JOHN A. REISENBACH FOUNDATION
PREPARES FOR 17 TH ANNUAL GALA
AND DISTINGUISHED
CITIZENSHIP AWARDS
ED ERHARDT – KATHERINE OLIVER
– JOHN WREN
TO BE HONORED
One of the premiere charitable organizations of
the advertising and media communities, the John A.
Reisenbach Foundation has named Thursday, December
4 as the date of its 17 th Annual Gala Tribute for
a Better and Safe New York. To be held at the
University Club, the event marks 17 years since friends
and family of young advertising executive John A.
Reisenbach launched a foundation in his memory. This
year’s recipients of the Reisenbach Distinguished
Citizenship Awards are:
- Ed Erhardt, President, ESPN
Marketing & Sales
- Katherine Oliver, New York City Film
Commissioner
- John Wren, President/CEO, Omnicom
“We remain committed to paying tribute to members
in different areas of our industry who demonstrate
a real dedication to making public service an integral
part of their work,” said Nielsen Business Media’s Gerry
Byrne , this year’s Gala Chair, “and who
contribute to an overall improved quality of life
in New York City.”
Honorary Chairs for the 2007 event are last year’s
recipients: John Hayes, Wenda Harris Millard and
Charlie Rutman. Previous Distinguished Citizenship
Awards have gone to Bill Cella, Irwin Gotlieb, Judy
McGrath, Dennis Swanson, Dick Wolf and first honoree,
Gerald Levin.
“Still a vibrant and effective organization, we
are very proud of the work we’ve done and the programs
we continue to fund and support,” said Bob Lilley,
Foundation Chair.
John Reisenbach, son of industry veteran Sandy
Reisenbach, was a young advertising syndication executive
shot in a never-solved random murder in New York
City in 1990. Thirty-three years old at the
time, John was vice president of national advertising
sales
for what was then All American Television. The
Foundation was launched a year later, focusing on
programs that help such areas as safety and education
as well as community relations. Among the programs
that the foundation has supported, with more than
$4 million over the years, are:
- Community and Neighborhood Watch funding to
more than 35 organizations under the administration
of the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services
- The Reisenbach Neighborhood Safety Project/Safety
Awards, administered by Citizens Committee of
New York City
- The Safe Harbor/Safe Horizons Programs for
school-based violence prevention
- JAR Masters & Doctoral fellowships
at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Urban Assembly Mentoring Programs, serving
students in eleven high schools
- “Gun Stop” Program with the New York Police
Foundation
- New York Cares’ Youth Service Club, bringing
structured, award-winning community service and
leadership-building programs to 23 under-resourced
New York City public schools
Many of the founding board members are still active,
with a number of additions recently added to the
Board of Directors including Sabrina Crow/Nielsen
Business Media, Lew Leone/Fox5/My9, Bob Tassie/United
Media and Roberta Zuckerman/First Republic Bank.
For more information and tickets to
the Gala, email officejar@aol.com or
call 212-935-1840.
HONOREES
EDWARD R. ERHARDT
President
ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales
Ed Erhardt was appointed President of ESPN Customer
Marketing and Sales in October 1999. In that role,
he successfully merged the television sales organizations
of ESPN and ABC Sports. Ed leads a sales and marketing
team that provides advertisers and marketers access
to the premier media and marketing platforms under
the ESPN Global umbrella, featuring a portfolio of
over 50 multimedia sports assets comprised of six English
language domestic cable networks, ESPN on ABC, ESPN
Deportes, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN International
with distribution in 194 countries, ESPN Audio, ESPN.com, ESPN
The Magazine, ESPN Enterprises, ESPN Zones, ESPN360.com,
ESPN Mobile , ESPN on Demand, ESPN Interactive and
ESPN PPV.
Erhardt broke new ground in the media and advertising
sales industry by creating the first unified sales
organization that represents The Walt Disney Company
Sports Assets across all media platforms. Organized
by team and focused on customer needs and media agnostic,
it has been widely hailed by competitors and customers
as the prototype for the future of media marketing
and selling.
Erhardt is a sought after speaker and panelist on
the subject of cross media marketing and sales. His
sales and marketing group is ranked at the top of the
industry by Myers Reports and Beta Research year after
year in innovation and integrated marketing success
stories. Over the years ESPN has become recognized
as an industry leader in developing marketing programs
and promotions that are innovative and activate sports
fans to interact with the ESPN brand and programming. Sports
Business Journal recently ranked Erhardt as the
number three most influential executive in Sports Advertising
and he was most recently featured in The Marketing
Mavens by Noel Capon.
In 1995, Ed was inducted into the American Advertising
Federation’s Hall of Achievement, which recognizes
outstanding career achievements for advertising professionals
under the age of 40. He also was nationally recognized
for his role as founder and organizer of the American
Advertising Federation’s Multicultural Marketing Task
Force.
Mr. Erhardt serves on a variety of industry boards
and foundations. He is currently the Chairman of the
Cable Advertising Bureau and National Committee Board
member of the widely acclaimed Chicago based Steppenwolf
Theatre Company. Erhardt is also a member of the NY
Chapter of the International Advertising Association
(IAA)., and Advertising Women of New York.
KATHERINE
OLIVER
Commissioner
Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting
Katherine L. Oliver was appointed Commissioner of
The New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting
on August 1, 2002. Under her stewardship, the agency
has become the one-stop shop for entertainment production
in New York City, an industry that employs over 100,000
New Yorkers and supports 4,000 local businesses.
Commissioner Oliver directed her team in a successful
effort that led to the passage of the historic “Made
in NY” tax incentive program signed into law by Mayor
Bloomberg in January 2005. This program has created
$4.1 billion in business and over 20,000 new jobs.
She has also worked to diversify the City’s entertainment
industry through career panels, educational initiatives
and community outreach, including the “Made in NY”
Production Assistant Training Program. Developed in
partnership with the non-profit organization Brooklyn
Workforce Innovations, this program trains diverse
New Yorkers in entry-level production jobs. Commissioner
Oliver set up the “Made in NY” Scholarship Fund with
New York City College of Technology, sending five students
a year to the Brooklyn-based CUNY campus to study media
production.
In addition, Commissioner Oliver created the “Made
in NY” marketing initiative to promote projects filmed
in New York City. This includes a retail campaign featuring
branded merchandise and a commemorative book published
by Rizzoli entitled Scenes from the City: Filmmaking
in NY, which generated revenue and visibility
for the City of New York.
Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Oliver served
as General Manager of Bloomberg Radio and Television,
where she managed 650 people. She built digital broadcast
operations in 25 cities worldwide and oversaw
Bloomberg's ten channels in seven different languages.
She has also worked as a radio and television reporter
for Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial News Network, WABC Radio,
1010 WINS and WBGO; and taught a journalism course
at New York University.
JOHN
WREN
President & CEO
Omnicom
John Wren is the President and CEO of Omnicom Group
Inc., the leading global marketing and corporate communications
company. Through its balanced complement of businesses,
spanning 30 marketing disciplines, Omnicom provides
advertising, strategic media planning and buying, and
specialty communications to more than 5,000 clients
in more than 100 countries. Mr. Wren was elected President
of Omnicom in 1996, and under his direction, the company
has achieved status as a world-class company with the
best corporate and divisional management in the advertising
and marketing communications industry as well as the
leading brands in marketing.
He has championed the company’s investment in the
recruitment and development of talent through several
key programs, including Omnicom University, the industry
standard for senior management training in professional
service firms. As a member of the Omnicom Board of
Directors, Mr. Wren also has been a strong advocate
of proactive corporate governance, supporting, among
other things, the de-classification of directors’ terms.
Mr. Wren entered the advertising business in 1984,
joining Needham Harper Worldwide as an executive vice
president. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer
of the Diversified Agency Services division of Omnicom
in 1990 and is responsible for growing this division
into the holding company’s largest operating group,
comprised of companies in a wide array of disciplines
ranging from public relations to branding.
Mr. Wren is involved with a number of philanthropic
activities. He is a member of the Board of Directors
of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. He
is Vice-Chairman of Continuum Health Partners, the
third-largest healthcare system in the New York/Metropolitan
area, and the Chairman of Long Island Hospital in Brooklyn
Heights. He is a Trustee of the Arthur Ashe Foundation
and active in healthcare education for the underprivileged.
He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Alvin
Ailey Dance Theater. In 1999, Mr. Wren received the
Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his philanthropic contribution
to the community.
