Jarden's Franklin to keep running the show

Martin Franklin, Executive Chairman of Jarden Corp, speaks at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York June 27, 2011.

BANGALORE/NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters )- Martin Franklin, the London-born leader of Jarden Corp (JAH.N), is the kind of chap who will give you the shoes off of his feet. Literally.

After reshaping his company through acquisitions, Franklin, CEO for a decade and known for his prowess in deal-making, moved into the role of executive chairman in mid-June and handed the CEO role to James Lillie.

The two have collaborated for years, along with Chief Financial Officer Ian Ashken, and now seemed like the right time for Franklin, an avid athlete, to devote more of his focus to strategic thinking about Jarden.

"Martin's at his best when he's out on the road talking to people, getting new thoughts and sharing those thoughts and this change allows him to do that with more freedom," Lillie, who sees him as a mentor and shares his passion for athletics, said.

Last summer, Franklin and Lillie participated in 10 10k runs in 10 states in 10 days as part of a health initiative.

About halfway through the 10-day exercise, on a hot day in Wisconsin, a factory worker said that he was going to stop running after two miles because his feet hurt, Lillie recalled.

Franklin asked what the worker was wearing, and it turned out he had on boots because he had come straight from work. Franklin asked him to pull over and checked his foot size. They had the same sized feet so Martin gave him his Zoot running shoes, one of Jarden's many products, and ran the rest of the race barefoot.

"I took my shoes off and ran the balance of the race barefoot too, because I did not want to travel with him for the next few days when he talked about how he ran barefoot and I didn't," Lillie told Reuters.

Lillie is focused on running the business while Franklin digs into "strategy, acquisitions and philosophy, and setting the tone for what I always envisaged Jarden to be," Franklin said at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York this week.

Jarden, which started off as a manufacturer with a market capitalization of less than $100 million, is now a $3 billion leader among home goods makers, selling everything from coffee makers to playing cards.

FROM ALLTRISTA TO JARDEN

In June 2001, Franklin came to Alltrista, a company that was spun off from packaging maker Ball Corp, after buying a minority stake in the company along with some partners. Franklin was rebuffed when he wanted to buy the company, and demanded a couple of seats at the board's table.

Three months later he had the seat at the head of the table as chairman and CEO while Ashken became vice chairman and CFO. The duo moved the head office from Indianapolis to a small office in Rye, New York, and the following year changed the name to Jarden -- "Jar" for the Ball jars it makes and "den" for the use of its goods in the home. The name also evokes the French word for garden, "jardin," as the company was preparing to sell more goods used outside of the home.

In 2001, Alltrista had $305 million in sales, and posted a loss of $85.4 million. In 2010, Jarden posted sales of $6.02 billion and net income of $106.7 million.

Today, Jarden is a 25,000-employee conglomerate that sells everything from Diamond matches to Volkl skis, a varied group that Franklin feels benefits from buying raw materials, negotiating shipping costs and other centralized operations.

But do not chide Franklin for running a conglomerate.

"My father came to America with Jimmy Goldsmith to break up conglomerates," Franklin said, referring to the corporate raider. "I don't think there's much that many people can tell me about breakups and deconglomeration exercises."

He likens his company to industrial conglomerate Danaher Corp (DHR.N), which also operates in multiple areas and in some ways is "a mentor type company to us," Franklin said.

MILES TO GO

Franklin, Lillie and Ashken insist that Franklin, 46, has no plans to retire soon.

"Martin's hopefully only halfway through his career so we've got another decade to go," Ashken said.

Franklin clearly has no plans to slow down.

"He's actually showered and in restaurants by the time I finish" marathons, said Lillie, adding that the industry veteran is "competitive both personally and professionally," but is a man of simple tastes who would rather go for bike rides or a run than hang out at country clubs.

Franklin has been in the same office since 1994, and likes to keep it simple.

"We don't have an art collection. It's all very personal and relevant to the way we lead our lives," CFO Ian Ashken said.

The Scorpio, with his salt and pepper hair and tanned skin, did the Deuce Man triathlon in Show Low, Arizona, with his 16-year old son in early June to raise money for the Challenged Athlete Foundation, one of several charities he supports. He is also preparing to run across the Sahara Desert this October.

It comes as no surprise that the company now sponsors the Westchester Triathlon, held in September. Franklin and Lillie both plan to enter.

Lillie said that while he and Franklin do not necessarily complete each other's sentences, they do work well together alongside Ashken and share a healthy camaraderie.

"We don't agree on everything ... we trust each other's opinions," Lillie said at the Reuters Summit.

Franklin is frequently traveling. He returned from Madrid in late June to attend meetings in New York and then planned to fly to Colorado -- the family lived in Aspen for a few years -- to train for races.

Back at the company's modest Rye, New York headquarters, he still has old Rolodexes on his desk, along with photos, many of which feature his four children -- three sons aged 20, 18 and 16, and a nine-year old daughter.

"You'll see more pictures of him with his kids than you'll have of him shaking hands with Maggie Thatcher or any other world leader," CFO Ashken said.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)