About

I've spent almost thirty years in the marketing, finance and technology development industries.  During this time I've focused my talents on creating strategies aimed at producing technologies that benefit consumers, organizations, the enterprise and a variety of other communities of interest. 

After graduating from law school in 1983 I joined my Dad as a principal officer of a regional master franchise for a national real estate company; which was sold to Commercial Credit (an early precursor to Citigroup). My primary role was running the mortgage lending entity of the master franchise.  Since I didn't go to Commercial Credit as part of the sale I created a new lending operation. 

As the internet started to morph from an information source to a transactional destination, I founded one of the first online lending platforms in the late 1990s and took the operation from its original online birth to successful acquisition by a national lender in 2003.  During 2003 I was honored as a member of the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.  During this time I also applied for and later received a U.S. Patent for an online universal loan approval invention.

After the sale I took a bit of time off and for a brief period I played around writing for Weblogs, Inc., on the topics of real estate and mortgage finance.  While doing so it occurred to me that this blogging "thing" might have some real value for marketing purposes.  As my background was in real estate and real estate finance I figured I would leverage my consumer marketing expertise and founded Blogging Systems Group. 

This was now late 2005 and over the next couple of years I had a blast - I was primarily responsible for introducing the concept of community blogging to the real estate industry as an effective marketing tool.  The real estate industry has a reputation for lagging when it comes to technology and the industry really had no idea was these "blog" things were.  A representative anecdote is that at the 2005 National Association of REALTORS convention we were constantly asked, "What's a blog," but a year later at the 2006 convention the main question was, "How do I use blogs effectively."

I think it's safe to say that I established myself as the recognized leader in the industry on effective blog marketing. I spoke at every major conference, co-authored with Paul Chaney the book used as a roadmap for effective blog marketing by tens of thousands of industry participants and created and sold over 250,000 agent and company blog platforms. Then the real estate market crashed.  That, and the fact that community blogging for marketing seemed a bit ahead of its time, suggested I move the focus of the company; so I turned my attention to the recruiting and sourcing/HR industry in 2007.

I changed the name of my company to Respond Media (blogs were "so outdated" only a year or two after they were on the cover of Business Week).  Respond Media offered a SaaS which enabled corporate customers to build relationships with and recruit top tier talent. Specifically, CCN partnered with major Fortune 500 brands to build focused, niche career online communities where like-minded professionals can communicate, collaborate, share information, learn how to advance their careers and enjoy a sense of community.  CCN’s corporate sponsors could then access and mine these communities for their staffing and recruiting needs.  CCN pilot clients include Fortune 500 companies Wachovia, Toyota, Microsoft and CitiMortgage.  While serving the HR industry I gained subject matter expertise in Human Resource talent recruiting and sourcing.

I am also the founder of Nacht Social Media Consulting, which provides solutions to the challenge of an environment that is fragmenting the delivery of media, marketing and communication.  Nacht SMC provides clients with a way to extend their online and offline presence by enhancing the methods by which clients can increase response rates in order to:

•    generate a greater sense of community by visitors, users, consumers and members
•    increase revenue with advertising and sponsorships
•    effectively execute sales and marketing activities for single and cross-platform sites

I am the co-author of Realty Blogging: Build your Brand and Outsmart Your Competition and I teach social media part-time as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Programs, Department of Leadership and Human Capital Management, New York University, SCPS. I am also a Senior Research Fellow and Chairman of the Education Committee of the Society for New Communications Research.  In 2008 I served on the Board of Directors and was the Technology Chair for MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group). While with MENG I created the MENG Social Media University, an ongoing social media training program for all MENG members.

I hold a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the New York Law School, an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from the New York University Stern School of Business and I am a current doctoral candidate at the International School for Management in Paris, France.  I am a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. 

I've been married for more than twenty years to my lovely wife Doreen and am the father of six.

Publications:
Journal of New Communications Research, Vol. II Issue 2, "New Media, New Influencers and Implications for the Public Relations Profession"
Realty Blogging: Build Your Brand and Outsmart Your Competition, McGraw-Hill, 2006
Advanced Selling for Dummies, Chapter Contributor, For Dummies, 2007
Real Blogging Contributor, 2006-2008
RIS Media, 2006 – 2007
iSucceed, March 7, 2006
REALTOR® Magazine – Social Media as a Prospecting Tool
Real Estate Executive, Sunshine Media, 2007
International Real Estate Magazine

Conference and Presentation Experience:
The Society for New Communications Research: 2nd Annual Research Symposium, 2008 (Dec.)
CEO Exchange, 2008
Bloggers Connect, 2007
Red Herring East, 2007
The Conference Board, 2006
Leading Real Estate Companies of the World Conferences, 2006, 2007
Real TRENDS Gathering of Eagles Conference, 2006
Luxury Real Estate Annual, 2006
Inman San Francisco Connect, 2006
National Association of REALTORS®, 2005, 06, 07