Filling Big Shoes at the Carlson Companies: Interviews with Curt Carlson and Marilyn Carlson Nelson

Curtis L. Carlson is one of America's entrepreneurial icons, having launched the Carlson Companies with an innovative idea—trading stamps, or, as the in- dustry is known today, loyalty marketing. His suc- cessful Gold Bond Stamp Company became the foun- dation for a group of service companies operating in more than 140 countries and employing more than 180,000 people. The Carlson Companies posted 1997 revenues of $20 billion from their family of compa- nies, including the Regent and Radisson Hotels, TGI Fridays, Seven Seas Cruises, and the Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agencies. Mr. Carlson is strongly committed to maintain- ing the Carlson Companies as a family enterprise, owned and led by the Carlson family. He credits his father, Charles Carlson, with sharing an immigrant legacy of hard work and entrepreneurial drive that has energized four generations of Carlsons. During the last few years, Mr. Carlson has been criticized for his unwillingness to step aside and pass the leadership responsibility to the next generation. However, in April 1998, the Carlson Companies experienced its first management transition in 60 years, when Marilyn Carlson Nelson was named CEO, and her father as- sumed the position of chairman. Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Curtis Carlson's daugh- ter, had been chief operating officer of the Carlson Companies. She is widely recognized for her leader- ship capabilities and has demonstrated her prowess as a business owner, a director of other companies, and as cochair of the successful Super Bowl XXVI, held in Minneapolis. Ms. Nelson's son, Curtis, serves as CEO of the Carlson Hospitality Group Worldwide and has been identified as the heir apparent to his mother.