Pleasant Rowland (born Pleasant Williams Thiele circa 1941) is an American educator, writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Rowland is best known for creating the American Girl brand. She is also notable for her efforts to redevelop historic properties in Aurora, New York, where she created a partnership with her alma mater Wells College.
She has been married to Jerome Frautschi since 1977. He runs the family-owned Webcrafters book publishing company.
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Rowland was born in the Chicago area and grew up in Bannockburn, a suburb north of Chicago. She has three sisters and a brother.[1] Her sister Barbara Whitney Carr is president of the Chicago Horticultural Society.[2] Her father was Edward Thiele, a Chicago advertising executive who eventually became president of the Leo Burnett ad agency.
After graduating from Wells College in 1962, Rowland embarked on the first of several careers. From 1962 to 1968, she was a schoolteacher in several states. She was a news reporter and anchor for ABC affiliate station KGO-TV from 1968 to 1971.
Rowland left that industry to pursue a career as a textbook writer. For several years she was involved in writing and publishing children's textbooks. She was also the publisher of the Children's Magazine Guide.[3] In the 1970s, Rowland created a comprehensive language arts program, called Beginning to Read, Write, and Listen. It was informally known as the "letterbooks", and designed to be used for kindergarten and first grade students. Through the years the program has undergone several revisions and updates.
In 1986 Rowland founded the Pleasant Company, which manufactures the "American Girl" dolls, books and accessories. Rowland was inspired to create the American Girl brand because of her longstanding interest in history. A visit to Colonial Williamsburg led her to think that young girls might become interested in history through identifying with dolls based on historic periods. Each doll is designed with a story that places it in a specific historical time period. Books, clothing and other accessories are marketed separately for each doll.
The company's growth was rapid as it added dolls, books, clothing for dolls and girls, and numerous other accessories, such as dollhouses and children's furniture. In marketing synergy, her company created stores in major cities, events, and films planned around the dolls and their accessories. For instance, parents may pay to reserve space at stores for American Girl parties for their daughters and friends. Stores have public restaurants where mothers and daughters can have tea or other meals.
In 1998 Rowland sold the Pleasant Company (now American Girl) to Mattel for $700 million. Based in Middleton, Wisconsin, the company reached $350 million in sales in 2001. As of 2008, it is second in U.S. sales only to those of the Barbie doll.
In 2001 Rowland purchased bankrupt MacKenzie-Childs, based in Aurora, NY. After Rowland restructured her management team in 2006 MacKenzie-Childs became profitable. In 2008 Rowland sold MacKenzie-Childs to Lee Feldman and Howard Cohen - part owners of Twin Lakes Capital.
In 2004 Rowland founded Rowland Reading Foundation to promote the Rowland Reading Program.[4]
September 22, 2010 received Honorary Doctoral Degree of Humane Letters from Edgewood College in Madison Wisconsin.
Rowland and husband Jerome Frautschi are major philanthropists in Madison, Wisconsin. Frautschi is from the Madison area, where his family has been based there for several generations. They have made substantial contributions to Madison; together, they made one of the largest single contributions, a $205 million gift to build the Overture Center for the Arts, Madison's performing arts and civic center. Originally, their donation was anonymous; later, the donor was revealed to be Jerome Frautschi. (Frautschi is said to have wholly financed the project with his personal funds from the sale of his stock in American Girl.) [5]
Rowland is a central and controversial figure in an ongoing debate about preservation and development related to the village of Aurora, New York.[6] Rowland's foundation joined forces with her alma mater, Wells College, to create the Aurora Foundation, which temporarily managed a number of college-owned buildings and businesses in Aurora with the intent to restore the area. (All are in a National Historic Register District.)
Rowland's project drew criticism and concern. A local grass-roots organization, The Aurora Coalition, was formed.[7] Other organizations also joined the group's lawsuit against one of the historic projects, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The state Preservation League joined with these groups and filed a lawsuit to suspend the redevelopment project. The intent was to conduct the state-required comprehensive public review and environmental impact study of Rowland's development project. The court denied the request for injunction[8]
Publication of the novel Happyland by author J. Robert Lennon appeared affected by the local controversy. His satire was inspired by events in Aurora, but characters and situations were clearly separate. In May 2006, W. W. Norton, which had been slated to release Lennon's novel, decided not to publish the book.[9] Harper's Magazine published the novel in serial form in 2007.[10]