Frank Anton
Frank Anton
STRATEGIC ADVISOR, Washington DC
Frank Anton was the CEO of Hanley Wood, the pre-eminent media company serving the housing industry. When he joined the company he was the editor of its only magazine BUILDER, the company had 15 employees and revenues of less than $2 million. When the company was sold to private equity firm CCMP in 2005, it published more than 30 magazines, was one of the five largest trade show and event businesses in the United States, owned a data business that provided must-have information on housing activity in most major housing markets and distributed a wide variety of cutting-edge digital media products.
At that point the company had more than 800 employees in 5 offices across the country and was generating close to $250 million in revenue and margins of about 25%. The sales price of $650 million was one of the highest prices ever paid for a pure play business to business media company.
Anton played a key role in both the organic growth of the business and growth through acquisitions. He directed the launch of most of the new magazines and started the company’s conference business by launching the BUILDER 100 Conference, the housing industry’s premier event.
During his 35-year career at Hanley Wood the company made more than 20 mid-market acquisitions. Anton helped identify acquisition targets and was charged with overseeing the integration of those new businesses into the corporate structure and culture.
Since his retirement in 2016 Anton has played an advisory role in acquisitions between private equity firms and free-standing media companies. He has also taken on consulting projects for media companies and construction industry trade associations. He is a senior industry fellow at the joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. He sits on the board of the Nantucket Community Foundation and the Civic Association of Georgetown.
Anton is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College and in 1974 received a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. His wife, Georgine Anton, is a senior marketing executive at Accenture. He has two daughters: Emily is a media executive at Bloomberg, his daughter Margaret is a senior researcher at a digital mental health care provider.