Damon Torres' Production Biography

Damon Torres has been involved in event production for over 20 years, as a sponsor, a speaker and an organizer. His career includes work in the following areas: trade shows, concerts, seminars, non-profit, governmental and the technology industry. As an organizer, he has helped produce historic events for an aggregate audience of approximately three million people. As a technology entrepreneur, he has produced projects for several Fortune 500 companies, top entertainers and leading publishers. He has also served as a philanthropist, a volunteer and a mentor.

Since 1983, Damon has worked in the trade show industry for exhibition management companies such as PC Expo, International Rehabilitation Week and the National Association of Men's Sportswear Buyers. He has worked on every main Earth Day event in New York City since 1986 in roles ranging from concert production, art direction, and sponsorship services, to being a sponsor through the technology companies he later founded. In 1990, Damon was one of two on-site producers who managed all pre-production, production and post-production details for the historic Earth Day 1990 mega-concert in Central Park that drew approximately 1 million people to several areas in and near the Great Lawn. Damon has served as a member of the board of directors of Earth Day New York since 1992. Also in 1992, Damon served on Governor Cuomo’s event advisory panel to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.

Recent concert organizing highlights from 2003 include being the site manager through Publicworks Inc. for the three day CD 101.9 FM Jazz Fest, and a similar role for the Yonkers Hudson Riverfest, and Hot 97 FM’s summer show. All of these concerts featured top acts including Chuck Berry, Jean Luc Ponty, George Benson (Grammy winner), P Diddy, Ashanti (Grammy winner), and many others. An alphabetical list of gold to platinum level music artists featured in events and projects that Damon has worked on begins with: Tori Amos, Laurie Anderson, The B-52s, David Byrne (Talking Heads), Natalie Cole and Larry Coryell.

Damon has been a staff member for seminars for the Red Cross locally and has staffed self-help seminars for BKI International in Germany and New York. He has also done pro-bono event work for certain non-profits, such as The Little Red Schoolhouse where he helped raise over $150,000 during a one night auction for his daughter's school. Earlier pro bono services were given to the Center for Peace through Culture, The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine where he helped coordinate their centennial, and local industry associations.

Damon has also been a speaker at many events, including two keynote addresses at technology trade shows throughout North America, in South America and in Europe. In the new media/technology field, Damon has worked as a designer, producer and executive producer for dozens of companies, including the Fortune 500 firms Toshiba and Calvin Klein/Unilever; major publishers such as Esquire Magazine; and with technology partners like Microsoft. These projects included producing some of the world's first CD-ROMs, Web Sites and other digital publishing in print, mobile media for web phones, and interactive TV. He founded the software firm Robocast Inc. in 1997, which he ran for six years.

Damon has served as the executive producer of Ferry Fest 100, an event to celebrate the centennial of the Staten Island Ferry during the week of October 25th through October 30th, 2005. This event was held in both Manhattan and Staten Island, and included festivities in both the terminals and on the ferryboats. Major local, national and international companies stepped forward to sponsor the event including Verizon, Time Warner Cable and several financial services companies. Major media outlets have promoted the event as well, including CD101.9 FM, The New York Post and other local outlets.

Event production responsibilities have often included media relations, from designing and producing credential systems with security firms, to post-production wrap-up of press rooms, feed lines and hospitality. VIP services have included schedule management, backstage and stage management, and travel arrangements.