biography

After leaving medical school (in the fourth year), I found my way into advertising, where I began as a jr. copywriter at BBDO. Fortunately, I didn’t go out to dinner one night, and I was discovered by the late, great Phil Dusenberry– the guy who did the Reagan campaign and (accidentally) set Michael Jackson’s hair on fire for Pepsi. Phil was my “rabbi” in the business and tremendously influenced the scale of my thinking, especially how I approach creating image for clients.

At BBDO, and then afterwards at DMB&B, Y&R and KPR. I (along with many amazing people) created award-winning campaigns for Apple computers, Black & Decker, US Post Office, Colgate-Palmolive and many others, as well as some pharmaceutical campaigns for Risperdal, Rezulin, Nasocort and others. (Always turn your failures, like medical school, into successes.) My claim to fame still lingers as the writer of Gillette. The Best A Man Can Get, still running in over 100 countries around the world.

After a decade on Madison Avenue, a strange, mysterious “chance”-meeting happened, which, many years later, lead to my ordination as a rabbi and involvement in inter-religious dialogue. I was appointed Director of Communications at the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport Connecticut, where I worked to help further the reconciliation of the Catholic Church and the World Jewish Community. I’m now working to do the same between Muslims and Jews in the Middle East.

Recently, I was appointed to the Board of Directors for The Center for Spirituality and Health Education at the State University of New York (Stony Brook), In addition, I was appointed adjunct professor in the School of Social Welfare, teaching, on a graduate level, spirituality and comparative religion.

At the behest of the late Monsignor Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, I’ve been a guest lecturer at New York University, Boston University, the Universities of Milan and Venice, the University of Madrid and others. I’ve been a two-time guest speaker at the Whole Life Expo, then the world’s largest spirituality conference. I’ve been intimately involved in the healing of American Black Muslims and Jews, helping the late Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement.

As my knowledge of advertising, business, image, spirituality, religion and ethics has fused into a single life-understanding, this eventually lead me to coaching executives and CEO’s of all faiths and no-faith. My forte is teaching them how to improve their bottom line by handling, correctly, their personal and professional lives which, when in conflict, drain people, emotionally and financially.

Through my previous consulting firm, In the Image, Inc., I helped a lot of non-profits along the way, including AARP, CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations), URI (United Religions Initiative). I continue to do this today on my own, working with the Patton Stiftung/Foundation, the Daisy Alliance and other worthy non-profits.

As you’ll discover on this website, I’ve authored some books, had a column in Success magazine and a proverbial 5 minutes of fame.

Right now, I live in Bucks County PA, with my wonderful wife of 27 years, artist Teddy Frank (www.teddyfrank.com). We have three children, Christian, Adam and Zoe. I’m rabbi at the small, admittedly experimental, Bucks County Free Synagogue, www.buckscountyfreesynagogue.com. Thanks for taking the time to read this.