People and Leadership - The International Freedom Center

Biography

Tom A. Bernstein
Co-Founder and Chairman

Tom A. Bernstein is Co-founder (with Peter Kunhardt) and Chairman of the International Freedom Center. Mr. Bernstein is also a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

Mr. Bernstein is also President and Co-founder of Chelsea Piers, L.P., which develops and operates the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex. 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, now 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.

Mr. Bernstein has been actively involved in a number of pro bono activities. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committees of several non-profit organizations, including WNYC Radio (New York's public radio stations), The Fresh Air Fund, The Partnership for Public Service, Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), City Year New York and NYC & Company. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Bernstein also served as a member of the Transition Team of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In 2002, Mr. Bernstein was appointed by President Bush to serve as a Council Member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., where he now serves as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Committee on Conscience.

Mr. Bernstein is married to Andrea E. Bernstein. They are the parents of three children.

"We promise this—we will dedicate ourselves to building an institution grounded in passion, excellence and integrity. And if we do our job well, we will leave a powerful legacy to our children and future generations."
- Tom A. Bernstein and Peter W. Kunhardt, Co-Founders, The International Freedom Center

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