Gary L. Ginsberg (born August 30, 1962) is a lawyer, American political operative and corporate adviser, serving as a strategist in both the public and private sectors for more than 25 years.
He was most recently Senior Vice President and Global Head of Communications at SoftBank Group Corp. before resigning in 2020.
Before joining SoftBank, Ginsberg served as Executive Vice President of Corporate
Marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
and
Communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
at
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
and as Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs at
News Corp
News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
.
Biography
Ginsberg began his legal career as an attorney at
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is an international white shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions, with over 1,000 attorneys in 11 offices w ...
. After that he served in the Clinton Administration at the White House’s Counsel office and the U.S. Department of Justice.
["News Corp. Exec Jumps to Time Warner"](_blank)
by Shira Ovide and Nat Worden, ''The Wall Street Journal'' "Digits" blog, February 18, 2010, 11:51 AM ET. Retrieved 2010-07-20. In 1995, Ginsberg became Senior Editor and legal counsel of ''George'', the magazine started by
John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Ginsberg spent eleven years at
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
, serving in several senior roles, including most recently as Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs. During this tenure, Ginsberg was a close confidant of
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
and
Peter Chernin
Peter Chernin (born May 29, 1951) is an American businessman and investor. He is the chairman and CEO of TCG (company), The Chernin Group (TCG), which he founded in 2010. TCG manages, operates and invests in businesses in the media, entertainment, ...
.
["An Adviser to Murdoch Is Leaving News Corp."](_blank)
by Tim Arango,''The New York Times'', November 16, 2009 (November 17, 2009 p. B4 NY ed.). Retrieved 2010-07-20. In 2009, Ginsberg stepped down from his role at News Corp. following the departure of Chernin, who for years served as Murdoch’s top lieutenant. Ginsberg had been close to Chernin and was also closely associated with Democratic politics. Ginsberg was credited with brokering numerous relationships between Murdoch and prominent Democratic politicians. He arranged lunches with
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and orchestrated a fundraiser for
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
in 2006.
Ginsberg also arranged a meeting between Murdoch and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
in 2008. Ginsberg was described as the “Murdoch Interpreter - the point man for all of the information going out of the company, as well as the information going into the company.” He was also "a point man for News Corp.’s 2007 purchase of
Dow Jones Dow Jones is a combination of the names of business partners Charles Dow and Edward Jones.
Dow Jones & Company
Dow, Jones and Charles Bergstresser founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. That company eventually became a subsidiary of News Corp, and ...
, publisher of
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
."
Ginsberg joined Time Warner in February 2010. His new job was described "as a senior adviser to its
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Jeff Bewkes
Jeffrey Lawrence Bewkes (born May 25, 1952) is an American media executive. He was CEO of Time Warner from January 1, 2008 to June 14, 2018, President from December 2005 to June 2018, and Chairman of the Board from January 1, 2009 to 2018.
Ear ...
..., executive vice president, ...
ndresponsible for a range of corporate issues, including communications and marketing, and for evangelism across the media industry for Mr. Bewkes’s initiatives.”
Ginsberg again served as “the connection to Washington on multiple instances.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in early 2017 that Ginsberg met with
Jared Kushner
Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...
at the White House. At the meeting Kushner “expressed the administration's deep concerns about CNN’s according to an administration official.
Ginsberg held a breakfast meeting in 2016 with his former colleague Peter Cherning in Martha’s Vineyard where Cherning first broached the possibility of
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
acquiring
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
. Ginsberg was “in the middle of the fight to defend the company’s sale to AT&T.”
[ Two years later the deal was completed and Ginsberg left the company along with other senior colleagues from Time Warner.
In October 2018 Ginsberg was hired by Softbank as the company's Global Chief of Communications.][ While at Sofbank, Ginsberg worked on a number of initiatives including the launch a new global website and more sophisticated video content to sharpen the company messaging.][
Ginsberg is the author of ''First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped our Presidents'' published in July 2021, which reached ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.
]
Personal life
Ginsberg and his wife, former TV producer Susanna Aaron, live in the West Village with their two children Sam ('96) and Alec Ginsberg ('99).
Ginsberg is chairman of the Board of New Visions for Public Schools; Director of The City, an online news service covering NYC, and Malaria No More
Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate malaria. The organization has offices in the United States, as well as affiliates in India, Japan and the United Kingdom, and is known for its participation in the Idol Gives Ba ...
; and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Genesis Prize Foundation Genesis Prize Foundation.[Genesis Prize Official Website, accessed March 18, 2015 http://www.genesisprize.org/about/leadership/31-board-of-directors-and-advisory-board/156-gary-ginsberg.html] Ginsberg is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ginsberg holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, where was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.[
]
References
External links
*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/16/gary-ginsberg-news-corp-e_n_359605.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginsberg, Gary
Living people
American lawyers
20th-century American Jews
1962 births
21st-century American Jews