Management Biographies

EP will be a New York LLC, founded and owned by Elliott Cortez and Kirk A. Ornstein.

¨       Elliott Cortez, PhD (EVP Program Director)

Mr. Cortez began his career as child psychologist in Houston after receiving his PhD in child psychology from Texas A & M in 1987. His practice initially focused on child psychology.

While Mr. Cortez was building his practice he never strayed from his love of gymnastics. After he retired from competition he joined the world renowned Bella Karoly Training facility in Houston as a trainer certified by the US Gymnastics Federation.

Mr. Cortez was never satisfied with a single practice. He began to work with city schools at the elementary level, broadening his efforts to help children at the most risk and with the least coping skills. Mr. Cortez was able to create a unique curriculum that optimized learning through gymnastic like movements; using gymnastics as a tool to help children on both the emotional side as well as the intellectual side. Children began to improve in school; behavioral problems occurred less often in the classes of the children Mr. Cortez worked with.

Mr. Cortez continued to evolve his program moving to NYC to work exclusively with children using his new method “The Elliott Method.” This program has been refined and expanded to the program it is today.

The “Elliott Method” has brought him special attention from physicians who recommend him to parents with babies as young as 8 weeks old that are at risk of developmental delays. Mr. Cortez’s special training allows him to identify symptoms that may identify a childs special needs. He also believes every child is special and that we all have special needs.  Addressing a child’s special needs early is critical in seeking early intervention to prevent further delays in the their development.

Mr. Cortez realizing that the needs of children are only increasing; childcare givers need a better method to teach the children. Mr. Cortez has further developed his method and has begun the accreditation process to certify this program as a new early childhood development teaching process.

Mr. Cortez’s special work has brought him significant recognition within the childcare industry. In 2000 he received the Hero of the Year award from the Big Apple Parents Guide. In 2001 Mr. Cortez was spotlighted on NY1 as the New Yorker of the Week.  He has also appeared on Sesame Street and has a video for kids with Elliott’s Gym for kids, and is currently working on a series of videos with Elliott in the Park, LLC. 

¨       Kirk A. Ornstein, MS (President)

Mr. Ornstein began his career as an aid for Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder focusing on health care issues including developing health care and educational background materials on legislative issues. Since then he has never strayed far from his passion of promoting public health. Whether it’s teaching children about nutrition or working for pharmaceutical companies. He has strived to inform the public on how to live better.

Mr. Ornstein a New York City native gradated from Syracuse University 1992 with a Masters in education. He went on to work at The Hampton Day School as a preschool teacher. While teaching Mr. Ornstein saw a need in the community to educate and help people become fit. In 1994 he opened the Get Fit Stay Well: Wellness and Education Center. While running the center he was a guest speaker for local radio programs, health clubs, and schools. During this time Mr. Ornstein also accepted a position as an adjunct professor at Southampton College. There he developed curriculum and taught health education seminars dealing with wellness, exercise physiology, nutrition and biomechanics. 

In 1998 Mr. Ornstein went back to school to start work on his second masters degree; this time for Public Health. While working on his second masters Mr. Ornstein was an exercise physiologist at Chelsea piers working with heart attack patients, hypertensive, diabetic and the elderly. Mr. Ornstein also developed a marathon training class that was featured on the CBS Early Morning Show. 

In 2000 Mr. Ornstein moved on to pharmaceutical marketing taking a position with Clinical Insights Inc. There he developed journal manuscripts, monographs and CD ROMS for publication and distribution for medical professionals in the oncology department. Mr. Ornstein was also responsible for product positioning and development of strategic and tactical marketing plans for Fortune 100 pharmaceutical companies.

By 2003 Mr. Ornstein was ready for a new challenge; he accepted a position with Accel Healthcare. There Mr. Ornstein reorganized the internal slide development for the company which improved development time by 37%. Conjointly he brokered client accounting reconciliation that resulted in resolution of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices. 

Since then Mr. Ornstein has held various positions in the marketing world. While at Euro RSCG LM&P Mr. Ornstein managed all promotional/advertising programs, directed product re-branding and concept development. At Med Reviews LLC he implemented new client procedures, internal communication procedures and project tracking documentation. 

While at Anderson DDB, Mr. Ornstein developed a global launch strategy for hospital nosocomial anti-infective. In addition; he directed an internal & external promotional merger strategy for J&J/Guidant. 

Most recently Mr. Ornstein was the Manhattan Affiliate Coordinator for Pancreatic Cancer Action Network; there he developed the NYC corporate sponsorship outreach program. 

Currently Mr. Ornstein is conducting oncology research at Columbia University.