Tom Allon
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Tom F. Allon is an American newspaper/magazine and digital media and events entrepreneur. He is publisher and former co-owner of ''
City & State NY ''City & State'' is a political journalism organization based in New York City. The company publishes a weekly magazine covering politics and government in New York City and New York State that is distributed to New York State legislators, cou ...
''. Previously he was president and co-owner of
Manhattan Media Manhattan Media is an American media company based in New York City that publishes a variety of community and political newspapers and lifestyle magazines. The company is owned by Isis Ventures Partners . Overview In 2001, the company acquired ...
. He was for eighteen months a candidate for mayor in the 2013 election, but subsequently dropped out of the race.Michael M. Grynbaum
Allon Exits Race for New York Mayor
(March 18, 2013), ''New York Times''.
He was endorsed by the Liberal Party in New York. Allon is also a columnist and pundit whose opinion articles have appeared in the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'', ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'', ''
City & State ''City & State'' is a political journalism organization based in New York City. The company publishes a weekly magazine covering politics and government in New York City and New York State that is distributed to New York State legislators, co ...
'', and
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
. He is a serial media entrepreneur, who helped build one public media company and two private media companies in the three decades between 1990-2020. He has bought and sold many publications and is considered an expert in launching and growing digital and events-driven local media outlets. Allon started his career as an educator, teaching English and Journalism at his alma mater, Stuyvesant High School. He has also taught opinion writing in the journalism department at Hunter College in New York City.


Early life and education

Allon was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, on May 21, 1962, and raised in a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family on the
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. Allon attended
Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...
. He attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, where he worked for ''
The Cornell Daily Sun ''The Cornell Daily Sun'' is an independent newspaper at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is published twice weekly by Cornell University students and hired employees. Founded in 1880, ''The Sun'' is the oldest continuously independent ...
'' and was its sports editor and a columnist. He graduated with a BA degree in history from Cornell in 1984.Tom Allon
- website of Ducere Business School
He then received an MS degree in Journalism from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...
in 1985. After graduating from Columbia, Allon taught English at his alma mater, Stuyvesant High School.


Career

From 1986 to 1991, Allon was editor of ''The West Side Spirit'', a
community newspaper Community journalism is locally-oriented, professional news coverage that typically focuses on city neighborhoods, individual suburbs or small towns, rather than metropolitan, state, national or world news. If it covers wider topics, community ...
he later owned. In 1992, he became publisher of West Side Spirit and its sister paper on the East Side, Our Town. In 1993, he was promoted to executive vice president of News Communications, Inc., a public company which owned 23 publications in the NY metropolitan area and Washington, D.C. In 1994, he helped in the creation of a new publication covering Congress and politics in DC, The Hill. In 2001, Allon spearheaded a management buyout of four weekly newspapers in Manhattan and created Manhattan Media, where he was CEO for more than a decade. Along with the ''West Side Spirit'', Manhattan Media also published the community newspapers ''Our Town'', ''The Westsider'', the ''Chelsea Clinton News'', the political newspapers ''City Hall'' and ''The Capitol'', and the magazines ''Avenue'' and ''New York Family''. In 2013, Allon once again led a management buyout of City & State, NY from Manhattan Media and along with partner Steve Farbman, built that into the must-read in local and state government. City & State publishes a weekly magazine, five daily emails and produces 50 events a year, including "power lists" which rank the powerful in New York State by geography, demography, and industry. In 2020, Allon sold City & State to Government Executive, a media, data and insights company based in Washington, D.C. He stayed on as publisher of City & State, NY and is leading City & State’s expansion to other states, including Pennsylvania in April 2021 and Florida in May 2022. Allon is also a frequent pundit and columnist, whose work has appeared in the NY Daily News, The NY Post, the Huffington Post as well as City & State. In early 2022, Allon co-founded a new non-profit Think Tank, The 5Boro Institute. After raising more than $700,000 from prominent New York City philanthropists, real estate firms and tech companies, Allon hired former NY1 journalist Grace Rauh to be executive director of 5Boro. Allon’s co-founder, long-time esteemed civic leader Dick Ravitch, passed away in June 2023. 5Boro’s first Special Report on the staffing crisis in City government was widely praised in government and the local media and a number of its recommendations were adopted by the Adams mayoral administration.


Mayoral candidacy

On July 12, 2011, Allon announced that he would run for mayor of the City of New York. He stated that New Yorkers need a leader "like me who thinks like an Israeli: tough and always ready to defend his people." On January 10, 2012, the
Liberal Party of New York The Liberal Party of New York is a political party in New York (state), New York. Its political platform, platform supports a standard set of socially liberal policies, including abortion rights, increased spending on education, and universal h ...
selected Allon as its mayoral candidate. While Allon "made a strong impression at a series of candidate forums," his candidacy failed to gain traction, and "his polling numbers mired in the low single digits." Allon raised more than $300,000 for his campaign but against more experienced candidates he had difficulty attracting major campaign donors, reporting just $17,335 in contributions in the two months before he dropped out of the race. Allon withdrew from the race on March 17, his campaign more than $4,000 in debt. The Liberal Party subsequently endorsed Catsimatidis. At the same time, Allon acquired the news organization ''
City & State ''City & State'' is a political journalism organization based in New York City. The company publishes a weekly magazine covering politics and government in New York City and New York State that is distributed to New York State legislators, co ...
'' from
Manhattan Media Manhattan Media is an American media company based in New York City that publishes a variety of community and political newspapers and lifestyle magazines. The company is owned by Isis Ventures Partners . Overview In 2001, the company acquired ...
. Allon later became a frequent pundit and columnist in local media on important public policy matters. Candidates for public office often sought his counsel and advice and in 2019-2020 he helped organize weekly "mayor classes" for Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral candidates
Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who has served as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City P ...
, who later went on to win the election and become Mayor of New York City in 2022.


Personal life

In 1993, Allon married Janet Wickenhaver, then a freelance crime reporter, in a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
ceremony in
Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
. They divorced in 2015. Allon married Rebecca Cohen in 2020 in a Zoom wedding ceremony at their second home on Long Island, in the midst of the covid pandemic.


Outside activities and memberships

Allon helped create two public high schools, Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the
Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...
and Frank McCourt High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He also served on the advisory board of the West Side Crime Prevention Program, the board of arts institution Symphony Space, and the board of the Speyer Legacy School. He was the president of the New York Press Association in 2008. He was appointed to the Brooklyn Bridge Park board by then Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2019. He was appointed to the board of the
Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Manhattan Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit organization that represents and supports local businesses across the borough of Manhattan in New York City. History The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce was established in July 1920 as the Yorkville Cha ...
in 2021. In March 2022, Mayor
Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who has served as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City P ...
and Chancellor David Banks appointed Allon to the public education policy panel (PEP).


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allon, Tom 1962 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) American businesspeople in the online media industry Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Cornell University alumni Jews from New York (state) Journalists from New York City New York (state) Democrats New York (state) Republicans People from the Upper West Side Politicians from New York City Stuyvesant High School alumni