My Story
Full Bio
Today Ari resides in New York City with his wife Anna who runs Prana on Prince, her own yoga space in the heart of Soho. Ari and Anna met as young children at the UN International School, where Ari attended both primary and high school.
Ari went on to attend The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and graduated in the class of '03, one year early. He received a BS in Economics with concentrations in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship, and minors in Art history and Psychology. He was also honored as an Albert A. Berg scholar.
Ari launched his career early when at the age of twelve he agreed to create a company website for one of his father's business associates. This was the foundation of Liontex, a company with which Ari worked on over one hundred and fifty websites. Continuing to capitalize on the rapid growth of the still emerging online market, at sixteen Ari created and developed Menus-to-Go.com. Menus-to-Go is essentially a go-to internet directory of take out and delivery menus in and around NYC. The site has been described as a precursor to Delivery.com and Food.com
At seventeen Ari went on to found TEK, a consultancy specializing in home theatre, computer networking and telecommunications for homes and businesses.
After his graduation Ari was given a tour of some disused cigar factories by a friend. Seeing potential, he bought the factories with the goal of turning them into luxury lofts. Unfortunately he had no experience in construction, so the majority of the following two years were spent learning and doing all of the trades required on the job. Once the factory conversion was underway Arise Development came into being. Today Arise Development continues to focus on bringing life to dilapidated and abandoned buildings. Expanding his portfolio, Ari bought Lackawanna Train Station, which in the eighties had been converted into offices. The Lackawanna property is in keeping with Arise Development's mantra of making use of historic spaces, and the station boasts the last remaining Marconi radio tower in the US.
Returning from upstate Ari began work mainly in the Hamptons, creating state of the art commercial and retail space, as well as affordable housing. He began to build green, and became a LEED accredited professional. This encouraged him to create LEED Pro, a green building consultancy. The LEED Pro Blog was picked up by Princeton Architectural Press, and Ari was offered a book deal for LEED Materials: A Resource Guide to Green Building. Ari continued to develop his skills and expertise in green building, working as a Materials Innovation Specialist to major sustainable real estate firm John Picard & Associates. He also created his own polymer based construction material called PapierTile.
The most recent project Ari has been involved in is further building and renovation in the Hamptons through Meisel Development. He has undertaken his first solo project in SylvanHaus a retail development twinned with affordable apartment building. SylvanHaus is slated to become the first LEED Platinum project on Long Island.
Along with his friend Jameson Detweiler, Ari turned a hobby of productivity into a popular framework and consulting service for optimizing, automating and outsourcing of of life's tasks. Less Doing, More Living continues to grow in popularity with a book release slated for sometime in 2012. This has become a platform for general efficiency consultants to businesses, entrepreneurs and everyone else who could use a little time in their life.
In 2007, Ari was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Crohn's is an incurable disease of the digestive tract. Ari's case was severe, and required over a dozen daily medications and several hospital visits. After reaching a personal low point in hospital, Ari decided he would do everything in his power to strengthen his by then weak body. Through a combination of yoga, nutrition, natural supplements and rigorous exercise he was able to fight back the symptoms of Crohns until he was finally able to suspend his medication. Eventually Ari was declared free of all traces of the 'incurable' disease, and competed in Ironman France in June of 2011. Ari has since spoken at seminars and at a regional TED Talk about his struggle against a seemingly insurmountable opposition.
Now Ari is focused on Achievement Architecture. A coaching program he developed to help individuals be more effective at everything from health and fitness to business and interpersonal relationships.
Awards and Accreditations:
Ironman France 2011 Finisher Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America - 2010 Young Humanitarian of the Year USGBC LEED Accredited Professional NYS Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) AHA CPR/AED Certified YogaWorks RYT200 Yoga Teacher Red Cross First Aid/CPR Certified PADI Certified Scuba Diver FAA Certified Pilot and former USAF Civil Air Patrol Cadet Airman Amateur Radio Technician - Call Sign KC2WNU Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2002 Young IT Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2000 AIA Peconic Merit Award 2010 for SylvanHaus AIA Archie Award 2009 and 2010 for SylvanHaus AIA Archie Award 2007 for Watermill Ateliers Multi-Housing News Design Excellence Award 2007 for Depot Lofts Face of Rage Against the Machine album cover Evil Empire Committee and Boards Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America - Board Member, 2010 Honoree Gerson Lerhman Group - Real Estate Advisory Council Member USGBC New York LEED Committee and LEED for Homes Committee Broome County Regional Airport Former Advisory Board Member Binghamton Commission on Architecture and Urban Design Former Chairman Southern Tier Celebrates! Former Chairman Corporate Advisory Board for GreenKonnect Corporate Advisory Board for LED Optics Advisory Board for The Relentless Foundation Executive Producer - Pioneer One Press Wall Street Journal HGTV - What You Get For The Money Hilary Clinton New York Entrepreneurship Week Builder News NewsDay TrueNYC Hamptons.com Binghamton Renaissance DVD WIVT - TV WBNG - TV | Speaking/Writing
Skillshare - Master Teacher Mixergy - December 2011 Guest Writer for Mashable.com New York University - September 2011 Quantified Self - August 2011 TEDxEast - May 2011 New York University - February 2011 The Levin Institute - October 2010 Greek American Chamber of Commerce - September 2010 Columbia University - September 2010 The Cooper Union - April 2010 Conrad Foundation Innovation Awards - April 2010 New York City Entrepreneurship Week - April 2010 Parsons School of Design - Feb 2010 Syracuse University - Feb 2010 New York University - Jan 2010 Sustainable Design Workshop: Studio 901 - Jan 2010 NYC Entrepreneurship Week - April 2009 United Nations International School - Mar 2009 Long Island University - Nov 2008 Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour - Ongoing Duke University – Nov 2007 I Live NY Summit – Cortland, NY Sept 2007 Baruch College March 2007 Monday Afternoon Club Feb 2006 Ithaca College Nov 2005 Binghamton SERTOMA Club Nov 2005 New York University – Stern School Sep 2005 Binghamton University Sep 2005 Southern Tier Opportunity Coalition Sep 2005 United Way Day of Caring, Sep 2005 Binghamton Rotary Club May 2005 Broome Community College Nov 2004 Binghamton Chamber of Commerce June 2004 Binghamton Rotary Club June 2004 Broome Leadership Institute May 2004, October 2004 The Hillcrest Rotary Club April 2004 Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference Feb 2004 Binghamton High School Jan 2004 |
