David S. "Andy" Gronik is an American entrepreneur and business executive from the State of Wisconsin.
Biography
David S. "Andy" Gronik is an American entrepreneur and business executive from the State of Wisconsin who, between 1980 and 2013, built a number of successful global appraisal, consulting, and asset management businesses that helped struggling corporations find capital and improve their operating performance.
Gronik helped develop the collateral evaluation standards that became part of the foundation of today’s multi-trillion dollar leveraged finance industry. Appraisals conducted by Gronik’s firm, AccuVal, ultimately helped to support billions of dollars in borrowing annually.
Gronik built proprietary applications that revolutionized the way global market data is used to make fully informed business decisions. He has been a keynote speaker on market conditions and trends and was invited to be a member of an EFLA (formerly ELA) delegation on a trade mission to China. Gronik was invited by the World Bank to teach collateral lending workshops to international lenders in China.
After selling AccuVal in 2013, Gronik founded GroBiz LLC, a consulting firm that “helps business GroBigger and GroBetter.” Gronik also founded StageW.org, a nonprofit 501(c)(4) to “bridge the political divide” and find the best solutions to complex issues dividing Wisconsin. As part of StageW’s work, Gronik also started KitchenTable Conversations to bring together people with very different backgrounds and political affiliations in order to find workable plans to address the most divisive issues affecting the quality of life in Wisconsin.
While volunteering as a high school football coach, Gronik drew on his own high school academic and athletic experience to develop and piloted ScoreAs.org, a mentorship platform for high school athletes to lift each other to academic success.
Gronik has been featured in Who's Who In Leading American Executives and nominated Entrepreneur of the Year. Gronik was the first candidate to seek the Democratic nomination to oppose Scott Walker in the 2018 Wisconsin gubernatorial election in a field a of challengers that would ultimately grow to eighteen. Gronik was an athlete through high school and college and a volunteer football coach and mentor. He has been married for more than three decades and is the father of two children. He is an outdoor enthusiast, an avid cyclist, downhill skier and hiker, has competed in many sprint triathlons, and completed two half Ironman triathlons.
Early life and education
Gronik was born in 1957 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was raised in Glendale, Wisconsin. The son of Anne and David Gronik, David Jr. was called “Andy” from birth. Gronik graduated from Nicolet High School in 1975 where he played football, wrestled, threw the discus and was named “Jewish Teen Athlete of 1974-75.” Gronik attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for one year before transferring to the University of Georgia (UGA), where he was also a student athlete and broke UGA’s school record in the discus throw. Gronik earned a Bachelor's degree in business administration from the Terry School of Business in 1979. Gronik went on to earn a variety of professional designations including Member Appraisal Institute (MAI), Member American Society of Appraisers, and Member Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Gronik was also licensed as a certified general appraiser in all 50 states.
Business experience
Quaker Oats Company - After graduating from UGA, Gronik accepted a position with the Quaker Oats Company where he was responsible for selling Quaker retail grocery products throughout northeast Georgia. After seven months, Gronik was offered a promotion to Chattanooga, TN, at which time he tendered his resignation to join David S. Gronik & Co., Inc. (DSGCo), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by his father, David S Gronik Sr., in the 1950s, DSGCo was a small auction firm operating primarily in southeastern Wisconsin. As a young man, Gronik Jr. had worked part time for his father cleaning factories and preparing machinery for sale at auction. He conducted his first auction at age fifteen and later became a licensed auctioneer.