Craig Kallman

Craig Kallman is an American businessperson and music executive. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Records. His music career began in the 1980s as a DJ in Manhattan. He is the founder of Big Beat Records, an independent label he founded in 1987. The label was purchased by Atlantic Records, where he has worked since 1991 after the acquisition, becoming its CEO in 2005.

Kallman is considered one of the world's leading investors in rare records. He has a collection of approximately 750,000 records, 150,00 items of music memorabilia and 100,000 compact discs.

Early life and education

Kallman was born in Manhattan, New York in 1965. His father had an eclectic record collection that exposed Kallman to a wide range of music. Kallman began collecting records at an early age, traveling from record store to record store in New York, something that became a weekend routine even until today. He attended high school at Trinity School before moving on to Brown University. He pursued a liberal arts degree and graduated magna cum laude in 1987. He had plans to enroll in Harvard Business School but decided to pursue a career in the music industry.