On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan talks to The Betsy hotel owner Jonathan Plutzik about its history in Miami Beach and why a hotel should be a space for comfort and healing through the arts.

Jonathan Plutzik retired as a Vice-Chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), in 2003, after a 25-year career. His responsibilities included oversight for the firm’s work with U. S. state and local governments, international privatization initiatives, investment banking activities in Washington, D.C. and global financial services. He also led the CSFB team that provided advisory services to the City of New York during the city's financial crisis. From 2003 to 2005 Jonathan served as Chairman of Firaxis Games, a leading computer game company and home of Civilization, the widely acclaimed strategy game. Jonathan’s philanthropic work is considerable. He has a long legacy of charitable leadership as Chairman of the Board of the CORO New York Leadership Center, with additional Executive Leadership service to UJA-Federation of NY (including having served as a member of the Board and Executive Committee and Director of the Caring Commission, and he was Chair of the UJA-Federations Connect to Caring initiative.) He also serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is on the Board of Directors of Fannie Mae and recently accepted a position on the founding board of Planet Word, a new Washington, D.C.-based museum that is dedicated to and focused on Language Arts. Jonathan received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Jonathan is Co-President of the PG Family Foundation in NYC, and principal owner of The Betsy-South Beach, (www.thebetsyhotel.com), a hotel known for its community-based philanthropic work and its commitment to arts and culture.

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