Chairman (semi-retired) Faribault Mill Co.

Paul Grangaard is the Chairman of Faribault Mill Co., founded in 1865 and Minnesota’s oldest manufacturing company. 

Paul and his co-founder, Ross Widmoyer, merged their start-up men’s apparel, retailer, and content provider — CircleRockLLC — into Faribault Woolen Mill in February 2020 and have engineered a renaissance of the 155 year old brand.  Paul served as CEO for 2 years then “kicked himself upstairs” to pass the position to Ross.

Paul served as President & CEO of Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation from September 2008 through August 2017. He led a major turnaround at the Made in USA men’s high quality shoe manufacturer — returning AE to significant profitability by nearly tripling revenues and, in the process, both saving and adding hundreds of American jobs (Paul’s overriding goal).

Prior to Allen Edmonds, Paul spent three years as a partner at Goldner Hawn Private Equity and 19 years at Piper Jaffray Incorporated — first in consumer investment banking, then as Head of Investment Banking, and lastly as a Management Committee Member and President of Private Client Services. He began his career at The First National Bank of Chicago, in its Chicago headquarters and then in its branch in Frankfurt, Germany.

Active in philanthropy, Paul has served as Chair and now a Life Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Board of Directors, on the Board of Family & Children’s Services of Minneapolis, on the Board of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, and two elected terms on the Edina Board of Education. Paul is also a Regent of St. Olaf College.

While at Allen Edmonds, Paul was twice a finalist for the Milwaukee Business Journal’s CEO of the Year Award and was named Milwaukee BizTimes’ CEO of the Year in 2013. In 2012, he was a regional winner of Ernst&Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  

Paul graduated from Stanford University in 1980, where he received a B.A. with Distinction in Economics, and he received an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, in 1983. Paul and his wife of 42 years, Margot, met in college and have four adult children.