[6][7] His father, Frederick, was a retiree who previously served as the vice president of the Provident National Bank in Philadelphia.

[8][2] Peter's maternal grandfather, Frank W. Thacher, was the president of the Florence Thread Co. in Riverside, New Jersey.

[8] He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968 with a BA in English, and Harvard Business School, Program for Management Development in 1975.

Prior to his time at Bloomberg L.P., Grauer was the managing director and senior partner of the investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette from September 1992 to November 2000,[8] when DLJ was acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston.

[15] In 2014, Grauer became the founding chairman of the American chapter of the 30% Club, an international organization aimed at increasing women's representation on corporate boards.

[16] Previously, Grauer served on the global advisory board of Out Leadership, which partners with senior executives to advance LGBT equality.

Grauer sits on the advisory board of McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.

In June 2016, multinational investment firm Blackstone Group appointed Grauer to its board of directors.