Richard Kirshenbaum

Richard Kirshenbaum is one of the most exciting personalities in New York City advertising. Richard is an accomplished entrepreneur, as well as an author and has written a number of books. His latest Isn’t That Rich, Life Among the One Percent” published by Open Road, based on his monthly column for the New York Observer, was sold to ABC Studios in partnership with Ben Silverman.
In 1987, at age twenty-six, he cofounded the Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners agency, which pioneered such innovative concepts as the pop-up store, sidewalk advertising, and other forms of high-visibility guerrilla marketing. At the time of its sale, KBP was the largest independent ad agency in the United States, with one billion dollars in billings. Currently, Kirshenbaum is CEO of NSG/SWAT, a high-profile boutique branding agency he launched in 2011, which works with entrepreneurs and emerging companies. He is also co-founder, with music icon Chris Blackwell, of Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum. He is also co-founder of SWAT Equity, a fund that invests in emerging consumer brands.
Kirshenbaum has lectured at Harvard Business School, has appeared on 20/20, had a cameo in Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and was also voted one of the 25 most stylish New Yorker’s by Us Magazine. He was named to Crain’s New York Business’s “40 under Forty” list, was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2000, and placed second on a list of the top one hundred US entrepreneurs. He is the author of the business book Under the Radar; the relationship guide Closing the Deal, which has been translated into nine languages; the advertising memoir Madboy, an Amazon bestseller; and Isn’t That Rich? a #1 Amazon bestseller. Kirshenbaum is an accomplished playwright, and his work has been produced by David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater Company. He has also contributed to Us Weekly’s “Fashion Police” feature and has written comedy for the legendary Joan Rivers, among others.
He lives in New York City with his wife and three children.