Bob Ayres, Executive Producer
The Next 20 Years Series.
Contact Bob

Bob Ayres began in the entertainment business in 1977. He founded, owned, and operated the renowned San Francisco comedy club The Other Cafe, which helped begin the careers of comedians Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Dana Carvey, Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone, Bob Goldthwait, Rob Schneider, and many others.

In 1981, as personal manager for Dana Carvey, he helped land and negotiate a development contract for Dana with NBC, the springboard for his role on “Saturday Night Live.” In 1983-84, Ayres executive-produced eight episodes of a critically acclaimed cable TV series, “The Other Cafe’s Comedy Showcase” starring Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Leifer, Kevin Pollak, Geoff Bolt and Will Durst, which won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the International Film and Television Festival of New York.

In 1987, Ayres executive-produced a television pilot called “Two Guys with Amusing Shorts,” which introduced short films by a variety of comedians and directors, including Oscar winner Bill Couturie.

From 1993-1997, Ayres launched “Last Saturdays,” an innovative technology-industry salon that initially gathered at his home in SF on the Last Saturday of every month. This salon led to the birth of the Next 20 Years series (TNTY).

In May 1997, Ayres launched the “Next 20 Years” series in San Francisco. The live lecture and showcase series traveled to 10 US cities and London and featured more than 450 companies. The series is a unique industry gathering that tracks trends, global issues and expected breakthroughs in a myriad of global industries.

The TNTY series has evolved and will continue to bring together c-level industry executives in venture capital, advertising, telecommunications, science, media, design, government, biotech, medicine, alternative energy, entertainment, software, education, building, marketing, climate sciences, and web programming.

Until very recently, Bob sat on the prestigious board of advisors for the TED Conference and served for two years as the inaugural Executive Director of the TED PRIZE, whose winners include, among others, Bono and Bill Clinton.

Bob served until 2007 as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the community-based, listener-supported KVMR-FM in Nevada City, CA. KVMR-FM was named community radio station of the year for two of those three years.

Bob served until 2007 as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the community-based, listener-supported KVMR-FM in Nevada City, CA. KVMR-FM was named community radio station of the year for two of those three years.

Throughout his professional career Ayres has continued to produce industry and comedy events, most often as benefit fundraisers for worthy charitable organizations.

Bob continues to consult on event marketing and development for nonprofits and startups and continues to pursue philanthropic development. Bob will executive-produce a new round of TNTY gatherings and smaller salons to debut in the spring 2009.

Bob now resides in the infamous west Marin County town of Fairfax, California.

More importantly of course, now enjoying their 29th season together, Bob’s softball team (The Other Cafe) recently won the Masters B league SF Softball Championship.

Bob bats and throws left.

Lastly, Bob, known for not wanting to be in front of any cameras, wishes to let everyone know that the picture at the top of this post is approx. 9 years old. So watch for a far grayer version of the above at shops and stores near you ;-).