About Greg
This article was published in The New York Sentry on Saturday 3rd December 2005:
The Mississippi Billionaire who Defies all Expectations
Alaska Kennedy meets Greg Goode, the man behind Ignis Oil and the Vitruvius Art Factory.
Although Greg Goode is not a household name, you’ll recognize his businesses immediately. Ignis oil fuels 18% of American homes. While the Vitruvius Art Factory, which only celebrated its tenth birthday this Summer, is arguably the largest global art Empire since Warhol.
Greg Goode has impeccable credentials, but he certainly does not crave celebrity. Despite numerous offers his face doesn’t fill our television screens every night of the week. He’s not on reality business show panels. In fact he was even reluctant to have his photo taken for this feature, and only agreed after a little gentle cajoling from his wife, Victoria. But then, as I soon discovered, nothing about Greg Goode is what you’d expect.
I’ve worked for the Sentry for eleven years and during that time I’ve interviewed a lot of very successful people. They usually have one thing in common – the ruthless streak. As soon as Greg opened the door of his fifth avenue apartment I thought I spotted its absence. He’s tall, over six feet, with candid, almost dreamy brown eyes and a shock of curly grey hair. Wearing green cords and grey pullover, he looks like any regular guy in his early fifties. Could his looks really be that deceptive?
The Oilman and the Art Factory
Since the mid nineties, the Vitruvius Art Factory has set a new precedent in the art world. By finding, nurturing and coaching young talent it subsumes artists under the Vitruvius brand. Producing controversial high art, which pushes boundaries, it promotes Vitruvius on a phenomenal scale. Of course, there are antecedents for this trend, like British artist Damien Hurst, but Vitruvius takes matters one-step further. It’s the controversial Vitruvius name, which is the selling point – not the identity of the conceptual artist.
The furor surrounding The Decorous Deus, (that’s the replica shroud doused in pig’s blood to you and me) still hasn’t died down yet, even though the auction was over five months ago. But then $5 million is a record sum – for an unknown artist! Gradually Vitruvius is becoming a politicized movement, which is causing ripples that extend beyond the narrow confines of the art establishment.
Ignis on the other hand is a solid Southern oil company. It began in the seventies and over the intervening decades has slowly grown to become the familiar national institution it is today. Greg’s businesses couldn’t be more different. The only thing they have in common is their success and the mastermind behind them. Greg Goode is certainly an enigma. His accent alone defies expectation: it’s a hybrid of Mississippi drawl, and ‘The Queen’s English.’
One of the richest men in America, Greg’s home is not palatial, although, the tastefully modern living room does boast panoramic views over Central Park. I find the glass coffee table set for high tea including an exquisite looking chocolate cheesecake with black Morella cherries decorating the top. I’m salivating at the sight of it when Greg’s wife glides in carrying an old fashioned teapot.
More John Walton than TB Pickens
For those of you familiar with The Fashion Channel, Victoria Goode has been a presenter on the cult magazine show Fashionista since it began in 1996 and incredibly, she’s even more beautiful in the flesh than she is on television. Effortlessly dressed in Parisian Chic, with a red velvet scarf nodding to this season’s hot trend, I can’t believe she celebrated her fiftieth birthday this June. I’m equally amazed she and Greg will have been married for 30 years in January. That they have five children together – and their first grandchild was born earlier this year.
“Take a seat,” she trills setting the teapot down on the table. I pick a white sofa. Greg selects the one opposite and Victoria perches bird like on the arm beside him and smoothes her elegant blonde bob. “Have a slice of cheesecake,” urges Greg. “I ordered it specially from this family bakery in Massachusetts. I discovered them while I was at Harvard. They have a secret recipe. I’ve never tasted anything else quite like it.” I don’t need to be asked twice. “Tea?” asks Victoria.
This isn’t what I was expecting at all. I’m starting to feel like I’m visiting the Waltons, not meeting one of America’s most eminent businessmen.
Born on a cotton plantation in Leake County, in 1953, Greg Goode’s Mississippi pedigree dates back to pre Civil war. During his childhood the family still owned their original antebellum mansion in Natchez, Adam’s County on the Arkansas border. It was there they would vacation every Summer: “Some of my happiest memories date back to running round those great majestic grounds,” says Greg biting into an enormous slice of cheesecake. “I used to pretend I was Davy Crockett.”
“So, if your family were old Mississippi cotton planters, how did you get into the oil business?” I ask.
“After graduating from Harvard I went home to Leake and was going to help my Pappy on the ranch,” he smiles at his wife. “We were married, by then and I was all settled down to work, when I heard about a tiny company called Ignite, based out in Florida that was about to go under due to lack of funds. I studied business at college – I could see this was a great opportunity. So I raised the money, bought up the company and opened offices in Jackson.”
Finding the Light Switch
He makes it sound so easy. But he’s not the least bit arrogant. So, I resolve that I will ask him about his accent: “A lot of people comment on that. I spent a year at Trinity College Cambridge. I was on an exchange, so it was kind of like a vacation.”
“I suppose I just picked up the lingo,” he says, adopting a very sexy Hugh Grant tone.
“Greg likes to play the English gentleman, don’t you honey?” Victoria says affectionately. “He’s got this beat up old car he drives round London when we stay there. It’s some kind of classic – but it just looks old to me.”
There must be even more facets to this man’s anomalousness. “So, how you did you go from oil baron to art entrepreneur?” I say helping myself to a second slice of the simply divine cheesecake.
“Vitruvius was different.” Greg suddenly becomes very animated. “I put the hours into Ignis. I started it in 1976 and it didn’t really get going until 1992. By 1995, when I launched Vitruvius I’d made enough money to comfortably live on for the rest of my life. So I started Vitruvius because I really believe in culture.”
“Oil, fuel, power, it’s important, we all need it – for our bodies. But culture is about our minds.” Greg becomes very earnest as he says this. He leans forward in his seat and begins gastrulating excitedly with his hands. “Art, literature, music can change people’s lives!”
“But where did you get the inspiration from? You were a man of 42, who’d never been part of the art world before.”
“I’ve always been inspired by art. I was bowled over when I first saw Pazzemetro’s ‘Across The Rubicon’ at the Musée d’Orsay in 1971. I suppose Pazzemetro - and Vitruvius himself - have been inspiration for everything I’ve done.”
“Our second son, Tom is very artistic” adds Victoria “he’s managing director of the company and has driven it creatively.”
“Our children are fundamental to the business,” says Greg “our oldest son, Greg Junior lives here in New York and we run Ignis together.”
The Next Chapter
“What’s next?” I ask.
“We’re looking to buy a place in France.” Replies Victoria. “Our daughter Gislaine has just started drama school in Paris and we’ve enrolled our youngest daughter Gwendolyn, at a school in Ile de France. She’ll be starting there next September.”
As they usher me to the door. I ponder what a surprising afternoon I’ve had. One thing’s for sure, I would never have expected this Mississippi billionaire to be so knowledgeable about cheesecake!
