MARK BISNOW, First Banana. Mark came to DC from LA decades ago in a successful quest to lose his hipness. He worked on the Hill for D’s and R’s and in at least three presidential campaigns he can remember. He was a lawyer at Latham & Watkins and general counsel at two public companies, but he still doesn’t know how to write a will. He was chief of staff at MicroStrategy and head of marketing for webMethods, making him fabulously rich, briefly. As hobbies, he did countless “Bisnow on Business” segments for WTOP and hosted a FOX morning drive radio show so bad he was replaced by the Greaseman. In 2004, he started the Bisnow emails, his attempt to look young without having to buy a sports car, though he ended up buying one anyway. Pretending to be a rich person without enough to do, he’s chaired big fundraising dinners, served on many civic boards, and written two political books that were “critically acclaimed” (which means they didn’t sell). He was a consulting producer for the very strange “McLaughlin Group” and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where his role was to reduce the average age by 60 years. He’s a product of Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard Law, all school that have since become accredited. He has a wife, two children, a dog, and a ferret—who love him but think he’s nuts.
ELLIOTT BISNOW, Co-Founder. What are the chances Elliott would have the same last name as the publication? Figuring fate was calling, Elliott helped start it in its current form and has rapidly risen in the Bisnow family. An avid tennis player, he was ranked 37th nationally in the under-18s when he was a lad at Landon in Bethesda, then played for the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Somehow between the D-1 tennis regimen and classes (he might have gone to one or two), he became a serial entrepreneur, founding two small businesses in his freshman and sophomore years. In early ’09 he founded Summit Series, bringing together the world's top young CEOs, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and philanthropists for learning, networking, and philanthropy. It is pure coincidence that summits are held in his favorite places like Alta, Playa Del Carmen, Aspen, and Miami.
RYAN BEGELMAN, COO. Ditching car service and an expense account, Ryan traded in his post in acquisitions at The Carlyle Group to spend late nights at Bisnow HQ perfecting his table tennis. From Maryland by way of Chicago where he attended Northwestern and cut his teeth as an i-banker at Deutsche Bank, Ryan focuses on Bisnow’s strategic direction, hiring, operations, and placement of chin-up bars. Yet another Bisnow tennis player, he’s also known for eating no less than eight meals a day yet still needing to gain weight.
MOUNIR SALHI, Chief Technology Officer. Mounir completed his degree in Computer Science with honors at Hampton University, where he played tennis and was assistant coach of the men's and women's teams. A tennis career beckoned, so he moved to Orlando to become Head Tennis Professional at Walt Disney World, in case you thought people just went there for Space Mountain. But when he learned about Bisnow's insightful articles on cap compression rates and mezzanine debt, he knew he had found his true calling.
ARAM TAGHAVI, VP of Business Development. Aram, whose name we believe we have spelled correctly, is finishing up a degree in finance at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His colleagues at Bisnow hope this means they can all retire to private islands if they stand close enough to him. Like Elliott, Aram has had a long romance with judges in high chairs, growing up as an RTP (Real Tennis Player) and wielding his racket for the U of Md. His worldview has been shaped by formative stints at Smith Barney, Paine Webber, and the Tequila Grill restaurant.
BRETT LEVE, Principal. Originally from Boston, Brett slipped south of the Mason Dixon line to attend GW. After a stint in commercial real estate at Fraser Forbes and running the mid Atlantic region for LPB Energy Management, he teamed up with Elliott (q.v.) to expand Summit Series, a community of the world’s top young CEO’s and entrepreneurs. Drawn to the psychedelic energy at Bisnow, he dove in to help direct the National Expansion. Brett’s an avid skier/surfer and secretly aspires to establish e-newsletters in important business communities such as Huntington Beach and Aspen.
MIKE FARBER, VP for Expansion. Born and raised in the suburban Maryland, Mike used to be very sophisticated, had ambitions to be a diplomat, and went to GW’s Elliot School of International Affairs as an undergraduate. However, following political and government internships like a stint at US AID, he became normal again and went to work upon graduation for commercial real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield for three years before joining media giant Bisnow. Today he professes excitement at spreading the Bisnow gospel nationwide, one email at a time, proving by his fine words that deep down he’s still into diplomacy.
MIKE PONTICELLI, Associate Publisher. A graduate of GW (assuming its officials still haven't uncovered the mistake), Mike has worked at many trades: Event planner, bartender, accountant, delivery boy for the Washington Post, and a US-Russian affairs analyst. He even built and managed a local laundry service that’s still around (as much of his personal laundry also appears to be). Mike follows current events, dining and beverage trends, and all other aspects of modern urban life related to food. He loves everything about Washington, although we have not yet had the heart to tell him it is not on a beach.
GRAHAM COHEN, VP, Strategic Partnerships. Graham, a graduate of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business of Miami University of Ohio, joined the team after a failed intramural sports career dashed his plan to rename himself LeBron Cohen. Working at Internet content firms like Edmunds.com and SportUltra.com also dashed his backup plan to rename himself Graham Zuckerberg. An idle local suburbanite before he was actually old and boring enough to qualify, Graham spent much of his life in the bubble of Bethesda, but is now stepping out into DC. If you see him being bounced at clubs, please help him out.
STEVE GANOUS, Publisher, Tech Bisnow. Though this former high school football coach is from Northern New Jersey and graduated from Ramapo, his favorite sports teams come from all over the greater Hudson River area. Before Bisnow, he graced the offices of oneNest.com, 1105, and FierceMarkets. But now he’s in the Virginia countryside with his wife, step-daughter, and border collie, hoping the NY Metrostars/Liberty/Dragons are coming to DC this year.
LIZ FRITZ, Account Manager. Liz is the best thing the Wells Fargo wagon has ever brought us. This UNC-Chapel Hill grad left real estate banking at Wells to once again experience the joy of getting out of the office, by talking to anyone and everyone about Bisnow. A Maryland native, she loves crabcakes, Annapolis, and the Chesapeake, though maintains she’s a Tarheel through and through. Her sports addictions: running (participating) and Carolina basketball (watching).
STEPHEN BALL, Events Coordinator - Stephen started in events at 13, working for a small B&B in Southern Maryland. After a three-year stint in the Army’s ceremonial unit, The Old Guard, Stephen took over the Secretary of the Army’s executive dining room. In four years at the Pentagon, Stephen planned and executed over 3,000 flawless events and seven he’d rather not count. A graduate of George Mason, Stephen had an article written about him in the Washington Post for being the only male student in a wedding planning class (either a really smart move…or a really dumb one). After graduation, Stephen became a producer for The Mike Wise Show on 106.7 The Fan and a sports contributor at The Washington Post covering high school sports, the NFL, and colleges.
AMIE PIDDINGTON, Keeper of Books. That which makes Amie such a good accountant—ensuring ledger ink supports our statements—also makes her a great football fan: The ink on her Steelers tattoo amply backs the team. Born in the Burgh, she graduated from NC State and was Director of Finance at a green engineering firm before coming to DC. While she loves camping and anything outdoors, she prefers DC because she never needs a car. Of course, you don’t need one in Pittsburgh; it’s just that gun rack might look silly on a Segway.
DANIELLE DOOLIN, Advertising Campaign Specialist, Ad Operations Department. You've got mail, but we've got Danielle, a 6-year AOL veteran, who handled the launch of AOL Search Marketplace operations after rising through its ranks of Trafficking and Custom Advertising, working high profile ad executions for Verizon, Kohl's, and WB. She enjoys hanging out with her English bulldog Rudy, going to concerts, and attempting to cook. It's fitting that she worked for NoVa-founded AOL because she was born in Fairfax and attended GMU, where as a member of the dance team, she ushered in an era of Final Four greatness. (Our way of saying she graduated before the team got good.)
DARLA BENNETT, Atlanta Business Manager. Darla is the only Bisnow employee allowed use the phrase “bless your heart,” as she’s spent most of her time in the Atlanta area. She joined Bisnow after spending her 20-year career on both the agency and publishing side. A military brat, she’s lived in many states, but her favorite was Hawaii. Being an over-achiever (we like those here), she secured a B.S in Mass Communications in only 2.5 years. Darla is outnumbered by the men in her household, including a husband and 3 sons, so she’s picking up golf in hopes of finding a ladies 9-hole league and meeting like-minded females.
ANDREW GOODMAN, Accounts & Events Manager - Wait…could it be? Yes, another star GW graduate joining Bisnow. By way of the Big Apple, Andrew is the newest member of our Event Coordinating and Market Expansion Team. Most recently, he worked in commercial real estate doing acquisitions and property management in New York City. With an unrelenting thirst for adventure, Andrew decided to break free from the stifling corporate world. On weekends, you can find him lounging in Central Park, fist pumping at the few clubs that let him in, or hitting the slopes in Vermont (particularly when there’s snow on them).
MARIE FINNEGAN, Account Executive. After earning her English degree from Scranton and spending most of her life in Pennsylvania, Marie decided to move to DC for a change of pace. Well, seeing pace for the first time in her life might be the more accurate verb. (English major, remember.) She started her career at a small PR company in Fairfax, improving the images of various beauty products and services. Her goal is to support her awesome sales team in its mission to make it rain. (That's an idiom, more proof that Marie is using her degree.)
MIKE JAX, Houston Business Manager. Although “Jax” once played the piano, cornet, and guitar, he abandoned them at an early age for a lucrative hobby as a disc jockey, playing music at high school dances all over Houston. After his mom told him that he shouldn’t “party for a living,” he switched to outside sales, selling stuffed animals to gift shops, and then CD’s to music stores. Ultimately, he discovered selling ads in commercial real estate, which led to a successful career as Publisher of Black’s Office & Industrial Guide for over ten years. After a stint with CoStar, he stumbled into a Bisnow event, drank the Kool-Aid, and joined the next day. (Reports that his mom is even more disappointed have not been confirmed.) A native Houstonian (and an eBayholic), he enjoys camping out with his kids, coaching football/baseball/basketball, attending concerts, and eating atomic fireballs.
ERICK GORDILLO, Graphic Designer. You may not choose to eat KFC, Bacardi, Starbucks, or Anheuser Busch (at least not at the same meal), but you can’t help but dig their ads. Erick has worked on all those accounts in a sprawling career. Born in Mexico City, he’s worked for global advertising firm McCann-Erickson and worked in design for Xerox. Erick started his own business in 2001 and grew it to 10 employees before finding us in DC. (He also found his fiancée here—we’ve yet to ask which he likes better.) He lives in Colima City, Mexico, but since his fiancée is in DC, he may be moving soon. To prove we can be saps, not just hams, here’s Erick in his own words: "My dream today is that soon I could be permanently with my family and continue working for Bisnow doing what I love."
CARA BUBES, Superstar Intern. We found Cara while she was still a student at Indiana University, and she still is because we couldn't to convince her father to let her drop out. Born and raised in the DC suburbs she loves all the local sports teams and is a diehard Skins fan (for better or worse). She loves a good adventure—bungee jumping, cage diving with great white sharks (seriously), and is a certified scuba diver and yacht sailor. Additionally, she is a ginger.
EDITORIAL
(ie, the people who know how to spell, sorta)
CURTIS RAYE, General Editor. Following fine schooling at GW, Curtis found himself in the thick of the 2008 presidential campaign. Campaign finance rules forbid naming one's candidate within 100 characters of a biography. So he won't name names. But he wants it on the record that she was a good boss. While city life is grand, he hails from a rural area of northern New Jersey nestled near the green and beautiful Shawangunk Ridge. He also has a tendency to over-pastoralize his hometown. Prior performances include as an FCC intern and Ko-Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado." For photos and tales from his travels, visit http://www.curtisraye.com. Sure, the name is a bit egotistical, but it helps his grandmother remember it.
MARGOT MACHOL, Publisher, The Scene. Margot got a BA in English and a Kellogg MBA from Northwestern and came to DC "for a couple years." But then she met Mark Bisnow when they worked on the Hill, and they got married and raised children. Elliott and Austin are now raised and she considers them “close to perfect.” She uses the word “close” because one of her jobs was being an FTC Commissioner, so she is very sensitive about people thinking she’s making deceptive statements, even though she actually does believe her children are perfect. She’s had many other interesting jobs, but she can tell you from experience that when you tell people that you're chief of staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, you have more friends than when you tell people you set up economic think tanks in Eastern Europe. She had been planning on being a lady of leisure about now, but when she realized that meant she would have no excuse not to exercise, she decided to take this job.
DAVID STEGON, Tech and Local Business Editor. After earning a master’s degree from the famed Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, David decided to ditch the fledgling world of newspapers for greener pastures at Bisnow. A native of Woodbridge, Va., he’s tried to escape the Beltway many times, first to get a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University, then for a summer internship at the Austin American-Statesman, and later as a reporter at The Home News Tribune in central New Jersey. He also spent time on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as an author’s assistant for “The Echoing Green,” a book on how the 1951 New York Giants cheated their way to the pennant. Locally, he covered crime for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger and was an intern for The Junkies at WJFK, where he hit a man in the face with a pie.
AMANDA MARSH, New York Editor. After earning a degree in communication and media studies from Fordham, Amanda jumped into the world of real estate journalism, despite Monopoly being her only credential. She covered Washington D.C. for Commercial Property News and didn't understand how Bisnow kept breaking all the stories, so she decided to infiltrate the competition and spy on its operations. She liked it so much that she decided to stay, even if she had to give up a cubicle and free cawfee (yes, she's a Long Island native). What Bisnow doesn't know is that while she can't play tennis or golf, she can vanquish (73 points!) them in Scrabble.
MAUREEN WILKEY, Chicago Editor. After growing up in the western suburbs and earning a bachelor's and master's degree in news-editorial journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Maureen entered the world of commercial real estate journalism because the folks who hired her at the Illinois Real Estate Journal were the only ones who would let her live in a city and write 2,000 word stories on a regular basis. Somewhere along the line she discovered she liked buildings and Chicago, and the silver-tongued Bisnow team convinced her that a picture was worth 1,000 words and she could have five per issue. In her spare time, you can find her running on the Lakeshore Path (Chicago's largest hamster wheel), being a coffee and/or beer snob, and taking in the best of the Windy City's improv and art movie scenes.
TONIE AUER, Dallas-Fort Worth Reporter. Lacking tennis credentials would seem to make Tonie a Bisnow black sheep, but she has the one thing that's more important to a business publication: A love of business reporting (aha!), which the Texas native and ’91 Baylor grad found working at small daily newspapers and the Fort Worth Business Press. She’s prez of the DFW Chapter of the American Society of Business Publication Editors and blog czarina (though she prefers blog mistress because it sounds cooler) for the ASBPE National Blog. When not chauffeuring her children, she’s cheering for the Rangers, Cowboys, Mavericks, FC Dallas, Baylor, UNT Mean Green, and the Florida Gators (which she adopted through marriage).
CATIE BRUBAKER, Reporter, Real Estate Bisnow Houston. Catie dares you to sum her up any one way except perhaps eclectic. As a military brat, she was not born or raised anywhere, but still considers herself a true Southern girl. (In fairness, she only twice lived outside the South.) She started her Psychology degree in Okinawa, Japan, with plans to become a social worker, and finished it at Rice University with a job as a bartender and aspirations of becoming an editor. (You can only imagine the steps in between.) Catie has two adorable puppies, whom she fully credits for getting her this job. She is grateful to Bisnow for overlooking the lack of tennis in her resume, and hopes her newly-acquired commercial real estate knowledge will make them forget all about it.
JESSICA SIDMAN, Reporter, Association Bisnow. Before developing trade association-acronym-decoding superpowers at Bisnow, Jessica worked at Washingtonian. The Colorado Springs native and UPenn grad is responsible for starting how-to cooking videos featuring local chefs on the city mag's website. She previously worked on the Enterprise team at The Dallas Morning News, where she wrote about pageant hairstylists and blogging farmers, but failed to implement "y'all" into her vocab. She has also interned for the Life section of USA Today and both the sports and features departments of her hometown newspaper, The Gazette. Jessica also loves Anthony Bourdain and inventing crazy flavors for her ice cream maker (green tomato ginger, anyone?).
SUSAN DIESENHOUSE, Boston Reporter. Susan is what the kids would call legit. Both the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have featured her writing. Now, we get to benefit. With a four-year Windy City stint now over, she's happily back in Boston. Her response when Bisnow came knocking? "Sure, sounds like fun." (It is.) Before becoming a journalist, she spent nearly three years traveling through Latin America. These days, she finds adventure in the ballet studio. Susan grew up in NYC and graduated from Tufts with a Master’s Degree in Political Science.
SIBLEY FLEMING, National Editor, Real Estate Pubs. Sibley comes to Bisnow directly from National Real Estate Investor, where she was managing editor. It was there that she fell in love with yield curves, capital stacks, and freaky economic numbers. That’s a long way from where she began as a freelance weekly columnist and feature writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In some Atlanta circles, she’s known as a book author. In fact, some people liked her writing so much that they gave her awards—like the National League of American Pen Women and the Georgia Author of the Year. To other people, she’ll always be known as the “granddaughter” of late AJC reporter, columnist, and author Celestine Sibley. (She’s made peace with the whole living-in-the-shadow thing.) Her children are pretty much grown. The oldest, Vincent, is a PA student in Naples, Fla. and newly married. The youngest, Wolfie (yes, like Mozart) is her “music-philosophy child” and a student at GSU.
MAKEDA SAGGAU-SACKEY, Fashionista Reporter, The Scene. This Ghanaian import known as Mak is (please don’t tell) a PR girl by day and writer by night, specializing in dropping by only the hottest events, provided they’ll let her in. She arrived in DC in '95, went to VCU, then got drawn back by the irresistible glamour of the city, exemplified by the jobs she took at the CPB, Council of Governments, and the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District. She also pens the popular fashion blog, the Glamazon Diaries, and is active in lots of charities, which means she’s after your money. She wishes she could have a Freaky Friday experience and switch bodies with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
KRISTINA D’AMBROSIO, Witty Entertainment Reporter, The Scene. Born and raised in Alexandria, Kristina headed down to the University of Tennessee to teach them a few things about lacrosse, joined a sorority, learned about good ol’ southern hospitality, graduated with a degree in Journalism and Electronic Media, missed the energy and up-tempo of city life, and had to return. She traded in her cowboy boots for stilettos and is taking on The Scene. She’d love to switch places with Maryland native and ESPN reporter, Rachel Nichols. She wishes she could cover the inauguration every week.
MARY-KATE RASA, Fashion and Society Reporter, The Scene. Maryland native and city-bred Mary-Kate Rasa headed south to find her inner Southern Belle at the University of South Carolina and discovered the true meaning of southern hospitality. After studying marketing and PR, she scored a business degree from the Moore School of Business and was ready for the fast-paced social circuit. Which of course led her to The Scene Bisnow, her natural calling, unless of course she gets a call from E! News or Ryan Seacrest.
MADELEINE STARKEY, All-Things-Hip Reporter, The Scene. A Boston native, Madeleine migrated to DC to attend GW, where she received an honors B.A. in English and served as the Daily Colonial's Weekend Style editor for three semesters, in addition to penning a weekly column. Best known for her socializing and criticizing, Madeleine's favorite past time is people watching. Eager to facilitate DC's evolution to an even more alluring city, she’s always on the prowl for cool new eateries, lounges, people, parties, and fashion. And don't let her catch you being less than eco-chic, because she will accost you for dumping your plastic Starbucks cups in the trash. Needless to say, her favorite color is green.
HEATHER MAHONEY, Witty Entertainment, Style & Sports Reporter, The Scene. Born and raised here, Heather stayed local after graduating from the University of Maryland. She studied fashion, but majored in Communication with a PR concentration, giving her an eye for style as well as publicity. She’s interned for PR firm Brotman Winter Fried; and later, when people told her she couldn’t handle masculine radio personalities, she proved them wrong by interning at WJFK’s The Junkies. With a background in sports and style, Heather is capable of planning sports events, reporting on them, and designing their uniforms.
VANESSA MECCARIELLI, Reporter, The Scene. A native of McLean, who obtained a passport to study at GW, she started as an intern for Bisnow after graduating, but took advantage of management’s general obliviousness and converted her status to full time reporter when it wasn’t looking. Although she left for a PR job after biting into a jalapeno (she is addicted to Mexican food) and losing her sense of right and wrong, she eventually regained social consciousness and returned to Bisnow to write about the coolest people in the city [editor’s note: we believe she meant to say where she could work again with the coolest people in the city]. Her favorite time of the year is football season, although this may be because she believes the Caps to be a football team.
JULIE NAKASHIMA, Los Angeles Reporter. Julie comes from a long line of craftsmen. Her grandfather ran a tailoring shop in one of Southern California’s swankiest hotels, while her dad designed Polynesian restaurants, like the Luau in Beverly Hills (razed decades ago to make way for a shopping mall) and the Mai-Kai in Ft. Lauderdale, during the mid-20th century tiki craze. Today, Julie carries on the tradition by trying to craft coherent sentences about LA commercial real estate. For more than 20 years, she did this at the CA Real Estate Journal. Now, having seen the light, she is helping to save trees by writing for Bisnow. |
