Elliott Bisnow

Elliott Bisnow is the Founder of Summit Series. He is also the co-founder of Bisnow Media Corporation and the Get Well Soon Tour; and a founding board member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council. Bisnow was raised in Washington, D.C. The son of D.C. lawyer, author, political insider, and radio talk show host Mark Bisnow and former federal trade commissioner Margot Bisnow, Elliott Bisnow grew up in Washington, D.C.'s Forest Hills neighborhood and attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2004 Bisnow attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a tennis scholarship. While in school, Bisnow started a T-shirt company and began selling ads for Bisnow Media, a Washington, D.C.-based digital media company his father started that published email newsletters about the D.C. real estate community. By 2007, Bisnow had dropped out of school and joined Bisnow Media full-time to help revamp the publication. After two years, the business had more than 100,000 subscribers and was bringing in an annual revenue of $2 million. It has since blossomed into North America's largest commercial real estate media company. Bisnow Media now reaches more than 500,000 subscribers, covers 21 U.S. markets and has revenues surpassing $10 million a year. In 2008, Bisnow started Summit Series, an organization that hosts events for young entrepreneurs, artists and activists. In June 2011, after hosting several events — including Summit Series in Mexico, on a Caribbean cruise ship, and in Squaw Valley, California — the organization bought a part of Powder Mountain for a reported $40 million to become its home base, called Summit Powder Mountain. The location will host future Summit events, which now attract thousands of participants and guests, including leaders such as Richard Branson, Bill Clinton, and Ted Turner. Bisnow also oversees the Summit Action Fund, which invests in innovative start-ups whose founders are entrepreneurs with strong morals and values. The companies the fund has invested in include Zaarly, Change.org, Basis, Bre.ad, IDC Elevator, Scopley, LSTN, Warby Parker, Scribd, and Uber. In 2009, Bisnow was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of "America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs" in their 30 Under 30 issue.