Dave Kerpen is a New York Times best-selling author, serial entrepreneur, and global keynote speaker. Kerpen first received media attention in the Boston sports market in the late 1990s and early 2000s for his unique vending sales strategies at professional sporting events. He went on to appear as a contestant on Fox's 2003 reality television series, Paradise Hotel, and earned additional media attention for his "sponsored wedding" in 2006. He is the Founder and Chairman of Likeable Local, a social media software company serving thousands of small businesses, as well as the chairman and cofounder of Likeable Media, a social media and word-of-mouth marketing agency for big brands. He is the author of the 2011 New York Times bestselling book, Likeable Social Media, the 2012 book, Likeable Business, the 2013 book, Likeable Leadership, and the 2016 book, "The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills To Get Everything You Want."
Career
Boston sports media celebrity
For a period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kerpen was well known in the Boston professional sports vending industry, often referred to as "the Crunch 'n Munch guy". Kerpen gained prominence due to his unique vending pitches, featuring dancing and singing, at Fleet Center, Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium. Former Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino once had Kerpen ejected from Fleet Center, claiming that he was too distracting to his players.
Reality television
In 2003, Kerpen appeared as a contestant on the Fox reality show Paradise Hotel, which featured competitors vying to stay in the hotel as long as possible. Each week couples paired off by electing to share a room, and the odd person out had to leave the hotel, ultimately concluding with one male and one female winner. Kerpen was a runner-up on the program and the only finalist not to receive prize money. In the finale, female winner Charla Pihlstrom had the option of splitting her $250,000 prize money with Kerpen but elected to keep it for herself.
Business and political career
Kerpen is the co-founder and CEO of Likeable Media, a social media marketing firm founded in 2006 and based in New York City. He is also the author of the book, , featured on the New York Times Bestseller List in June 2011. Kerpen's writings on the industry have been featured on Forbes, Inc Magazine, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and other outlets, and he is a featured speaker on social media for publisher McGraw-Hill. In March 2009, Kerpen formed an exploratory committee to determine whether to run for the position of borough president of Queens. Following a few weeks of campaigning, he left the race, due to the entrenched strength of incumbent Helen Marshall. He was previously expected to run for New York City Council in 2009, but he abandoned that bid when he decided to seek the borough presidency. During the spring of 2017 Kerpen ventured back into local politics when he ran for and won a seat on his district's School Board. Kerpen published his second book, in October 2012. While Likeable Media continued to grow and work with brands including, Verizon, Neutrogena, Entenmann's, Grubhub and more, Kerpen had a growing passion for helping small businesses. So in 2013, Kerpen started Likeable Local on a mission to transform small businesses into a Likeable businesses through the power of social media. Likeable Local is a platform designed with small business owners in mind to help them succeed. Currently Kerpen is the Chairman of both Likeable Media and Likeable Local. In March 2016 Kerpen published his third book, . This book is a modern take on Dale Carnegie's classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Kerpen's book includes specific action steps that help readers drastically improve their people skills both personally and professionally. Following the release Kerpen has expanded his speaking resume including delivering keynotes at dozens of conferences across the globe including Singapore, Athens, Dubai, San Francisco, Cologne, Toronto, Bangkok, and Mexico City.
