Management

Norm Goldstein, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder
Norman is an entrepreneur with a strong background in licensing, fashion, direct marketing, and internet concept development industries. As EVP Licensing and Business Development at Walker Digital, Norman managed a large patent portfolio of inventions and business process patents. Norman is a named inventor on 6 US patents.

As President and CEO of Univex Licensing Group, Mr. Goldstein pioneered, developed and managed a joint venture with The Sharper Image Corp. to create 16 licenses of their brand in many categories. Mr. Goldstein was the founder and CEO of Margin Equities Inc. a manufacturing and importer of specialty and promotional products for large corporate accounts such as Disney, American Express, IBM, Merck, and M&M Mars. Mr. Goldstein was President of Peter Max Licensing Inc. where he generated 12 licensing agreements for the Pop Culture Artist in addition to opening a new gallery. Mr. Goldstein is a New York State Mediator and Arbitrator, a Board Member of Positive Directions charity, serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Bridgeport School of Engineering, the National Parents Board of Syracuse University, the Board of Visitors of the School of Informational Studies at Syracuse University and is a Mentor/Coach to business entrepreneurs.

Daniel M. Gwartz, Chief Operating Officer
Daniel is an explorer, innovator, and an entrepreneur. He is a seasoned marketing professional holding senior management positions with several multinational organizations before founding Gwartz International, a marketing consulting firm. Mr. Gwartz has proven management experience and strategic vision. His corporate experience includes responsibility for major brands at Kraft General Foods, Great Brands of Europe (a subsidiary of Groupe Danone) and at Nabisco Brands. Daniel has successfully managed, introduced and led the development of well known brands including Dannon, Post Cereals, Jell-O, Grey Poupon, LU, and Nabisco.

Christine Casey, Ed.D, Director of Educational Initiatives
Dr. Casey’s 30 year career in education has focused on creating educational opportunities for underserved populations through leveraging creative partnerships with community and private industry. While serving as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for the Stamford Public Schools in Stamford, CT, she lead the team that created one of the first “high tech” high schools in the nation; the nationally award winning Academy of Information Technology. Dr. Casey currently consults state wide in Connecticut and regionally in New York specializing in creating programs for students with disabilities and underserved populations; grant writing, developing funding sources and coordinating pilot activities.

Nan Halperin, Director of Sponsorship
Nan brings a wealth of experience in developing new sponsorship opportunities. As Vice President of CNN News Service, Nan was an education specialist who focused on developing promotional and content sponsorships for four divisions. She began her career as Marketing Director with Touche Ross in Los Angeles. She honed her skills with Children’s Television Network where she was instrumental in the multi-year licensing agreement to produce and market Sesame Street videos, audios and books/tapes. In addition to her dedication to children, Nan has also demonstrated a commitment to the Hispanic community by the development of a employee Spanish language study program at CTW as well as having advocated and initiated Hispanic branding activities. Nan holds an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Laura Ploss, Director of Operations/Family Relations
Laura has had over 24 years in operational management. Prior to BKFK she was the Director of Operations for eNewsRelease, an online press release distribution service. She began her career in the Travel Industry where she spent 18 years in retail and corporate travel management. While working with Carlson Wagonlit Travel she established and managed onsite corporate travel offices in General Electric and Xerox Corporate Headquarters. She managed the travel coordination for Xerox’s annual Senior Management and monthly Board of Directors meetings. Laura has volunteered for many years as production and stage manager in community theatre and youth dance recitals.

Rebecca Ryan Hunter, Director of Marketing
Rebecca brings a great deal of experience in online brand development and management. She has been in marketing and development since the early days of the internet, working with non-profit associations and Fortune 100 companies. In her community outreach work at Rain Bird, Rebecca was instrumental in developing and producing online curriculum for rain forest education. During her time as Managing Producer at Grey Interactive, Rebecca managed global production and development for P&G and Nortel Networks and was a key new business development team member. In her time as Internet & New Media Director at iN DEMAND Networks, Rebecca developed eCRM databases, developed online marketing materials for video-on-demand and worked on the launch team for two new high-definition networks.

Shirley Stone, Director of Ad Operations
Shirley has been a pivotal member of management teams during the launch of several health and alternate lifestyle media properties. During her tenure as Vice President, Business Development & Operations with The Discovery Channel, Shirley routinely grew sales beyond projections. She developed sales tools, policies and a planning program which aided her team in exceeding expectation. Her expertise in the development of sales strategies is an invaluable asset to our sales presentation to potential sponsors. Shirley holds an MBA from Baruch University

JoAnn Santiago, Director Of Diversity
JoAnn is an entrepreneur and an inventor. She has been a teacher for more than 15 years working with children with special needs and as a private tutor. She has also served as a mentor for young entrepreneurs through the Small Business Association. JoAnn is multilingual, speaking Spanish, French, Portuguese and English. She is a recipient of a "Trickle Up" grant provided to economically disadvantaged people to start or expand their businesses. JoAnn has worked as a consultant with the Huntsport Office of Economic Development and is currently associated with the Regentrification of Harlem USA.

Julie Swanson, Kids Disability Specialist
Julie created Diversity Media, Inc., to address the needs of families living with disabilities and special needs. She brings a great deal of professional and personal experience to her role with BKFK. Julie has become a tireless advocate for people with special needs. She has been a producer of documentary programming at ABC affiliate WTNH-Channel 8 in New Haven, CT and is regularly featured on Good Morning Connecticut Weekend on WTNH with her “All About Your Special Child” segments. Julie is co-president of The Connecticut Association of Education Advocates and a founding board member of Connecticut Families for Effective Autism treatment.

Brian Wittman, Creative Director
Brian is the founder of and creative director for Wittman Idea Network LLC, an established brand image consulting firm. Prior to that he was with Walker Digital where he created and lead its design team to define the “look and feel” for the next generation of its commercialized patents. He was with Priceline.com when it began and was part of the implementation team for brand strategy and recognition. Brian's 25+ year career has included clients such as Jimmy Buffett, Linda Ronstadt, Paul McCartney, World Wrestling Federation and Scholastic, to name a few.