Lanse Crane
Member of the Board
Between 1995 and 2007, Lanse Crane served as CEO, Chairman, and Board Member of Crane & Company, his family’s 224-year-old enterprise. Crane & Co. is renowned for its fine cotton stationery, high-performance non-woven materials for filtration and insulation, and high-security currency products, including – since 1879 – the only paper used by the U.S. Treasury for currency.
During his tenure, Lanse led the professionalization of Crane & Company's board, management, and family governance structures, driving growth of the company from its historic niche as a domestic, New England paper manufacturer to a diversified, global technology company. He was instrumental in Crane & Co.'s international expansion, leading the charge to buy Sweden's currency paper maker and printer from Sweden's Riksbank and turning it into a platform for international contracts with India, China, Mexico, Canada, Iraq, Egypt, Peru, Chile, Sweden and others for printed currency, banknote papers, and other security products.
Before joining the board at Generation6, Lanse - a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors - served as an independent director and chair on the boards of two fourth-generation family enterprises for over 15 years: Wells Enterprises, Inc. of LeMars, Iowa, the makers of Blue Bunny ice cream; and Canal Insurance Company of Greenville, South Carolina, a leading insurer of independent truckers.
In addition to his private company board roles, Lanse has contributed extensively to the family business field. He was an executive-in-residence at the Family Business Center at Loyola University’s School of Business in Chicago, a director of the Family Firm Institute, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Family Business Magazine.
From 2000 until 2020, he served as a trustee at the Austen Riggs Center, an internationally recognized psychiatric treatment center. He also served as a trustee of the Stimson Center, an international security and prosperity think tank in Washington, D.C., from 2018 to 2023.
Lanse holds degrees from Yale University and Boston University Law School and practiced healthcare law for 25 years and taught in the medical school at Yale University before joining Crane & Co. He was born and raised in Dalton, MA, a town of 5,000 where eight generations of Crane family have been vital members of the local community.
He and his wife, Katie, live in Boulder, CO.
You can find Lanse on LinkedIn and learn more about him here.