Jordan Birnbaum has made a name for himself in many roles that cover multiple sectors, but his newest project is The Secret Beatnik Party, which he aims to launch soon. As a multimedia professional, he will use his comedy writing skills to develop live and online entertainment programs that support a semi-farcical political platform. Live comedy shows will be supplemented by original multi-media content and community features. The New York native comes to the project with the experience gained from many successful business ventures and positions in the corporate world. Along with comedy writing, he is also an occasional comedian and a singer/songwriter.
Background Education and Experience
His education and professional career started out normally enough as he studied consumer economics and housing as part of the Policy Analysis courses he took at Cornell University. When he graduated in 1993, he had been included on the Dean's List and had enjoyed hours of private study with Professor Dean Lillard. While doing one semester of field study with the American Red Cross, he helped develop and implement HIPP, which is the Homelessness Intervention and Prevention Program. He then embarked on an 18-month Associate Program with D.E. Shaw & Company, where he learned the technological skills needed for work in investment bank banking. He worked as a trader for D.E. Shaw Securities International in London, England as a market maker for Japanese Equity Warrants. He managed 75 specific issues and was promoted as the co-manager of the company's live trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In 1995 Jordan Birnbaum went to work for Juno Online Services, Inc. as the Director of Subscriber Acquisition. He was involved in groundbreaking deals for the company that substantially increased Juno's subscriber base and introduced practices that were adopted by the entire industry. For his successes, he was promoted to Vice President of Business Development where he continued to grow the company's revenues. He then took over all revenue operations and management of the sales staff as he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Development. His hard work helped the company successfully complete an IPO and enjoy six quarters of over-exceeding the revenue projections of analysts.
Entertainment Industry
In 2001 Jordan Birnbaum invested in Otopia Events, Inc., which was a start-up in the music and entertainment venue. With a goal of creating a multimedia production studio, they signed a lengthy lease on Hollywood Boulevard, but the venue launched in 2002 to disappointing results. Jordan Birnbaum moved to LA to take over operations for the failing investment and, despite the numerous obstacles, he improved the business's situation to break-even through 2004. It was then relaunched as Vanguard, which experienced overwhelming success and generated more than $40 million in the five years that followed.
Current Goals
Jordan Birnbaum is looking ahead to the future. He will use his expertise in developing start-ups, business management, sales and marketing and hospitality to find creative ways to market his lifelong passion for writing, developing and producing multimedia content. At the same time, he plans to study for a PhD in Organizational Psychology.
For more on Jordan Birnbaum:
PDF - Jordan Birnbaum and Vanguard Hollywood
