Brendan P. Keegan
CEO of Merchants Fleet
“I’ve always had a passion for cars. I think Magnum PI got me into it. He was just a cool guy who drove a cool car,” says Brendan P. Keegan, chairman, CEO and president of Merchants Fleet, a national fleet management company based in Hooksett. “I never really saw myself in the car industry. But I did see myself as a CEO.”
Keegan was running a 10,000-person tech company that outsourced its fleet management to Merchants. After being a client for years, he became a board member and stepped in as CEO six years ago.
Keegan says to go from client, to board member, to joining the company is a big advantage. “On a daily basis I’ll make decisions based on having been a client,” he says. “We’ve grown from $500 million [assets under management] to $2.5 billion in five years. We’ve gone from being family owned to being privately owned and we have created a huge amount of jobs here in New Hampshire.”
Keegan is particularly proud that over the last five years Merchants has raised around $7 billion of capital. More than 75% has come from the biggest banks in Asia, Europe and Canada. “We’re from New Hampshire, but we can access the global markets,” Keegan says.
Keegan also gives back to the community. Through the Keegan Family Courage & Faith Foundation, his family set a goal of giving $10 million toward youth education and athletic programs as well as efforts to assist at-risk youth.
Current Issue - April 2024