ADVISORY COUNCIL
DAVID BOWEN
Founder
Bowen and Company
David Bowen is an accomplished, award-winning event marketing professional, with more than 15 years of experience. His ability to develop and execute exceptional, experiential marketing events and programs has made him a sought-after collaborator by A-list brands and businesses. He has been producing the annual James Beard Foundation Awards for the past several years.
From 2003 to 2005, David served as managing director of Lisa Lori Communications, where he oversaw clients including Country Living and Lucky magazines. The Fragrance Foundation, Frederick’s of Hollywood, and the international fragrance supplier Symrise, among others.
For several years prior, David directed the event marketing group at The Hearst Corporation, where he produced numerous magazine events, executive meetings and conferences. Highlights include the first anniversary event for O, The Oprah Magazine; the relaunch of Harper’s Bazaar and for Town & Country, the gala event and exhibition titled Audrey Hepburn: The Beauty of Compassion, which featured a never-before-seen installation of personal items from the Hepburn estates.
Prior to joining Hearst, David ran the event division at the Susan Magrino Agency, where he produced the launch event for O, The Oprah Magazine; the IPO event for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; NYC and LA record release parties for Hootie & the Blowfish; the opening of chef Daniel Boulud’s flagship Restaurant Daniel; and the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Four Seasons Restaurant, among many others.
Two formative experiences for David included his involvement in Time Magazine’s 75th Anniversary Event at New York’s Radio City Music Hall; and his role as associate producer on a series of gala events hosted by then-President of the American Red Cross Elizabeth Dole honoring Princess Diana for her work with victims of landmines.
David lives in Westchester County, NY, with his partner and their town children and serves on the board o directors of the Afya Foundation.
CARYL CHINN
Caryl Chinn Culinary Consulting
caryl@carylchinn.com
Very early in her career, while working at the legendary Stars Restaurant in San Francisco, Caryl Chinn found herself reporting to the restaurant on her birthday. But she didn’t mind as that night was a fundraiser dinner with special guest of honor Julia Child. Jeremiah Tower, Alice Waters, Jan Birnbaum and Emily Luchetti all joined forces on the tribute menu, and when it came time for the evening’s speeches, the pianist started the familiar refrain of Happy Birthday, and the whole restaurant – including Julia! – sang together. From that moment on, Caryl was hooked on the culinary world and the magical moments that can take place over food and wine.
After spending 3 years working on public relations and special events for celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower at Stars, Caryl moved to New York to look for new challenges. She accepted a position in special events at Bon Appétit magazine, a Condé Nast Publication, and wound up staying at the publication for 10 years, ultimately as senior special events director. During her tenure with Bon Appétit, she worked on many of their signature events including the Wine & Spirits Focus in multiple cities across the nation, Celebrity Chef Golf Invitational in Scottsdale, and the Celebrity Chef Ski Race in Beaver Creek, Colorado. She was responsible for Chefs’ Night Out – the magazine’s annual see-and-be-seen party the night before the James Beard Foundation Awards and the magazine’s involvement as a founding sponsor of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. Additionally, she oversaw the magazine’s presence at the Cannes Film Festival for three years.
A decade later, Caryl was approached by Karlitz & Company about joining the agency to establish a Culinary Division. The group grew quickly, filling a unique niche, and became the leader in special events focused on all things culinary. While there, Caryl worked with the agency’s clients to create several unique special events such as the Foxwoods Food & Wine Festival, the Legends Guest Chef Series at Yankee Stadium, Wine.Dine.Donate with epicurious.com, and more. Undoubtedly, the crowning achievement during her tenure there was collaborating with Festival Founder Lee Schrager on the establishment of the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival – sister event to the wildly successful South Beach Festival. In just 4 years, the Festival became a perennial favorite of foodies, and has raised over $3 million dollars for charity.
After 15 years in New York City, Caryl returned home to the West Coast, and Caryl Chinn Culinary Consulting was launched. In this new endeavor, she is able to combine her broad experience in special events, marketing, public relations and promotions with her close relationships with celebrity chefs and restaurateurs from around the country.
Caryl is on the Advisory Board for BizBash, the leading trade magazine for corporate event and meeting professionals, and was named Marketer of the Year while at Bon Appétit. She is a member of the James Beard Foundation and is on the Culinary Council for the Food Bank For New York City. Caryl graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in History.
TAYLOR CHOI
Taylor Choi is an independent event marketing consultant specializing in music, film, fashion, art, publishing, hotels, restaurants and lounges. Her company works directly with clients on special event consulting, strategic marketing and corporate partnerships grossing 1.5M in event sales per year. Taylor has implemented and produced events during the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Coachella Festival, Lollapalooza Festival, The Oscars, The Grammys, Superbowl, New York Festival Week and Miami Art Basel. She has executed sponsorships and promotions and spearheaded integrated publicity and viral marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, Heineken, LVMH Moet Hennessy, Pernod Ricard and William Grant USA. More recently, she held the position as Marketing and Events Director for fashion and art publications V Publishing LLC and was producer of New York Gallery Week. Clients include Gansevoort Hotel Group Properties, The ONE Group Properties, BD Hotels and S&E Properties. She serves as Communications Director for GiveLove, a non-profit organization in Haiti providing ecological sanitation, housing construction and community development projects. For more information visit www.givelove.org.
WILLIAM LI
Vice President, Advertising, Marketing, and Communications – Home
POLO RALPH LAUREN
In August 2010, William Li joined POLO RALPH LAUREN as Vice President of Advertising, Marketing, Communications for the Home division. Prior to this, he served as the Associate Publisher of Condé Nast Traveler beginning in April 2009 and as the Publisher of Condé Nast Portfolio, one of the most noteworthy magazine launches in recent publishing history, from January 2008 to April 2009. Mr. Li joined Condé Nast Portfolio after working as the Publisher of Men’s Vogue which launched in 2005. Under his helm, Men’s Vogue won numerous awards including, “Startup of the Year” and “Top 10 under 50 Hot” (Adweek, 2007); “Sales Team Leader of the Year” and “Sales Team of the Year Award,” (MIN, 2007); earned a spot on “15 Hottest Launches of 2006,” (Mr. Magazine, 2006); and was described by Adweek as a “winning print offspring of Vogue.”
Prior to Men’s Vogue, Mr. Li had been Associate Publisher of The New Yorker, where he started in 2002 as Advertising Director. Previously, Mr. Li oversaw the launch of HomeStyle and spent five years at House & Garden, where he held positions as Associate Publisher and Advertising Director, helping to oversee the magazine’s re-launch in 1996. That issue of House & Garden broke the record for the largest magazine debut ever, with 208 ad pages. In addition, Li has held various positions at Hearst Magazines and Grey Advertising.
Mr. Li holds a BA in Art History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Jennifer Maeng
Jennifer Maeng has been involved in the New York culinary scene since 2003 when she opened her own restaurants in the East Village at the age of 21.
An active and high profile member of the Korean community, Jennifer works as a consultant to bridge the gap between Korean food and American culture. Educated in hospitality management and culinary arts, Jennifer works closely with the Korean government and other organizations to bring Korean food and culture to America.
Born in Seoul to restaurateurs, Jennifer couldn’t help but grow up immersed in the hospitality business. When her family moved to New York when she was 12 she continued to be surrounded with Korean family and friends, inspiring her culinary ambitions at a very young age.
Jennifer took her family’s Buddhist principles of fresh food made simply as her inspiration when she opened Temple Restaurant on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. It was one of the first Korean restaurants in New York that aimed to cater to Koreans and Americans alike. During its six year run, Temple Restaurant was profiled over 50 times by various publications including The New York Times, Korea Times, New York Magazine and Time Out.
Jennifer continues to promote Korean food in America, collaborating with the South Korean Department of Agriculture, Korean food Foundation to host events and consulting with the Korean Cultural Center on ways to promote the American experience of Korean food.
A true ambassador of Korean cuisine, Jennifer has been profiled in many publications and frequently contributes recipes to internationally recognized publications such as Self, Saveur, The New York Times and others.
Richard Seet
Chairman & CEO
RXS Enterprises, LLC
Richard Seet is Chairman and CEO of RXS Enterprises, a media based investment vehicle. Mr. Seet is a director and/or investor in numerous private media companies including CineSport, a digital sports content syndicator to local newspaper, radio, and TV stations; and Gen Art, the leading live showcase for emerging talent in fashion, visual arts, film, and music. Previously, Mr. Seet was Chairman and CEO of Amity Entertainment, an independent film and children’s entertainment company he built in partnership with Angelo, Gordon & Co. Prior to the founding of Amity, Mr. Seet was Chairman of Seet Kummerfeld Prieb (SKP) and an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Schroders where he focused on buyouts of magazine publishing and marketing and media information services companies. Amongst his SKP transactions, he engineered the formation and sale of Reliant Media Services by consolidating multiple mid-market prepress facilities thus forming the largest private, unaffiliated prepress company in the US generating more than $100 million revenue.
Prior to SKP, Mr. Seet co-founded Qiosk.com, a startup venture with equity financing led by United Business Media, a FTSE 100 company, providing digital distribution of multimedia interactive magazines. Qiosk’s clients included Hearst, Cahners Business Information, Crain Communications, American Lawyer Media, ABP International, Penn Well and CMP Media LLC.
Prior to Qiosk, he was a principal with the Carlyle Group where he initiated and led Carlyle’s entry into Asia and the creation of its first Asian focused private equity funds. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Seet was a research fellow at the Harvard Business School where he developed and authored numerous teaching case studies on Asian competitive strategy.
He received his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his graduate education in molecular genetics at Harvard University where he was a Baxter Fellow.