One of the country’s authorities on partnership marketing, Kirk is the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Axcess Worldwide, a partnership development agency. Axcess creates inspired ideas and connects extraordinary brands and people through three divisions: Luxury and lifestyle, mass consumer, and hospitality and travel brands.
During the past 20 years, Kirk has established a reputation as an innovator in partnership and relationship marketing and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in contracted revenue.
For over 10 years, Kirk served as a special strategic advisor to NetJets founder and former chairman and CEO, Richard Santulli. During this time, Kirk pioneered a series of unique initiatives and preferred alliances that resulted in tens of millions of dollars of operational cost reductions to the company, savings for NetJets owners, and enhancements to the owner experience. Through the creation of dozens of partnerships with luxury brands and the execution of extraordinary events, Kirk was responsible for creating scores of “value added” partnerships and experiences for NetJets owners. To this point, Kirk conceptualized and produced the Richard Santulli/Steve Wynn/Warren Buffett NetJets Poker Invitational from 2004 – 2009.
Kirk is a founding investor in and advisor to Tequila Avión, the ultra premium tequila culled from agave plants in the highest regions of Jalisco, Mexico, and is an investor in Double Cross Vodka, a small-batch distilled vodka originating from the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. He is also a partner in Patagonia Sur, LLC, a for-profit venture that invests in, protects, and enhances scenically remarkable and ecologically valuable properties in Chilean Patagonia.
From 1993 until 2000, Kirk held a variety of senior management positions at Cendant Corporation, a Fortune 500 publicly traded conglomerate, and its predecessor company, HFS. In 1999, Kirk conceived and launched Cendant Entertainment Group. As executive vice president, he created business development and marketing relationships between Cendant companies and the entertainment industry.
Kirk previously served as senior vice president of corporate relations, where he developed and oversaw Cendant’s highly successful owner relations and solution services programs. In this capacity, he managed senior corporate relations for Cendant’s 30 business units and led the company’s preferred client groups, corporate sponsorship team, and event marketing division. Kirk also played a fundamental role in integrating Cendant’s acquisition of Resort Condominiums International into the company while serving as senior vice president of global operations.
Kirk began his career at the American Hotel & Lodging Association in 1987. During his six-year tenure at AH&LA, Kirk worked closely with the world’s leading hospitality companies to advance industry-wide initiatives. As vice president for corporate relations, he was responsible for strengthening relationships with senior executives in the hospitality industry and for the association’s communications, marketing, member relations, and sponsorship functions.
Since 1998, Kirk has been instrumental in the growth and success of the After-School All-Stars, a charitable organization founded by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to provide after-school programs to inner-city children in 13 cities throughout America. Kirk has served on the National Board of Directors of the After-School All-Stars and is Chairman of the Atlanta chapter. He is the recipient of the Atlanta Falcons 2011 Community Quarterback Award for his tireless efforts in raising over $20 million for the Atlanta chapter of After-School All-Stars.
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