Ken Biberaj, chairman of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, has been busy working to raise the group's profile since he came on board in November. Here are a few things you don't know about Ken.
Titles: Chairman of the board, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; VP of the Russian Tea Room and associate broker for Morgan Barrington Associates of NY.
On the job since: Since 2005 for the restaurant and real estate company. This past January for the Chamber.
Chamber: Ken’s focused on raising the profile of the Chamber and growing membership. They’ve done events with leaders like NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton (shown below) and Economic Development Corp President Kyle Kimball. Ken says there’s been a lot of interest in joining the Chamber from the real estate industry since the membership’s filled with potential tenants.
Morgan Barrington: The firm owns properties in Manhattan and the Bronx that it leases and repositions, and it does third-party brokerage. Ken says he’s carved out a niche working with restaurants and repped Rouge Tomate on a deal to move them from the Upper East Side to West 18th Street. Morgan Barrington also owns and runs the Russian Tea Room on 57th Street, which Ken helped restore and reopen in 2006.
Size: The Chamber has 10,000-plus members and subscribers.
Grew up: Born in New York but grew up in Northern Virginia.
Current home: Upper West Side.
School: Undergrad at American University, Master's in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a J.D. from New York Law School.
First jobs: Busboy at Chili's Bar and Grill while in high school and then pushed carts at Costco (which Ken says was no fun during the Blizzard of '96).
Job in another life: High school government teacher
Daily habit: Every morning Ken gets up with his 23-month-old son, Hudson, cooks breakfast for his wife, Valerie, and they watch “Bubble Guppies.”
Favorite book: Dan Brown books.
Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption.
Favorite vacation spot: Cape May, NJ.
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