John Jaxheimer Worked in marketing and publishing management for: Procter and Gamble, Lever Brothers, 3M Company, The New York Times, and CMP Publishing. For the New York Times he started a cooking school and radio syndication program for Family Circle Magazine and published a best seller cookbook "Recipes America Loves Best" and a series of special subject publications. Lived in NYC since 1969 with wife Susan ( a school teacher) and raised two children. In companies he was always the "new idea" person, working on ways to extend the value of the primary publications or products…like the Family Circle experience. John combined the marketing experience with publishing (communications) experience to identify new business opportunities for his employers. In 1994 he joined the board of City Harvest, who recycles meals that were prepared for guests in hotels and restaurants, but not served….usually due to over preparation, no-shows or bad weather canceling the event or reducing the attendance. City Harvest needed an event planner for their fundraising events…black tie dinner dances for the young associates in investment banks and law firms. As a new board member he volunteered to find a planner by calling the editor who did the not-for-profit event listings in the Sunday NY Times. He did not know who sent the listings and through calls to other not-for-profits I found two planners for City Harvest.While interviewing the planners John found that they had no specific training for certification to be an event planner…and no trade organization to network with colleagues. They used the term "Agenda" to describe their schedules of events. They needed the information on resources for their events, which they didn't have the time to run down. So with his marketing and publishing background the "Agenda New York" idea was born.In about 1 ½ years he finished the due diligence talking to planners and prospective advertisers (hotels, caterers, restaurants, etc.) and was confident there was a business there. He went to the banks and venture capital investors to raise the startup capital, but either found no interest (banks) or I was offered the "opportunity" to work for a venture capital investor and keep a minimal interest in the business. The only option was to mortgage their house to fund the business. So with a very supportive wife, and two houses, two children, two cats and two cars he launched Agenda New York on November 15, 1998. The first issue came out in June 1989 and broke even, with less than two months before the house would have been lost from the loan to fund the business! 17 years later, Agenda New York has been joined by Agenda Boston, Agenda Washington, Agenda Chicago, Agenda Las Vegas, with Agenda issues in Southern California and Northern California. In 1999 they launched first trade show, the Agenda New York Conference and Expo, which now has over 500 planners in attendance annually. The idea is to take a simple idea, something you can explain in 60 seconds, and turn it into a viable business proposition. John is still looking at expansion opportunities in both new markets, with more services in current markets. back to our guests ... Print-Version