expresses genuine interest and concern for people whom he has met only a few times, as when he sent an incredible assortment of cheeses and nuts and called Le Vine to express sympathy after his mother-in-law died. Moreover, Le Vine adds, Gellert always calls family members on their birthdays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of management and leadership style, Gellert recognized a kindred spirit in Fidel Castro, whom he met in 1978 when Gellert was one of the first American business people to travel to post-revolutionary Cuba. Instead of remaining disconnected from mundane details of business in his country, Gellert says Castro asked him about very specific techniques for exporting Central American lobster tails. \u201cOf all the world leaders I\u2019ve met, he was really on top of things \u2014 really involved in the details,\u201d says Gellert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing Castro operate galvanized his resolve to attain a deep understanding of all aspects of his business. \u201cI sort of pay a lot of attention to details. I have an excellent team, but I am constantly asking about what\u2019s going on \u2014 so I stay really involved,\u201d says Gellert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earning the Respect of His Peers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gellert\u2019s ability to integrate lessons from mentors and role models has earned him tremendous respect from his peers. \u201cIn my view, management is keeping the status quo and maintaining the organization; leaders change and build, and George Gellert is the consummate leader,\u201d says Howard Abner, MBA \u201961, chairman of asset management firm Abner Herrman & Brock. Abner earned his MBA just a year before Gellert, and the two have been friends since their business school days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the accolades, Gellert stays remarkably humble. \u201cYou\u2019d think he\u2019d be the one flying first class on an overseas trip. Not a chance. He\u2019s sitting next to you in economy,\u201d says O\u2019Mara of J. F. Braun, adding that Gellert not only gave him his cellphone number even as a middle manager, but that he\u2019d pick up nearly every time he called. \u201cThere\u2019s never been a real hierarchy to get to him,\u201d O\u2019Mara says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gellert\u2019s combination of tenacity and kindness typifies his approach to life and work. \u201cHe\u2019s the hardest-working person,\u201d says Kushner. \u201cHe\u2019s a tough, smart businessman, but he\u2019s also one of the kindest, gentlest, and most giving people you\u2019d ever find.\u201d In tough times, that combination of attributes has drawn friends, family, and colleagues to George Gellert\u2019s side, ready to return the respect and generosity he\u2019s always shown them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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