David Klein '91 was rich at 28. While he still likes to work hard, it's no longer the defining thing.

by Lorraine Berry

At 23, David Klein quit his job, moved in with his parents, and started his own business. Five years later he sold that business for $5.3 million. Since then, his business ventures have netted him close to $30 million. Yet now, at 33, Klein is much more interested in the things that money cannot buy.

Klein at a favorite getaway ("The most beautiful place I've ever been"), where he goes to recharge

Klein first got the idea to start his own business while driving one day. "I was working in the car business, financing and leasing cars," he says. "I was traveling to my parents' house, and I saw a billboard that said Your Ad Here. There was a phone number listed, so I called it. It turned out that that billboard rented for more in a month than I was making in a year." And an idea was born.

Klein left his job, moved back home, and started Klein Outdoor Advertising. "I went to the library every day for six months," he says. "I read every article I could find --- anything to do with billboards. I read articles on general terminology, where the industry was going, its direction --- really anything to learn what ever I could. It worked because I devoted myself full-time to it.

"Once I knew what I was doing, I scouted for billboard locations," he says. "I went from property owner to property owner to get permission to place them." While looking at maps of the New Jersey highway system, Klein noticed that the railroad tracks ran parallel to the roads. So he contacted Conrail's real estate department, negotiated a deal --- and an ad business was born. "It took 18 months from the time I started [research] to the time I built my first sign."

The work of placing a billboard, says Klein, is a series of negotiations --- with property owners to lease the land and with various state and local planning boards to secure the necessary permits. Klein credits his personal success to his political skills, acquired in part from his coursework. "Being a politics major at Ithaca College taught me how things work," he says. "Everything in the world is politics. You learn who can help you how --- both with your friends and with people you do business with. Real estate development is the same process as politics --- personal relationships are the key to success. It's who you know." It's not a process that happens overnight, Klein admits. "I can't tell you how many phones were hung up on me, how many doors were shut in my face." But persistence paid off: "Now everyone calls me," he says.

"Ithaca College was a great place to grow up and learn to deal with other people," he continues. "There were many times in the classroom when I wondered how what I was learning [would do anything] for me in the real world. Now I recognize that the things I learned apply to other things besides what was in the textbook."

Klein sold the original business five years ago and now travels between a Manhattan apartment, a New Jersey house, and a Florida condominium. He is still in the billboard business, but in a different capacity. His company now does the legwork necessary to build the billboards --- acquiring permits, leasing the space, etc. --- then sells multiple billboard locations as a package deal to other companies. He has a staff of two: "a personal assistant who handles my life, and Eric Bosniak, a friend, who handles all the day-to-day operations," he says.

At 33, Klein would appear to have it all: money, multiple homes, a jet-setter lifestyle. But something happened October 19, 2001, that irrevocably changed his life. "I was driving with my girlfriend, Lillian, on a street in South Beach [Miami]," he says, "when we were hit by a motorcycle going 130 miles per hour. The motorcycle driver was riding on one wheel, doing Evel Knievel - type tricks." The motorcyclist was killed; Lillian was permanently disfigured. Klein suffered severe burn injuries on his arms, hands, and shoulders, and he has had 11 surgeries since.

All of the struggle that went into creating his business is puny, Klein says, compared to the everyday reality post-accident. "I would give every cent I have and then some --- I would borrow money --- not to have gone out that night," he avers. But he refuses to dwell on the accident. He thinks of everything that has happened to him this past year as further learning. "I've learned that there is no such thing as control. I've learned the importance of good people and good friends."

Klein says he used to smile indulgently when his grandparents would tell him that health was the most valuable thing you could possess. "Even when the business had taken off, my parents would always tell me that the most important thing was not the money --- it was to just be happy. My financial success is not everything that I used to think it was. It's the people and family around you. Now I understand and appreciate the value of a day. You never know when it's your turn."