Eric Blair-Joannou graduated cum laude from Cornell University with an A.B. (B.A.) degree in the History and French Literature Departments, and received an M.B.A. and an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia's Graduate Schools of Business and Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, part of the runner-up team in the inaugural U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition. He has worked at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s global headquarters in Asset Management, at the NYC Department of City Planning, and at the New York State Department of Transportation.
In addition to working for his fourth-generation family parts supply business, and in industrial real estate for his family office, Eric currently serves on the Cornell University Council, as a trustee of Historic Hudson Valley, the Columbia County Historical Society, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, a volunteer curatorial researcher in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, a founding Co-Chair of the Lincoln Center Corporate Fund's Junior Business Council, a member of the Cornell University Library Advisory Council, a Vice-Chairman of the Young New Yorkers for the Philharmonic Benefit Committee, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Young Fellows of the Morgan Library. He is a former docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the Cornell Rowing Association, Family & Children's Garden volunteer at the New York Botanical Garden, has contributed to the NYC-based think tank the Center for an Urban Future, hosted a bicycle-focused blog for the Danish Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has formally studied 7 languages.
Several years before the inception of the David Geffen/Avery Fisher Hall renovation project at the New York Philharmonic on the Lincoln Center campus, Eric worked with McKinsey & Co. on concertgoer engagement which directly resulted in concertgoer experiential changes at the Philharmonic, and served as key pre-planning material for the re-design process.
Eric volunteers at his church, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (Episcopal), is a registered marriage officiant, and lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in New York City.
Organizations Eric Supports
New York City
Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
The New York Botanical Garden
The New-York Historical Society
Columbia University
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
New York State
Historic Hudson Valley
Columbia County Historical Society
Columbia Land Conservancy
Saint John's Episcopal Church
Philadelphia
Museum of the American Revolution
Miami
Pages & Press
--Columbia County Historical Society appoints new members to the board of trustees
--Bronx Museum Board of Trustees
--Lincoln Center Corporate Fund Junior Business Council
--U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design & Planning Competition
--HUD News Release No. 14-020: HUD Announces Finalists in Student Design and Planning Competition
--American Bar Association 2017 Annual Meeting - Museums & the Arts Mini-track
--Cornell Chronicle: Alums offer career paths for history majors
--Cornell Chronicle: Students debate whether liberal arts or pre-professional education lead to careers
--Art Zealous: The Bronx Museum Gets "Wild" at Annual Gala
--Art Zealous: Over 1,000 Attend The Apollo Circle's Annual Benefit
--Trinity Church Wall Street: Advent Meditations '13
--Celebrating Mary Beth Norton
--Avenue Magazine: A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Morgan Library