Ownership and Executive Management

Steven Fassberg, President, CEO and Founder
Mr. Steven Fassberg has been an investment banker and mortgage professional for more than 20 years. He also simultaneously opened, developed and sold an array of impressive restaurant concepts and delicatessens from 1984 until 2002. He began baking bagels at the age of 13 in Massapequa, New York, and has owned numerous New York-style deli restaurants, steakhouses, and sports cafes during his career. Mr. Fassberg began developing the concept for real New York water bagels in June 2004, and has been working diligently full time for the last two years on the development of the franchise model, menu items, operating procedures, and food delivery systems.  He has fully tested every aspect of the operational franchise model, and has had the benefit of some of the best and brightest minds in QSR who have helped shape the model to perfection. His vision for The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Company franchise model was derived from 25 years of experience in the worlds of restaurant and finance.

Scott Harris, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Harris is a high energy executive/entrepreneur with over 20 years of building and successfully managing organizations through vision, empowerment, well-defined and well-communicated objectives, motivational speaking, entrepreneurial creativity, extensive contract negotiation with Fortune 500 and relentless drive to reach beyond and deliver. He served as President for the $240 million Atlantis Reef Project from 2002-2004 where he was responsible for sales and marketing, team recruitment, investor relations, as well as finance and public relations. Prior to becoming part of the management team for The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Company, Mr. Harris held executive positions which specialized in developing complex and diversified strategies for Fortune 500 Companies. He successfully negotiated strategic partner agreements with Microsoft, Dell, HP, IBM Global Services, Partech, NEC, Sony Online Entertainment, Raytheon, and many other notable companies.

Joseph West, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of Operations
Dr. West served as Florida International University's School of Hospitality and Tourist Management Dean for 10 years.  He made history when he established a FIU satellite campus in Tianjin, China - becoming the first school in the United States to do this. On a personal level, Dr. West was the co-founder of the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. He has also served as Chairman of the Department of Hospitality Administration in the College of Business at Florida State University in Tallahassee and was the Director of the Hospitality Education Program (HEP) for Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.  Dr. West was vice president of two restaurant companies and presently serves on the board of Benihana Corp.

Jim Dodrill, Esquire, Legal Counsel
James Dodrill, Esq. serves as the company's corporate and securities legal counsel.  Mr. Dodrill began his legal career in the New York office of Latham & Watkins, one of the nation's largest law firms.  Upon leaving L&W, Mr. Dodrill co-founded a golf equipment, apparel and accessories design and marketing company, serving as its President and General Counsel for 3 1/2 years from inception through IPO.  After consummating an underwritten, IPO for the company, Mr. Dodrill phased himself out, brought in other management and left the company in early 2000 to start James G. Dodrill, P.A., which exclusively focuses on providing corporate and securities legal advice to a global client base of select companies.  In 2008, Mr. Dodrill's practice was ranked as the 8th most active law firm in the United States for representing investors in private investments into public entities ("PIPES").  Mr. Dodrill is a graduate of Brown University and The University of Miami School of Law.

Ira Marcus, Esq., Senior Vice-President and General Counsel
Ira Marcus is an esteemed attorney and restaurateur who serves as corporate counsel for The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Company.  A business litigation and trial attorney, Mr Marcus, established Ira Marcus, P.A., in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and was previously an associate at Arnoldy & Portnoy in Boston.  He has wide-ranging expertise in business law and contract negotiation.  Mr. Marcus has owned and operated several restaurants and has served as counsel to many independently owned and franchised restaurants.  In addition to his legal and business expertise, he has been an instructor of law at New England School of Law and an adjunct professor of business at Florida Atlantic University.  Mr. Marcus holds a Juris Doctorate, Magna Cum Laude, from New England School of Law, where he graduated at the top of his class, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York in Buffalo.

Advisory Board

Larry Feldman, Advisory Board Chairman
As CEO of Subway Development Corp. of Washington, Larry Feldman is Subway’s largest development agent with more than 1,000 Subway shops.  He is the consultant for The Original Brooklyn Bagel Company’s franchise operations. Mr. Feldman, a lawyer, was an assistant minority counsel to the House Banking Committee in Washington, D.C. in 1977 and turned a vacant space near the U.S. Capitol into a Subway sandwich shop, a chain owned by his friend – Subway CEO and co-founder Fred DeLuca. Feldman lives in Boca Raton, Fla., and makes his summer home in Vail, Colo.

Alfred J. Lipshultz, Advisory Board Member
Mr. Lipshultz is the president and CEO of Aquathin Corp. which was established in 1980 and has over 70 patented and trademarked water purification, filtration, softening and treatment systems serving residential, commercial, industrial and laboratory markets domestically and internationally. Aquathin, based in Pompano Beach, Fla., has established a network of more than 600 authorized dealers and distributors. Mr. Lipshultz created and formulated proprietary designs resulting in seven patents. He is the recipient of the Nation’s Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Miami Herald’s Pacesetter Award. He was also awarded the President’s Excellence Award in Export from the U.S. Commerce Department.

Steven E. Leber, Advisory Board Member
Mr. Leber has enjoyed a distinguished career in the entertainment industry as a manager and producer.  He is perhaps best known as the manager of iconic rock artists including Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard and Michael Bolton, to name a few.  His company, Contemporary Communications Company, was one of the world’s leading music management firms and was responsible for some of the greatest selling albums of all time; to date, CCC performers have sold more than 120 million records.  Mr. Leber began his career at the William Morris Agency where he established its music division and worked with major artists such as the Rolling Stones, Bill Cosby, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick and the Jackson Five.  He also excelled as the innovative producer of theatrical shows and live events, creating new business models with shows like the unprecedented arena tour of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, the international smash-sensation Beatlemania The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Coming Out of Their Shells” Tour, the Texxas Jam Music Series, and The Concert for Bangladesh. He also brought the Moscow Circus to North America and broke box office records across the United States.  Mr. Leber is co-founder of Mobile Life, a telecommunications company partnered with AT&T, Chairman of Grandparents.com, the nation’s premier online community for grandparents and remains active in the entertainment realm. Currently he is working on a Broadway musical and a major motion picture, both due for release in 2011.

Chef Allen Susser, Advisory Board Member
Chef Allen Susser is owner of the acclaimed Seafood Grill in Aventura and consulting chef at Taste Gastropub in Delray Beach, Jade Resort in St. Lucia and Chef Allen’s To Go, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.  His culinary viewpoint was established with the debut of groundbreaking Miami restaurant Chef Allen’s in 1986. Mr. Susser has garnered prestigious awards including Food & Wine magazine’s “One of the 10 Best New Chefs in America” in 1991 and the coveted James Beard Award in 1994. He has been featured on air and in magazines including Bon Appetit, NBC Today and the Food Network.

Tracy Tilson, Advisory Board Member
Tracy Tilson is President and founder of Tilson Communications of Boca Raton, a full-service public relations firm with a roster of local and national clients. Prior to founding the company in 1990, Tilson had an extensive background in South Florida media relations and was Press Director for a major tourism company in Rhode Island. The University of New Hampshire graduate earned accreditation in public relations and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the PRSA Counselor’s Academy. She serves on the Community Relations Board of Boca Raton, is as a member of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce and has served on boards of various local non-profit organizations.