Price Knottman-Grumman
Price Knottman-Grumman was a scion of House Knottman and a major corporate player in the 26th century.
Early Life
Price Knottman was raised on New Berlin, attending a top school before going to college on Earth in Athens. Price was a softly spoken, cautious young man with a keen interest in science and medicine. He studied biology and chemistry at college.Corporate Career
Proteus KP
Price graduated from college and took up a job with Proteus KP as a biologist and researcher, working on new drugs and treatments. He was very successful in his first five years in the company and promoted lead his own team of researchers. He was quickly considered a rising star within the company. Price’s business career with Proteus continued to go well, with his research team continually producing good results and often ahead of schedule. Price was promoted to Head of Department for Bio-Research in 2555 and was on course for the board of directors by 2560 but the promotion was pushed back until 2565. Speculation at the time suggested that it was linked to his father Herrick Knottman's presidential campaign. This almost caused Price to leave Proteus, but his wife convinced him to bide his time.Forge
Comfortable in the corporate sphere, Price had reluctantly attended several Union events with his father, who wanted him to see the other side of the corporate world. His father also introduced him to the political elite at the major party in 2555 in Capetown, on Earth, that celebrated the anniversary of the Republic and Terran reunification. In spite of all those efforts, Price did not follow his father into politics. Instead, becoming closer with other moderates like AEA CEO Nurih Safin, Price developped the project for Forge, a corporation with the mission to become an example of social entrepreneurship and ethical business practices. He left Proteus in 2565 to found Forge. Attracted by the progressive work ethics of the corporation, early investors included Nurih Safin, House Avander-Slade and the mining unions, historic allies of the family. Hitting the ground running, Price managed to secure a mining license for the Tortuga system, a rare occurence since House Valane's conquest of the system. In 2570, Price invested a large portion of the family's resources to assist his brother in law Reiner Grumman's takeover of failing corporation Esprit Du Nacional. With the success of the operation, Price took the opportunity to offer Reiner that he relinquish his shares in EDN in exchange for integrating the mining arm of the corporation into Forge. This pushed Forge past the twenty billion adjusted dollars mark. In 2590, after 35 years of overseeing the growth of the corporation from a small regional firm to a major competitor in the mining sector, Price stepped down as CEO of Forge, handing the reins over to his deputy and former COO Helen Fawkes.Connect AC
Another figure Price grew close to thanks to his father was Vishnu Elpis prominent figure Crawford Navarro. The two were close in ideology and spirit, and so when Crawford pushed his young company Connect to merge with media and entertainment conglomerate Accolade, he reached out to Price to see if he would find support there. Price committed a first sum to help with the merger, and over the years became a reliable and active shareholder in the company.Marriage
Price was introduced to Dahlia Grumman in 2542 and the two hit it off instantly, bonding over their New Berlin roots. Price found Dahlia’s charisma and political chops fascinating and whilst she “wears the trousers”, they both seem very happy. The two married in a lavish ceremony in 2550 with over a thousand invited guests including former President Noah Averssen top CEOs, journalists and political influencers, as well as members of the Rishi, Axxelson, Dormer and Cyranno political families. In 2560, after over a decade of marriage, they had two sons and one daughter: Finn , Julianna and Cevin. The couple officially stated that there was simply never a good time for children in their career before 2560, but it was speculated that the reason for such a long time before their having children was due to Price's personal fear of not living up to his father and grandfather. During their many public appearances over the years, the couple came accross very telegenic and effortless, often accused of deliberately upstaging other guests.Politics
Due to his family's legacy, Price could not escape politics entierly. While remaining officially not a part of the SDP, he did continue donating to them. As the most prominent donor to the party, he was often pulled into the political affairs of the Republic. In correspondence with his wife, Price often talked about how difficult he found the many visits he had to make to Dhaka. He often relied on family friend and former SDP chair Katie Flockhart to be his voice within the party.Holtby Street Talks
In a meeting with President Meagher, Price suggested arranging a meeting with Alexander Ashpool to try and get his help in the preparation for the return of the Zzenddi, something that his father intended to do before he was forced to resign. In 2565 the infamous Holtby Street Talks saw him share a room with some of the most important political figures of the time, including President Meagher, Princess Kallisto Valane Elizabeth Sondeheim and his friend and brother-in-law Reiner Grumman. Representing House Knottman rather than the SDP, as the talks heated up Price was instrumental in ensuring the talks did not break down. This would all prove pointless as after weeks of discussion and backdoor dealing, no deal was reached. For Price however, that meant he had set foot into Terran politics in a way he could not back out of. He would refer to the talks as one of the most taxing events of his life. Since then, it became on open secret that Price would only be able to talk politics if there was alcohol involved.Influence within the SDP
Price's place outside the party and his corporate connections came in handy a number of times for the SDP. In 2569, he worked with Governor Lysander Moreland (RCP) to build on their proposed Equality Act. The resulting bill, voted in by the GA with a comfortable majority, provided a definition for hate speech and protection for all Republic Citizens from discrimination on the basis of biological origin, species or religion. At the end of the2nd Zzenddi War and the leadup to the 2580 election, Price was warned by Birdie Wallender, former Special Counsel to his father, that Nurih Safin had managed to parasite the party leadership to position himself as the only real presidential candidate. Should he win the convention, the party would essentially be his for the forseeable future, which could lead to drastic shifts in its platform and objectives. In spite of their closeness in business, Price decided to take the party back from the technocrat's hands and formed a coalition of support behind Governor of the Jovian Belt Alana Largo. Rallying the progressive wing, the unions and several senators in her support, as well as an intervention from August Solarin III, the convention went in Price's favour and Safin was defeated. In the 2580 Republic Election, Price donated and lobbied heavily on behalf of the SDP, including brokering a deal for the merger with Librarius. This led to a very successul campaign, where they arrived first in the polls and Governor Largo went on to become the 11th president of the Republic.The Second Zzenddi War
With the beginning of the 2nd Zzenddi War in 2567, the military budget under the Meagher administration balooned rapidly to become the largest military budget in terran history. Price Knottman, during a whistlestop tour of the Ways and Means Committee, heard Treasury Secretary Catherine Sondeheim call on the various Terran Great Houses to "put their money where their mouth is". Alongside a large donation from House Solarin, Price pledged one billion adjusted dollars of his own fortune to the war budget. Instead of going with his family tom Tyr, Price stayed behind to do as much as he could for the war effort. With the cancellation of the 2570 elections, Price pushed the SDP to use its resources to begin fundraising for the war effort. The key figures of the party led an astounding fundraising campaign, securing money from the various usual SDP donors into a pot means for refugee relief and veterans' families. The fundraising campaign raised an astronomical twelve billion adjusted dollars. This went a long way to reduce the impact of the refugee crisis on the Republic's resources. Working with Civil Defense Secretary Hayley Rush (SDP), Price liaised with Forge and the rest of the big mining corporations to find employment for as many of the Gannid refugees as he could. This went some way towards reducing the amount of money the Republic needed to commit to protect them.The Sondeheim Coup
in 2586, the story broke that Aurelian Sondeheim had conspired to coup the Terran Republic and reinstate the Terran Empire. The coup was prevented in part thanks to Price Knottman's advance warning, betraying the other conspirators. In exchange for his intelligence and testimony, Attorney General Cruz (ISO) granted Price full immunity. The news were not well recieved by the political sphere and in the leadup to the 2590 Republic Election, a fierce campaign led by Senator Jander Speck (ONX) forced the Social Democratic Party to expel Price from the party and return his donations. Price subsequently retired from business and took up a teaching position at the prestigious Ruplal College, founded by his wife in Dhaka City. After she had to retire due to illness, Price became director of the College.Relationships
Species
Year of Birth
2525
65 Years old
Birthplace
New Berlin
Family
Spouses
Dahlia Grumman-Knottman
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Athens, Earth
Gender
Man
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Comments