Let's Talk Impact with Brian Byrd @ New Breed w

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Mr. Byrd is the founder, President, and CEO of CEIG, Inc., whose primary line of business is New Breed w (“NBW”). New Breed w, based in New York City, is a Talent Optimization and Retention company that helps companies maximize the performance of each of their employees through a platform which enables systematic recognition and customized rewards. Clients use the service to create an appreciation culture which increases employee engagement, bolsters productivity, and improves their profitability. The company sells its services primarily in the United States and opportunistically in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Prior to starting the company, Mr. Byrd headed a wireless services and ringtone company, New Breed Wireless, and before that, Mr. Byrd founded an Internet-based entertainment company which developed Internet-based games, television shows, and video shorts. The primary focus was a celebrity trivia board game with updates through the Internet. Mr. Byrd managed the successful execution of the company’s initial product launch in Austin, Texas, and on a smaller scale in New York City. During the initial launch, Mr. Byrd appeared in interviews on the Austin-based Fox, ABC, and CBS Television stations to promote the Company’s website and initial product sales through Wal-Mart. Mr. Byrd served as Executive Director for the company’s first Video Short series, with the working title, Next Door. He has also been quoted in Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

Prior to founding the company, Mr. Byrd was an Associate in the Corporate Finance department of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., working as a generalist investment banker responsible for client management, problem-solving, and execution of transactions in several different industries. While there, he also served as the Secretary of the firm’s equity and debt sub-committees and its commitment committee. Mr. Byrd worked for McKinsey & Company in the summer between his first and second years in business school, where he got his first exposure to the wireless industry, and prior to that spent four years at Citicorp financing real estate developers. Mr. Byrd ran a party promotion business that paid for his undergraduate education and made him one of the pioneers in “street marketing.” Mr. Byrd earned a B.A. from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Mr. Byrd has been involved in a diverse set of extra-curricular activities to further promote entrepreneurship, to help others, and to enjoy life. Mr. Byrd was the founder and organizer of a program for the Harvard Business School Club of New York called the Angel Capital Conference, formed to bring Angel investors together with entrepreneurial graduates of HBS in need of capital. He also served as the Chief Fundraising agent for his class at HBS. Mr. Byrd is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

Currently, Mr. Byrd has ownership interests in several different companies. In the arts, he serves on the advisory board of Richard Taittinger Gallery and on the Board of Directors of Residency Unlimited. He is a licensed scuba diver, a marathon runner (New York City Marathon twice, and both the Berlin and Prague marathons), he enjoys playing basketball, and a very suspect game of golf. He also enjoys traveling. One example was a trip to Pamplona, Spain, where Mr. Byrd ran with the Bulls.

This episode has been guest hosted by Camille Jalandoni, co-founder @ WERULE