User:Jerumdum/sandbox/rasiej

Andrew Rasiej (born May 7, 1958) is a New York-based social entrepreneur and technology strategist. A recognized pioneer at the intersection of technology and politics, he most notably founded Personal Democracy Media, which produces both the annual conference Personal Democracy Forum and the award winning blog TechPresident. He also serves as the chairman of NY Tech Meetup and Senior Technology Advisor to the Sunlight Foundation.

Early childhood and education

Rasiej was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Bogota, New Jersey. while attending Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, NY. He graduated from Cooper Union in 1980, with a degree in Fine Arts.

Career

Early career

In 1981, Rasiej began working in real estate development, first for Harry B. Macklowe, then The Rouse Company, then Olympia & York. In 1989, with eight years of experience in commercial real estate, he started a consulting practice advising nonprofits on real estate matters.

One of his first clients was the Polish Army Veterans Association, which owned Irving Plaza, an old Vaudeville theater that the veterans were hoping to convert into a cultural center. However, the 1990 real-estate recession hindered most redevelopment plans, and Rasiej, unable to rent out the theater, re-launched the theater as a state-of-the-art music venue. For the next seven years, he used his experience in real estate, business management, and his interest in the Internet as a new marketing vehicle for live music to help transform Irving Plaza into one of New York City's premier rock venues.

In 1994, Rasiej and Michael Dorf co-founded the Macintosh New York Festival, which later became the Intel music festival, and which later became known as the New York Digital Music Festival.[5] In 1995, Rasiej and Dorf founded Plug-In, the first digital music conference which brought together digital music pioneers and record executives to discuss and debate the future in digital distribution of music.[6] In 1996, Rasiej, Dorf, and one of the founders of Digital Cities (link), Ted Werth founded Digital Club Network DCN, a live streaming and archiving service showcasing musical performances from approximately 30 of the most prominent live music venues in the country. DCN received early stage funding from Boston based Atlas Ventures (link)  and was eventually acquired by eMusic Group.(link)

That same year, Andrew also founded the New York Nightlife Association, which helped to improve relationships between local nightclubs and neighborhood organizations.[7] to counter of New York City Mayor Rudolf Guiliani’s publicly stated goal to harass the nightlife industry.