Seth M Siegel

Early life and education

Siegel was born in New York City and attended public schools in Queens, New York. In 1974, he received a B.S. degree from Cornell University. In 1978, he received a J.D. degree from the Cornell Law School. He also studied international relations as a graduate student at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1974-1975. Siegel was a recipient of a Wexner Heritage Fellowship from the Wexner Foundation from 1990 to 1993.

Trademark licensing

In 1990, Siegel co-founded The Beanstalk Group, a trademark licensing and brand extension agency. The company grew to be the world’s largest of its kind and was sold to Ford Motor Company in May 2001. In November 2005, Ford Motor Company sold Beanstalk to Omnicom and Siegel stepped down as co-CEO, a position he had held since the firm’s founding.

Beanstalk advised companies including Coca Cola, Harley-Davidson and Hormel. He also served as an advisor to and licensing agent for cartoon producer Hanna-Barbera Productions for its many characters including The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo. Siegel has also represented and advised celebrities including Paris Hilton.

Broadway and TV

Siegel was a Producer of the Tony Award-nominated 2002 Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha, which received three Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical. Siegel was also an Associate Producer of the Emmy Award-winning ABC-TV mini-series Dinotopia.

Other business ventures

In 2007, Siegel co-founded Sixpoint Partners, a boutique financial services firm. In that same year, he co-founded Vringo, now a public company (ticker symbol: VRNG) engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of mobile technologies and intellectual property. Siegel served as Chairman of the Board of Vringo until May 8, 2013. He now serves as the Vice Chairman of Sixpoint Partners. Siegel was also a co-founder of the Harley-DavidsonCafe restaurants, along with the restaurateur Marc Packer and other partners.

Community service

Siegel was the creator and primary funder of the ‘Building Community Through Literature’ reading project at P.S. 165 in Queens, New York that ran for nine years. In connection with Siegel’s elementary school education efforts, he appeared on The Today Show, where he was interviewed by Matt Lauer.

Siegel served as Board Chair of the Cornell University Hillel, during which time he developed the Tanner Prize, named by Siegel in honor of Harold Tanner. He remains on the Board of the organization. His service to Cornell University also includes two terms on the Cornell University Council and many years on the Advisory Board of Cornell’s ILR School. He has been on the Heschel School Board continuously since 1989 and was made an honorary trustee in 2010. Siegel also sits on the Board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel organization and of NLI-USA, the organization charged with rebuilding the National Library of Israel.

In 2006, during the Second Lebanon War, Siegel arranged for magician David Blaine to visit Israel to entertain there. The two toured shelters, hospitals and army bases.

In November 2011, Siegel, in his role as chairman of a delegation of Jewish communal leaders, was given an audience with Pope Benedict XVI and the opportunity to discuss Israel’s security.

Media appearances, writing and lecturing

Siegel has lectured throughout the United States and has written articles, opinion pieces and criticism for many publications, including the Op-ed page of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He was a regular columnist for Brandweek magazine, where he addressed a broad range of issues relating to marketing and pop culture. He has been quoted in print and electronic media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, the Financial Times (FT), the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. Siegel appeared on the NBC Nightly News and was a regular studio guest on CNBC. He has lectured as an adjunct professor at New York University, where he taught a course on licensing. Siegel has moderated or served as a panelist on numerous occasions on a variety of topics.

Water resources

Siegel is the author of Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World, which was published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press on September 15, 2015. In addition, Siegel has had Op-Ed essays on Middle East water issues published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The New York Times Op-Ed was the seventh most-emailed item in the newspaper on the day of publication. Siegel has also had essays on water in The Independent, Ireland’s largest circulation daily newspaper, Ynet, the online outlet for Yedioth Ahronoth, a leading Israeli newspaper, and Together, the Jewish National Fund magazine.

Aside from his writing, Siegel has spoken in the US and in Israel on water issues, including at the United Nations at a Department of Public Information NGO seminar, at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York at a Foreign Affairs Israel-US Business Forum, the WATEC conference in Tel Aviv and the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC. Siegel was also interviewed about water on Israel National Radio.

Other People's Words

Siegel is a lifelong collector of quotations. In 2005, Siegel published his collection of quotations, along with an introductory essay on the appeal of collecting quotations, under the title "Other People's Words."

Awards and honors

In 2010, Siegel was the recipient of the Jerome Alpern Award presented annually by the ILR School at Cornell University to an outstanding alumnus. He was also honored by the Heschel School for his leadership role there. On June 18, 2013, Siegel received the Tanner Prize, an honor awarded annually by the Cornell University Hillel. On August 10, 2013, he received the Arthur and Simi Teich Award for Distinguished Alumni Achievement from Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi). Siegel received Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for the Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha. In addition, he received the Licensing Industry Merchandiser’s Association LIMA Award for Excellence nine times in connection with his work at Beanstalk. Siegel also received two advertising industry Clio Awards for his work with corporate clients.

Personal life

Siegel is married to Rachel Ringler. They have three children and live in Manhattan.