Josh Nathan is a business, nonprofit, and media/arts lawyer. He applies advocacy and business insight to help clients solve problems and maximize opportunities. With over 30 years of experience including as general counsel, chief strategist and senior management executive, Josh draws on his track record of structuring deals, resolving disputes, and leading initiatives to help clients achieve growth, impact, and financial returns.
Josh is the principal of Joshua C. Nathan, P.C. Since 2012, the Firm has been counseling and representing clients in innovative/founder-driven businesses, media, entertainment and the arts, and the nonprofit sector. The Firm works closely with founders, boards, and senior executives. It serves as outside general counsel to several clients and on occaision serves as interim/acting general counsel to companies undergoing management or board transitions.
Josh is a member of the New York State Bar Association where he serves on the Not-for-Profit Corporations Law Committee and the Committee on Bylaws. He is a member of the New York City Bar Association, where he served on the Committee on Art Law and the Committee on Copyright and Literary Property. He is also a member of USA 500 Clubs.
He speaks on issues concerning the law and business of media, arts, and nonprofits.
Prior to returning to private practice...
Josh served as chief strategist and managing director for DIGO Brands (now DiMassimo Goldstein), an award-winning independent branding, advertising, and digital media agency. Leading DIGO's brand planning and account management teams, Josh focused on media, entertainment, and nonprofit clients. Key work includes launching the agency's cause marketing unit for nonprofit clients and creating the strategy for the post-bankruptcy redesign of the print and mobile Reader's Digest magazine.
Josh served as general counsel, a member of the executive management team and an executive producer for WNET New York Public Media (f/k/a Educational Broadcasting Corporation), the nation's flagship PBS broadcaster and producer of television, interactive and educational content for worldwide distribution. During his 13-year tenure, Josh's management responsibilities included Legal & Business Affairs, Board Affairs, Labor & Talent Relations, Government Affairs, Business Development & Strategy, Distribution, Audience & Market Research, and Communications & Branding. His strategic work broadened WNET's impact and brought over $65 million into public media for content development. Highlights include: structuring the deal for two of the nation's first networked digital multicast channels, structuring the private equity/public partnership for the first US Spanish language public TV network, acquiring, reorganizing and subsequently selling the leading public media trade paper, negotiating the insurance recovery for WNET's 9/11 broadcast tower loss, auctioning educational broadcast spectrum in an unprecedented telecom deal, designing WNET's corporate reorganization and rebranding following the merger with WLIW, creating WNET's trustee orientation program, and leading staff in negotiating co-productions and worldwide licensing deals for TV, educational, digital and live content, including selling out Madison Square Garden for a benefit concert featuring The Police. His work as an executive producer in documentary, music, film, health, and lifestyle programming brought new partners, sponsors, and viewers to public media nationally and earned him two Emmy Awards.
Josh was a litigator with Rosenman & Colin LLP (now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP).
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Josh Nathan is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Vassar College.
He has completed executive education and non-degree certificate studies at The Wharton School (Corporate Governance, Executive Leadership, Board Readiness), IESE Business School (Advanced Management, Media & Entertainment), Kellogg School of Management (Branding in Media and Entertainment), and University College, London (History of Art). He is a life member of The Arts Students League of New York.
Josh is the mayor of the Rye City Council. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Society of American Graphic Artists and serves on the board of the American Yacht Club Foundation. He served on the Finance Committee of The Art Students League of New York. He is a past president and former trustee of the Rye City School District where he initiated the elementary school foreign language program and chaired the audit, collective bargaining, and policy committees. Appointed by the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery, Josh served on the NY Rising Community Reconstruction Planning Committee for the City of Rye.
Josh lives in Rye, NY with his wife and son.
