---
title: "And for my next act…."
url: https://stacklist.com/card/8270ae23-bf76-48a9-b163-8befd3d2dd08
published: 2026-10-20T23:51:23.634Z
stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/234803a1-3aaf-4c1e-8125-9a0a40d461ca
summary: "James Orsini announces his departure from VaynerMedia after 11 years, during which he helped grow the company from $42M to $350M in revenue and 2000+ employees across 15 offices. He transitions to launching his own consulting and advisory firm while reflecting on his 40-year career spanning major corporate scandals, market crashes, and technological shifts."
tags: "career-transition, entrepreneurship, leadership, corporate-culture, personal-growth, vayner-media, consulting"
key_entities: "James Orsini (person), Gary Vaynerchuk (person), Derek Jeter (person), VaynerMedia (organization), VaynerX (organization), KPMG (organization), Goldman Sachs (organization), Saatchi (organization), Interbrand (organization), vYve (organization), Factotum (organization), Seton Hall (organization), TikTok (technology), cryptocurrency (technology), NFTs (technology), Black Monday (event), 9/11 (event), Crazy Eddie Inventory scandal (event), Enron collapse (event), Covid-19 (event), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (concept), Newark (location), Park Avenue (location), UK (location)"
classification: "memo"
content_hash: "sha256:529028437e2835fa1acd0e1b4fb6b8d0fa4b138b6e556eaa292f85f4dbae4b3e"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 933
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# And for my next act….

By James Orsini

![](https://ucarecdn.com/b0e93a94-52ba-4f05-bcf0-b89f617c74ce/)

When I started at VaynerMedia 11 years ago today, I was handed a small chalk board and asked to write the one word that describes me; my word was “Advisor”. I saw myself as an Advisor to everyone at VaynerMedia. After 11 years, 4 titles and 5 different roles in the VaynerX world, I met with my boss, mentor, and friend Gary Vaynerchuk to say my corporate time here has come to an end. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish following a dinner in 2014 when he said, “James I want to build a $500m, integrated, independent, international communications company; can you help me do that?” my answer was an emphatic Yes… I can!

We were a little less than 400 employees and a little under $42 million in revenue at that time. Under Gary’s direction, I’m proud to say I leave a company now with nearly $350 million in revenue, and more than 2000 employees across 15 different offices. I have learned more here in the last 11 years than in the prior 3 decades combined. I will forever be grateful for my Vayner family. As I move into my own consulting and advisory firm, I will remain an advisor when needed by VaynerX. Beyond my advisory role, I look forward to consulting and being a business coach to my friends and colleagues at vYve and helping launch Factotum from the UK here in the USA.

I always have said there is no substitute for wisdom and experience and after 40 years I assure you I now have both. I have seen major business, economic and cultural events. Just to list a few:

Ø At KPMG witnessed the Retailer Crazy Eddie Inventory scandal, one of the biggest early corporate scandals that they still write about today

Ø At Goldman Sachs I was there for Black Monday when the wall street markets crashed

Ø At Rowland Public Relations I flew supersonic on the Concorde several times before it was grounded permanently

Ø At Interbrand I witness the twin towers fall on 9/11and the world stopped

Ø At Saatchi I experienced the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley act to help protect investors from corporate shenanigans like Enron’s fraud / collapse

Ø At VaynerMedia I saw the birth of TikTok, and the rise of crypto currency and NFTs and Covid-19

Wow what an absolute ride it’s been. Thankful for humble roots as a son of a plumber from Newark who graduated from Seton Hall yet never had me seeing giants but always had me believing anything is possible.

Ø Can you become a NYS CPA on Park Avenue as a Jersey boy with only Jersey firm interviews? Yep…

Ø Can you get to Goldman Sachs in the 80s as a non-ivy league undergrad while not having a Warton MBA? Yep…

Ø Can you become an International Director of Financial reporting when you have only been to Florida as a kid and your only passport stamp is from Aruba? Yep….

Ø Can you become the CEO of a Publicly Traded Mobile media company when you are an accountant, and you know little about technology? Yep….

Ø Can you learn social media at 52 years old while helping to manage 450 millennials who live and breathe it daily? Yep….

I’m not sure why so many executives in the corporate business world choose not to go out while on top? Why can’t we all be like Yankee great Derek Jeter and hit a walk off at our corporate exit? He’s gone on to become a sports analyst and recently founded a clothing company with the founder of Untuckit. Why not have folks throw rose petals at your departure rather than rocks? I move from Intrapreneur doing it for someone else and now entrepreneur like those I’ve coached for the last 7 years. With the great support of my loving family, and my friends and colleagues at Vayner, vYve and Factotum here’s to the next act.

https://stacklist.com/card/49b4afbe-dc12-41fe-b9e0-22ae834b71a9