Peter D. Goodson
Distinguished Teaching Fellow | Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES
International thought leader on private equity, mergers & acquisitions, operational value creation, and corporate governance
Areas of Expertise (6)
Private Equity
Mergers & Acquisitions
Value Creation Through Innovation and Operational Improvements
Corporate Governance
Effective Leadership
Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets
About
Peter Goodson is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the Haas School of Business and a pioneer in the private equity discipline. He was an early stage partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), one of the first management buyout firms. CD&R has purchased and transformed performance at over 70 companies worth more than $100 billion over the last 40 years.
Retired from private equity business ownership, Goodson's teaching includes M&A: Lessons in Value Creation; High Tech M&A: Strategy, Valuation, and Execution; Turnarounds: Effective Leadership in Crisis; Private Equity: Leadership in Creating Value; and Emerging Market Private Equity Value Creation. He has been awarded the Berkeley Haas Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching three times. He researches corporate valuation in business combinations; success indicators in merger and acquisitions; value creation through innovation and operational improvements; attribution of PE value creation; family owned businesses’ factors for success; best practices in governance in emerging markets; activist investors’ value creation; evaluation and negotiation in emerging markets; and creating differentiation value in private equity firms.
Goodson also holds the position of Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD in its Global Private Equity Initiative and the Emerging Market Institute sponsored by the Singaporean Government. He was elected a Senior Fellow of Dartmouth’s Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship. He has also taught and lectured at INSEAD, Tuck, NYU Stern, Wharton, Columbia and Stanford Business schools.
Before joining CD&R, Goodson was a Managing Director at Kidder, Peabody, where he founded the M&A Group in 1972 at the age of 26. He continues to be one of the foremost experts in seller advantaged exits and has led hundreds of business combination assignments. He is the founder of Goodson & Associates LLC, a boutique consulting firm focused on providing strategic and financial advice on mergers, acquisitions, sales, divestitures and private equity business development. An adventurer with his own capital and endless curiosity, Goodson is presently assisting a number of emerging market private equity firms in developing operational capabilities to improve portfolio performance and investment returns.
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Education (1)
Stanford University: BA, Business
Links (2)
Honors & Awards (2)
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, Evening & Weekend MBA Program
2009-2010, 2010-2011
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program
2008-2009
Selected External Service & Affiliations (3)
- 2016 - present, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Emerging Market Institute (Sponsored by the Singaporean Government)
- 2010 - present, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Global Private Equity Initiative
- 2008 - present, Fellow, Tuck School of Business, Entrepreneurial and Private Equity Center
Positions Held (1)
At Haas since 2004
2004 - present, Lecturer (Continuing) and Distinguished Teaching Fellow, Haas School of Business 2010 - present, Director, Tata Group, India (member of the Tata TCGF Advisory Board) 2000 - present, Managing Partner, Goodson & Associates, LLC, Monterey, California 1994 - present, Advisor, Dubilier & Company, New York City 1994 - 2003, Adjunct Professor, Columbia Business School 1993 - 1996, Adjunct Professor, Stern School of Business, New York University 1988 - 1993, Partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R)
Media Appearances (1)
Reimagining the Remote Classroom Experience
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) online
2021-06-29
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts offered useful tips to help faculty move their courses to online environments. But the tips weren’t enough for me. I saw COVID-19 as a major disruptive force with long-lasting implications for the way we teach—which would justify making significant investments in innovation.
Selected Papers & Publications (3)
Private Equity Achieves Returns through Operating Improvements: CD&R's Acquisition and Turnaround of Hertz
INSEAD Case Study
Claudia Zeisberger, Peter Goodson, Kimberly McGinnis, Dickson L. Louie, and Nicholas Shannahan
April 2018
Differentiation Beyond Price: CD&R’s Strategy in Acquiring Hussmann
INSEAD Case Study
Peter Goodson, Kimberly McGinnis, and Claudia Zeisberger
January 2017
PE in Emerging Markets: Can Mekong Capital's Operating Advantage Boost the Value in its Exit from Golden Gate Restaurants?
INSEAD Case Study
Claudia Zeisberger, Peter Goodson, and Kimberly McGinnis
April 2016
Teaching (1)
MBA Courses
M&A: Lessons in Value Creation Turnarounds: Effective Leadership in Crisis M&A: High Tech M&A: Strategy, Valuation and Execution Private Equity: Leadership in Creating Value Management Negotiations.