Jerry Reitman (born January 9, 1938) is an American author, businessman and advertising executive. Reitman is the founder of the Reitman Group. He formerly worked for American Express, served as the vice president of marketing for the CBS Columbia House division, served as the CEO of

Scali, McCabe, Sloves Scali, McCabe, Sloves was an American advertising agency founded in 1967 by Sam Scali, Ed McCabe, Marvin Sloves, Alan Pesky, and Len Hultgren. Campaigns The agency's ads for Perdue Farms ("It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken") made F ...

, the International Head and Executive Vice President of Ogilvy, and the Executive Vice President of

Leo Burnett Worldwide Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc., also known as Leo Burnett Company, Inc., is an American advertising company, founded on August 5, 1935, in Chicago by Leo Burnett. In September 2002, the company was acquired by Publicis Groupe, the world's third l ...

Early life

Reitman was born to Benjamin and Ruth Reitman. He grew up in a Jewish family in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. His father was the owner of multiple shoe retail stores. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School and went on to attend

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

where he graduated with a degree in finance.

Career

Reitman started his career at

Ziff Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

as an ad salesman. While at Ziff Davis, he went on to become the director of their British Magazine of the Month Club. He then spent time working at

Publishers Clearing House Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions with sweepstakes and prize-based games. It was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace door-to-door magazine subscription sales ...

and Academic Media Company. In 1974, Reitman became the International Head and Executive Vice President of Ogilvy and was successful in growing Oglivy from two offices to 26 offices over a four-year period. In 1982, Reitman was named the President and CEO of

where he was tasked with expanding the company. In 1985, Reitman became the Executive Vice President of

. He retired from Leo Burnett after working there for 15 years. Reitman published ''Beyond 2000: The Future of Direct Marketing'' in 2000. The book talks about the future of the direct marketing industry.

Awards

Reitman has received recognition and many awards for his successful work as an advertising executive. For example, the city of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Louisiana gifted him with the

key to the city The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

. Other awards he has received include the Direct Marketers Silver Apple, the Charles S. Downs Award and the Direct Marketer of Year Award.

Charitable work

Reitman served as the chairman of the board of Governors at the

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: Réseau Enfants-Santé (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of 10 million children each ...

for more than 20 years. As a result of his work with the Children's Miracle Network, he was invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in 2009 and met with

President 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 (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

Personal life

Reitman is a resident of Chicago, Illinois. He also owns homes in Venice, California and Stockholm, Sweden. He is an avid tennis player and sports fan and an aspiring woodworker. His nephew is professional tennis player Oskar Wikberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reitman, Jerry 1938 births Living people Businesspeople from Philadelphia American advertising executives Businesspeople from Chicago 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople