Born on the small Greek island of Nisyros, John Catsimatidis immigrated to the United States with his family in 1948 and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time.
Today, that grocery business has evolved into the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC in New York, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics.
Topics include:
— He was the keynote speaker at the June 2023 Talkers Magazine Convention
— His heritage as a Greek American and how he ran for Mayor of New York.
— His early success managing and growing the Red Apple supermarkets on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, including the start of the famous Columbus Avenue Festival in the 80’s and parlaying that into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.
— His love for politics relating his involvement with Republic and Democratic politicians such as George H.W Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guiliani, Michael Bloomberg, & Michael Dukakis,
— His perspective on why he’s donated to political candidates from both parties over the years and what’s wrong with our current campaign finance structure
— The way he sees and evaluates opportunities as an entrepreneur
— His successful foray into the oil and gas business and his failed attempt at creating a new Airline known as Capitol Airlines.
— His passion for NYC real estate development including rejuvenating the Richmond County Bank Ballpark and founding a minor league baseball team, the Staten Island FerryHawks
— His belief in philanthropy, his work with the Police Athletic League (PAL), the meaning of the Greek word, “Philotimo” and John’s take on the American Dream today
CONTACT: Jerry McGlothlin 919-437-0001 or geraldmcg@outlook.com.
