Victor Mendelson, J.D. ’92: Building a Successful Global Business
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rawing on his family ties, entrepreneurial spirit, and legal education, Victor H. Mendelson, J.D. ’92, has played a key leadership role in one of South Florida’s most remarkable business turnaround stories. In the past 20 years, Mendelson and his brother Eric, guided by their father Laurans, have transformed HEICO Corporation from a moneylosing venture to a highly profitable global aerospace and electronics conglomerate with more than $1 billion in annual sales. Along the way, Mendelson has helped fight off a $100 million lawsuit by United Technologies Corp. that would have closed the company’s doors and has negotiated more than 60 acquisitions.
Today, HEICO (NYSE: HEI and HEI.A) has a $4 billion market cap, and analysts project sales of $1.3 to $1.4 billion this year. “Our compound annual return over the past 25 years has been about 23 percent—better than Warren Buffet’s investment in Berkshire Hathaway,” Mendelson said. Based in Hollywood, Florida, HEICO has multiple locations around the world for design, manufacturing, repair, overhaul, distribution, sales, and support capabilities. Over the past decade, Forbes magazine has ranked HEICO as one of the 100 “World’s Most Innovative Growth Companies,” 100 “Best Small Companies,” 200 “Hot Shot Stocks,” and 100 “Most Trustworthy Companies in America.” Mendelson has served as HEICO’s co-president since 2009 and is also president of the company’s Electronic
Technologies Group, whose net sales increased 46 percent to a record $132.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. “Our products are found on large commercial aircraft, regional, business and military aircraft, as well as on a large variety of industrial turbines, targeting systems, missiles, and electrooptical devices,” he said.
SHARING A DREAM Born in New York, Mendelson was 15 months old when his parents, Laurans, and Arlene, moved to Miami. He graduated from Gulliver School and then returned to New York City as a freshman at Columbia College, earning his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1989. His older brother Eric was already a student at Columbia, on his way to a bachelor’s degree in economics and an M.B.A. The brothers
A HEM ISP HERI C L AW SC HO O L
By Richard Westland
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Photo by Joshua Prezant
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