Career
After the Marines, Lerner began selling furniture, earning $75 a week. He would get into real estate and later banking.
In 1990, he became a major shareholder in MNC Financial, a small Baltimore bank. Struggling with real estate loans in the midst of the savings and loan crisis, MNC soon needed leadership and Lerner stepped in as chief executive officer. He tried unsuccessfully to sell the bank's most successful unit, credit card issuer MBNA, to raise cash. In 1991, he took MBNA public, investing $100 million of his own money to ensure the success of the initial sale of stock. Controversial MBNA would blossom into the second largest credit card issuer.
He was also the chairman of Town and Country Trust, which owns and operates more than 15,000 apartment units in the mid-Atlantic region.
Read more about this topic: Al Lerner
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