Wayne S. Kabak is CEO and owner of WSK Management, LLC, a literary and talent management firm.
As a manager of television and radio personalities, authors, broadcast journalists and other notable public figures, his clients include Jane Pauley; former Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and Ash Carter; Dr. Condoleezza Rice; composer, musician and educator Wynton Marsalis; Lou Dobbs; broadcaster and former Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow; acclaimed biographer Kitty Kelley; NPR’s Scott Simon; Shoshana Zuboff, author of the groundbreaking book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism;” noted investor and world traveler Jim Rogers; and renown businessman Sam Zell.
He has also negotiated significant deals for Maria Bartiromo, advertising entrepreneur Donny Deutsch, Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer, Fox Business Channel’s Charlie Gasparino and former Senator Byron Dorgan.
Before starting his own business in 2009, he was Co-Chief Operating Officer, NY, of the William Morris Agency. He joined William Morris in 1997 following 17 years as a senior executive, General Counsel and agent at International Creative Management, Inc. After graduating from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Columbia University School of Law (where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar), he spent three years working as an associate in the entertainment department at the New York-based law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Mr. Kabak is also a graduate of Tufts University, where he majored in English and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.
He is on the Board of the non-profit New Plaza Cinema (dedicated to keeping art cinema alive in Upper Manhattan). He was previously a member of the Advisory Board of the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts University. Prior non-profit Board memberships have included New York Theatre Workshop; Film Forum (New York City’s premiere showcase for independent, foreign and repertory cinema); Disability Pride NYC (a group that fosters increased awareness of people with disabilities); Ensemble Studio Theatre; and Elevator Repair Service, a theatre ensemble.
His professional journalism experience has included contributions to numerous periodicals (including the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s FILM COMMENT, ROLLING STONE, THE VILLAGE VOICE and THE BOSTON PHOENIX).