Meet the Board – Brian Cort.

We stay in New Jersey this week with Brian, based in Murray Hill!

Brian Cort

What country is on the top of your list to visit?

China. I have been studying Mandarin Chinese for three years, and I am to the point where I can hold simple conversations and even read and write a few hundred characters. I would love to visit China and improve my Mandarin even more. In fact, I would love to spend a few months or even a year there.

What sport do you practice?

My favorite sport is Skiing, and since I learned to ski at a young age and spent nearly every weekend doing it when I was young, I’m pretty good. One of my favorite things is to visit a new mountain and just go where my skis take me. I also love the peace and tranquility of cross-country skiiing.

I am a gay man who came out to my family and friends when I was a sophomore at the University of New Mexico. I met my partner Jorge in 1991, and we have been together ever since, going on 21 years.

If you were CEO for a day — what would you try to accomplish?

If it were possible in one day, I would bring to our company a true spirit of service to others that breaks down the cultural and group identity barriers that sometimes separate us. Often we find ourselves faced with a problem or an issue that we think originated somewhere else, and we want to push it back where it came from. If we resist that urge and dig in to help, then we all benefit and the company benefits.

Which movies made you cry/laugh the most?

I love the movie “The King of Masks” (变脸 or Biàn Lian), a Mandarin language film about an elderly street performer who is an expert in the art of Chinese Opera bian lian (quick mask change). He has no heir to pass along his art, and the story is about his journey to find an heir, and the life lessons of acceptance that he learns along the way. It is a beautiful movie, and it brings out my emotions in a wonderful, uplifting way.