"Achievements*
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Jon Epstein was destined to follow in his father's footsteps in the limousine business in Denville, at least that's how his younger sister Amy Birnbaum remembers it.
"It was always understood that my brother ... would enter the business, but even though I worked summers detailing cars and driving the airport shuttle service, there were never any discussions about me," she said.
Birnbaum's career with Royal Coachman Worldwide stretches back to when she was too young to drive, but was old enough to help separate the pink, yellow and white customer forms her father brought home. After she graduated from Rider College with a psychology degree, dad offered her a job working in sales and customer development.
She developed enough clientele and made enough sales to sit in the chief executive's chair after her father retired, and now the family business picks up and drops off in 450 cities around the world.
And then there's that American Express commercial. The one that touts the use of one of their cards which allows Birnbaum to "chase a dream instead of an invoice." The one that her parents brag about to their friends in Ft. Lauderdale and that her children think is cool. The one that talks about the limo service that runs from "Jersey to Beijing."
The sharp woman in the commercial is Birnbaum.
"While the attention has been nice, it's really about the business," she said.
The ads began running in August and will air through early next year.
