Sunny Bates

  • About
  • People
  • Clients
  • Work
  • Contact
    • “In a world of growing social networks, and ever-broader business ambitions, Facebook, LinkedIn et al sometimes provide who but not how. Sunny Bates is a master at the latter. Few have such a deft touch for integrating people and networks. She knows who matters, who can get things done, and makes sure it gets done.”

      Juan Enriquez
      Managing Director, Excel Venture Management
    • “Sunny Bates is a tour de force of pathological optimism and deep personal connection—she is a maven.
      Be prepared to be transported into networks of ideas and people that were out of reach. Once you’ve experienced her impact, you’ll define your success pre- and post-Sunny. It's an honor to call her a friend.”

      David Kidder
      Creator and Author, The Startup Playbook; Co-Founder, Clickable
    • “I worked with Sunny for two years on an experimental circus project, and came to understand that her brilliance lies in gently pushing everyone to discover their own high-wire act—for which her cleverness, generosity of spirit, patience and all-around good sense form a kind of safety net.”

      James Truman
      Former Editorial Director for Condé Nast
    • “Sunny is a human dynamo who can make anything happen. And I mean ANYTHING. Sunny is a miracle worker, in business and in life. Plus the most charming, entertaining and fun miracle worker you'll ever encounter.”

      Cindy Gallop
      CEO, IfWeRanTheWorld
    • “Sunny is an energetic, generous, empathetic curious adventurer who is fantastic at connecting people from many different walks of life. She creates relationships that have a significant impact on businesses.

      Given a question, she thinks of the many paths that could be taken to answer it and who could help direct each path. Sunny's ability to understand people and problems makes her incredibly helpful professionally. She synthesizes discussions in a way that help me clarify what I need.

      Her sunny, vivacious personality, as well as her depth, make it a pleasure to be with her anytime.”

      Katie Ford
      CEO, The Katie Ford Foundation; Former CEO, Ford Models
    • “Sunny introduced me to contacts and organizations that proved absolutely instrumental to my work in America. They led directly to key staff hires, to my joining the Young Presidents' Organization, and to a series of great, enduring friendships. Most significantly, she is the person who introduced me to the TED Conference (which I now run), a truly life-changing experience.
      She has a unique combination of skills: the ability to understand—truly understand—someone's needs, and to match those against an astonishing, encyclopedic knowledge of literally thousands of special people and possibilities. Combine that with her irrepressible passion for life, the pure sunny-ness of Sunny, and you have a real force of nature who brings warmth, light, and joy everywhere she goes.”

      Chris Anderson
      Curator, TED Conferences
    • “Sunny teaches us all that to be truly fulfilled in your work, that you need to be somewhere that values all of you.
      Sunny has the unique capacity to know everyone while knowing them all deeply.

      Sunny embodies a truly globally connected spirit that knows exactly who to see, what to do, when to do it, and where you should be exactly on planet earth.”

      John Maeda
      President, Rhode Island School of Design
    • “What I say about Sunny to all is that she is the most generous and unfailingly positive person I know. She is the world's greatest connector, and she shares everyone in her world with everyone else in your world, and in doing so she makes all our worlds richer.

      And that is all besides being smart and funny and wild.

      I am a completely biased source, and proud to be so!”

      Ruby Lerner
      President & Executive Director, Creative Capital Foundation
    • “Sunny is just that – sunny. She shines light on interesting new paths and people. When we’re looking for someone to jump-start our thinking in a new area, we often turn to Sunny.  We have made incredible connections thanks to her strong network and ability to connect people and ideas – and often it’s those that have seemingly little in common that prove to be the most valuable.  I’m convinced that if Sunny doesn’t know everyone in the world, she at least knows how to get to them. And she does so with a style that is as energetic as it is insightful.”

      Beth Comstock
      SVP & CMO, GE
    • “Sunny is focused and upbeat which means that the work will get done and it will be a pleasure.”

      Robin Chase
      Founder & CEO, Buzzcar; Founder, Zipcar
    • “When everyone thought i was crazy, Sunny knew I was crazy! Glad she took me under her wing.”

      Perry Chen
      Co-Founder & CEO, Kickstarter
    • “Sunny is an extraordinary woman with boundless energy, a seemingly infinite network, deep intuition and emotional intelligence, and the ability to make connections of all sorts. She has been a major supporter of Acumen, helping me in coaching team members, bringing in needed resources (especially great people!), and bringing a great vitality to our organization.

      Sunny is a believer. Once she decides a project or cause is worthwhile, she will dig into understanding it, work to make it better, and get others involved in it. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and it is a delight to know her and to work with her. She is generous to a fault, and makes you want to be a better person by knowing her.”

      Jacqueline Novogratz
      Founder & CEO, Acumen Fund
    • “Sunny has been instrumental in making critical connections for me, both professionally and personally. She seems to know everyone I'd ever want to know, and is knowledgeable about so many industries and disciplines. She's truly a one-stop-shop for people looking to expand their network.”

      Margaret Stewart
      Director of Product Design, Facebook Inc.
  • News

    What’s New With Us

    • #campus dance http://t.co/fPW6vBfZoi

      @sunnybates — May 25

    • Love Olivia's exploration of life underwater in Sea Gypsies on @Kickstarter http://t.co/25HImCBLoa

      @sunnybates — May 14

    • Juliana Rotich and Erik Hersman of Ushahidi launched their back up generator BRCK @Kickstarter http://t.co/Zvxs6nZgAb

      @sunnybates — May 6

    • Come to our next Standard Talk: The Heart’s Desire on Sept. 25th at @StandardNY!  /////////The Heart’s Desire:Aphrodisiacs and the Magic of...

    • Just had dreamy concierge experience in security with ClearPass at SFO -sure beats those hideous sequestration fueled lines

      @sunnybates — Apr 26

    • #Mesh2013 lisa Gansky -beware of tofu words like "sharing" that take on the flavor of the language around them

      @sunnybates — Apr 25

  • About

    What we do

    Sunny is a curator of ideas, talent and disruption. For nearly 25 years, Sunny Bates Associates (SBA) has guided businesses through key points in their development: connecting them with the individuals and companies that help them realize their objectives and explore new possibilities. SBA works with clients to evaluate and select strategic alternatives, reposition their businesses in existing and new markets, and assess and optimize resources. They are infused with fresh talent and thinking introduced through SBA’s unparalleled domestic and international networks.

    How we do it.

    SBA iterates new directions for businesses through focused, personal engagement. Working intensively with individuals and groups—CEOs, boards, senior managers, founders, decision makers—Sunny leads clients on a journey of brainstorming, challenging, questioning, and validating new ideas and possibilities. Exposing clients to fresh influences and thinkers—sometimes complementary and adjacent, sometimes further afield—SBA strategically identifies then builds the networks, which help clients achieve their goals and unearth new possibilities along the way.

    Please contact us and let us give your initiative meaningful impact. We are based in New York City.

  • Who We Are

    Team

    • Sunny Bates

      Sunny operates wherever executives, thinkers, artists, creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators, philanthropists connect and collide around the globe. Her medium is people, her expertise human network development.
      Author, serial entrepreneur, mentor and advisor, her client roster has included some of the world’s most prominent organizations, from GE, TED and Credit Suisse to MTV, the National Academy of Sciences, Techstars and Kickstarter, of which she is a founding board member. Sunny’s approach to unleashing potential is unique: it puts people, network building and management at the center of growth and possibility.

    • Sophia Langdon

      Sophia Langdon is a writer and performer who moved to New York in 2003 to work with renowned textile library SouthPaw Vintage. Moonlighting as a stylist and fit model in New York, she is also completing a short story collection and two books of poetry. Sophia graduates from The New School with a creative writing degree in fall 2012.

    • Alejandro Calcaño

      Alejandro Calcaño comes to Sunny Bates Associates from an internship at Italian design house Moschino. In college, he organized concerts and events with bands The Knocks, of Montreal, Kid Sister, Yeasayer, Javelin, and DJ Mia Moretti, among many others. Alejandro coordinates social media and graphic design in addition to research and event production for Sunny Bates Associates. He is a graduate of Vassar.

  • Clients

    Who We've Helped

    • World Science Festival
    • The Standard
      The Standard Hotel — Created Standard Talks series (8/year): curate themes, secure speakers, develop audience, design media assets, and distribute content, occasionally with event partners.
    • TEDMED
      TEDMed — Advising team, curated audience, speaker recommendations, and facilitated event connections.
    • ScrollMotion
      ScrollMotion — Developed market and business development network strategy, talent recruiting for this leading NYC app development company.
    • Middlebury
      Middlebury College — Founding member of Advisory Board on Creativity and Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts, worked with president to connect entrepreneurship and liberal arts disciplines.
    • Kickstarter
      Kickstarter — Founding board member, crucial network development and founder mentoring for successful startup culture that created a new tech category.
    • GE
      GE — Curated events on future trends and industry disruption for top internal marketing team and international executive development travel course to entrepreneurial clusters in Brazil, Kenya, and India.
    • Endeavor
      Endeavor Global — Mentoring of global companies, network development, marketing strategy, management recruiting, and entrepreneur coaching.
    • Credit Suisse
      Credit Suisse — Developed engagement series for top internal executives in NYC and Zurich around topics of green energy, personal mobility, e-commerce, and user experience.
    • Creative Capital
      Creative Capital Foundation — Strategic network development around business model, board composition, cultivation, and fundraising.
    • Acumen
    • Guardian
      Guardian Life Insurance — Curated session for top internal executives on product development, distribution, and messaging for demographic and psychographic segments.
    • Daily Feats
      Daily Feats — Ongoing advisory work with leadership team, expanding and focusing on relationships, strategy, potential partnerships, troubleshooting, and growth.
    • TED
      TED — Brain Trust Member (2001 – present) Advising, supporting, mentoring TED Fellows. Developed ConnecTED program connecting patrons and donors to TEDsters.
    ×
    • Case Study

      Standard Talks

      An ongoing speaker series, Sunny Bates Associates brings wildly diverse voices to bear on fascinating topics at The Standard Talks, including shadow worlds, embracing and denying death, improvised storytelling, the paranormal, game theory, and werewolves. Taking place at The Standard NY and The Standard East Village hotel venues, SBA curates the speakers, audiences, and topics for this highly buzzed-about series.

    • Case Study

      GE Experiences

      Sunny Bates Associates (SBA) has curated experiences for the Chief Marketing Officer and her team that focus on GE’s greatest areas of interest with potential for disruption. SBA selects themes, designs interactions, sources speakers, and curates audience. The experiences consist of socially centric events that facilitate connections for GE’s leaders. We are currently working with GE on the co-creation of a Global Insights Network. In addition to this, we have planned:

      Disruptor Dinners: intimate occasions that allow for one on one connections and engagement with thought leaders. Some of the themes explored were mobile innovation, the vectors of change over next 15 years, future of advertising, the future of the customer, and experience design.

      SBA put together a one-time, full-day conference—the ‘GameChangers Summit’. We curated a group of 27 disruptive entrepreneurs around the themes of health-enhancing gadgets, research, and innovations that challenged the audience to think deeply about these intersections. The event was attended by 150+ people—GE employees, healthcare focused organizations, journalists, scientists, and some of GE’s most prized clients.

    • Case Study

      Kickstarter

      Founding Board member
      Board of Directors, since 2006.

      Kickstarter stumbled upon Sunny Bates at that perfect and daunting moment when they knew they had a revolutionizing idea in their hands but needed a final push. ‘Where to go next?’, they asked. Sunny advised and helped them generate a network that was crucial for the successful building and launching of this groundbreaking service. Since then, Sunny has been there whenever needed, pushing and opening doors in ways that have allowed Kickstarter to continue their growth while staying faithful to their mission of connecting untapped talent and a supportive (and growing) public.

    • Case Study

      GE Executive Development

      Executive Development Course (EDC): SBA curated and organized a hands-on learning journey about entrepreneurship in emerging markets. We arranged 100+ meetings for 20 of GE’s most senior executives, divided into 3 different groups across Sao Paulo, Rio, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Mumbai. Themed clusters helped build a story for each country around the areas of greatest future potential. We gave the attendees a context from which to build and blend into their own practice next-generation global business strategies.

      “Sunny and her team have one of the broadest and deepest networks I’ve ever seen in action. We leveraged SBA’s talents in the building of an Executive Leadership course that sent our participants around the globe meeting with senior leaders from various businesses and industries. She was able to suggest viable speakers, social and cultural events, and other relevant resources to help make our event a huge success. Her teams’ can-do attitude and willingness to problem solve when needed was consistent and much appreciated. I look forward to working with Sunny and her team in the future!”

      Kimberly Kleiman-Lee
      Executive Programs
      General Electric, Inc.

    • Case Study

      Guardian Insurance

      Sunny Bates Associates helped the leadership of Guardian Life Insurance explore the future of insurance with a day-long discussion that featured experts in personal finance, innovative insurance products and emerging trends. This eye-opening events has prompted a new kind of thinking about the possibilities in this market, with an increased emphasis on inclusiveness. SBA continues to advise Guardian and help discover ways to stay at the forefront of the life insurance market.

    • Case Study

      Credit Suisse

      Together with Credit Suisse’s leadership, SBA developed the Proactive Engagement series, with 4 sessions in 2011 and 3 in 2012 in both New York City and Zurich. The series serves as a forum allowing the Credit Suisse internal audience to engage with key disruptive leaders who chart the future of business in several different key areas. Together they explore major trends in industries that affect not only the bank and its work; but that are crucial to understanding the 21st Century economy.

      Some topics explored throughout the Proactive Series include:

      - Green energy trends.
      - The Future of Cities
      - Future of Personal Mobility
      - Flash Retail e-commerce.
      - User Experience
      - Social media in business.

  • Contact

    Ready to talk?
    Tell us more:

    Sunny Bates
    1123 Broadway, Ste 311
    New York, NY 10010
    212-691-5252
    sunny@sunnybates.com