Tom A. Bernstein
Tom A. Bernstein, 57, is President and Co-Founder of Chelsea Piers, L.P., formed in 1992, to develop and operate the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex. The Chelsea Piers is a 30-acre waterfront sports village located between 17th and 23rd Streets along Manhattan’s Hudson River. This $100 million, privately financed project has transformed four historic, but long-neglected, piers into a major center for sports and recreation, with over 4.0 million visitors each year.
From 1983 to 1998, Mr. Bernstein was one of the two principals of Silver Screen Management, Inc., and the affiliated Silver Screen companies, which served as the managing general partners of the Silver Screen partnerships. These partnerships raised approximately $1 billion from 140,000 investors to finance films produced by The Walt Disney Company and Home Box Office, Inc. The 75 films financed by the Silver Screen partnerships include such box office successes as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Pretty Woman,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Three Men and a Baby.”
From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Bernstein was one of the principal owners of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club with the ownership group led by George W. Bush, formerly the President of the United States.
In 1984, Mr. Bernstein produced the motion picture "Sakharov," which starred Glenda Jackson and Jason Robards, for Home Box Office Inc. The film was the most honored show at the Seventh Annual Awards for Cable Excellence, winning four major awards including Best Movie or Miniseries.
From 1978 to 1983, Mr. Bernstein was an attorney with the Entertainment Department of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. In 1977-78, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein in Federal District Court in New York. Mr. Bernstein is a graduate of Yale College ('74 summa cum laude) and Yale Law School ('77), where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and now serves as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council.
Mr. Bernstein has been actively involved in a number of pro bono activities. For many years, Mr. Bernstein has been a Board member of Human Rights First, where he now serves as Vice-Chair. In January 2010, Mr. Bernstein was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of the Fund for Cities of Service, formed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mr. Bernstein also serves as Chair of the Partnership for Public Service and is a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, GA.
Mr. Bernstein is also a member of the Board of Directors of several other non-profit organizations, including WNYC Radio (New York's public radio stations), The Fresh Air Fund and City Year New York. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Bernstein also served as a member of the Transition Team of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In September of 2010, President Obama appointed Mr. Bernstein Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C, where he has served as a Council Member, member of the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Committee on Conscience since his appointment by President Bush in 2002.
From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Bernstein was Co-Founder and Chairman of the International Freedom Center, a cultural institution developed for the World Trade Center Site as an educational complement to the World Trade Center Memorial.
Mr. Bernstein is married to Andrea E. Bernstein. They are the parents of three teenage children.
Revised 10/05/2010
