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Kenneth Feld

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Kenneth Feld
Born (1948-10-31) October 31, 1948 (age 76)
NationalityUnited States
EducationB.A. Boston University
OccupationBusinessman
Known forOwner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
SpouseBonnie Turen Feld
ChildrenNicole Feld
Alana Feld
Juliette Feld
Parent(s)Adele Feld
Irvin Feld
RelativesKaren Irma Feld (sister)
Israel Feld (uncle)

Kenneth Jeffrey Feld (born October 31, 1948) is the CEO of Feld Entertainment, which has operated the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (closed in 2017), Disney on Ice, Doodlebops Live, Disney Live, Monster Jam, International Hot Rod Association, and AMA Supercross Championship. He is also the producer of several Broadway plays. The business was started by his father Irvin Feld who also promoted Beatles concerts, and Ken became CEO of the company upon his father's death in 1984.

Biography

Feld is the son of Adele and Irvin Feld. He graduated from the Boston University School of Management in 1970 with a management degree (Feld is currently a member of the BU Board of Trustees).[2] According to a 2004 article in Forbes magazine, he was worth $775 million and lives in Potomac, Maryland. His mother committed suicide in 1958 so he and his sister Karen were raised by their aunt and uncle.[3]

Disney Studio co-produced "Largely New York" with Feld that premiered on May 1, 1989, at St. James Theatre.[4]

In July 2006, he was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame.[5]

Clair George has testified in court that he worked as a consultant for Kenneth Feld and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. From 1990 to 1997, he was involved in a program of surveillance, which included wiretapping, directed against Janice Pottker, a journalist who had written about the Feld family, and of various animal rights groups such as PETA and the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).[3][6]

In January, 2014 Forbes reported that Feld had become a billionaire. The magazine estimated his stake in the company to be conservatively worth about $1.8 billion after running price-to-sales comparisons with comparable companies. Feld is the world’s second circus industry billionaire after Cirque du Soleil’s Guy Laliberte, whose net worth Forbes also estimated to be $1.8 billion.[7] In 2009, the Feld Family Foundation pledged $10 million to Boston University.[8]

Personal life

He is married to Bonnie Turen, who is also Jewish.[9] They have three daughters: Nicole Feld, Alana Feld, and Juliette Feld.[10] All three of his daughters work at Feld Entertainment: Nicole Feld produced the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shows; Alana Feld is executive vice president and producer of Feld Entertainment's stage shows;[11] and Juliette Feld is chief operating officer of Feld Entertainment.

References

  1. ^ Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Kenneth Feld & Family August 2014
  2. ^ Members of the BU Board of Trustees[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b Leiby, Richard. "Send In The Clowns". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-08-04. The tale begins on a summer day 15 years ago when CEO Kenneth Feld opened his copy of Regardie's, a slick magazine that covered the Washington business scene. He turned to Page 44 and began reading a lengthy article about himself. It was written by Pottker, a freelancer who had once interviewed him for a book about corporate heirs. Headlined "The Family Circus," the piece began flatteringly enough, portraying Feld as a hands-on executive committed to providing quality entertainment.
  4. ^ Nelson, Nels (May 2, 1989). "Curtain Up On 'Largely New York'". Philly.com. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  5. ^ Circus Hall of Fame Inductees Archived 2007-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "The Greatest Vendetta on Earth". Salon.com. August 30, 2001. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04. On a gloomy Veterans Day in 1998, Janice Pottker answered an unexpected knock on the door of her home in Potomac, Md., a woodsy, upscale suburb of Washington. Standing there was a man she'd never seen before, a private detective who introduced himself as Tim Tieff. He told Pottker, a freelance writer married to a senior government official, that he had a discreet message from Charles F. Smith, a former top executive with Feld Entertainment, owner of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circuses, Disney Shows on Ice, and other subsidiaries that make it the largest live entertainment company in the world.
  7. ^ Mac, Ryan (28 January 2014). "Ringling Bros. Owner Not Clowning Around With Business, Cannons To Billionaire Status". Forbes.
  8. ^ Boston University: "Feld Family Foundation Pledges $10 Million to BU - Three endowed professorships included in major new gift" September 23, 2009
  9. ^ Legacy.com: "FLORENCE TUREN (1923 - 2014)" retrieved August 24, 2014
  10. ^ Washington Post: "Feld Entertainment head prepares to pass his empire to his daughters" by Thomas Heath June 15, 2012
  11. ^ [1]
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