Bio
Peter is a recognized leader in business turnarounds. Since 1983, he has completed seven turnarounds of distressed branded businesses in the global media and consumer products sectors. From 1999 to 2009, Peter played a lead role in the turnaround of Marvel Entertainment Inc. (NYSE-MVL). As President and CEO, he led Marvel, post bankruptcy, to a prominent position in the entertainment industry. He then served as Vice Chairman of the Board, providing active strategic leadership as Marvel continued to grow into one of the world’s leading entertainment brands. This culminated in its $4.5 billion sale to Disney at the end of 2009.
Previously, Peter was President and CEO of Remington Products Company. He joined the company as it was near bankruptcy and, in less than four years, executed a successful turnaround of the business and facilitated its sale to private equity investors. Peter has also served as President of the Security Hardware Group of the Black & Decker Corporation, President of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Group in Canada and President of the Clairol Personal Care Division.
Forbes Magazine called Peter one of the best turnaround CEO’s in America.
At present, Peter is Chairman for Iconix Brand Group (NASDAQ). He served as interim CEO for eight months thru April 2016 and again in 2018.
Peter is currently the Managing Principal of Cuneo & Company, LLC, a private investment and management company, in which his sons, Gavin and Colin are partners. Cuneo & Co. is focused on making investments in private companies within the consumer, media and entertainment oriented industries. Valiant Entertainment Inc. (comic book character based entertainment) was sold in 2018 for approx. 15x the firm’s investment. Some current investments include: Herotainment, LLC (online and mobile gaming based children’s entertainment), Blendtique LLC (wine blending for consumers), and RangeWorks, LLC (multimedia producer of western American entertainment) among others. Peter, Gavin and Colin hold board seats on most of Cuneo & Co.’s portfolio companies and work actively with their management teams.
Peter is Chairman of BeyondView Inc. Based in San Francisco, this is a company developing virtual reality solutions for global industries.
He is currently or has been a board member of public and private companies such as Marvel Entertainment Inc. (NYSE-MVL), Iconix Brand Group (NASDAQ-ICON, Chairman of the Audit Committee), WaterPik Technologies Inc. (NYSE-PIK, Chairman of the Audit Committee) and Remington Products (private).
In past years, Peter has also served as senior advisor to a large distressed and special situation hedge fund co- investing in select private companies in the consumer and media sectors.
Peter currently sits on the Board of the National Archives Foundation in Washington, DC as Co-Head of the Development Committee and as Chair of the Audit Committee. He previously was Co-Head of the Nominating Committee.
Many of Peter’s past and present business interests involve investments and markets in China. Peter has made over 50 trips to Asia since 1983.
Peter has made numerous speeches on turnaround leadership throughout the world. He has often appeared on business-oriented cable television.
Peter served two tours as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in the Vietnam War. He was Damage Control Officer and then Communications Officer on the USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) a guided missile destroyer.
He received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He received first year academic honors and was President of the International Business Club.
He holds a B.S. in Glass Science (Ceramic Engineering) from Alfred University, where he has served on the Board of Trustees since 1990. Peter completed six years as Chairman of Alfred’s Board and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 2013.