A New York City CEO is missing after her plane vanished over the Bermuda Triangle. On May 16, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a press release saying that Jennifer Blumin, 40, the CEO of the Skylight Group, was missing along with her two sons, Phineas and Theodore, as well as man named Nathan Ulrich, 52.
At 2:10 p.m. on May 15 the Miami Air Traffic Control center lost contact with Blumin’s plane, an MU-2B aircraft, while it was 37 miles east of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. On May 16, the coast guard announced that debris had been found 15 miles east of Eleuthera.
The plane had left Borinquen in Puerto Rico at 11 a.m. and had been due to land in Titusville, Florida. The coast guard, United States Customs and Border Patrol as well as the Royal Bahamas Defense Forces are involved in the search for Blumin. The U.S. Coast Guard says that Ulrich, from Lee, New Hampshire, was piloting the plane.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Blumin Business Philosophy Is ‘Be Ready for Constant Reinvention… No Sitting Back on Your Fat Laurels’
Jennifer Blumin pictured in 2010. (Getty)
Blumin was quoted by Forbes in 2013 as saying:
Don’t focus only on your business. Keep your ears to the ground and be ready for constant reinvention. No sitting back on your fat laurels.
Blumin founded the Skylight Group in 2004. According to the company’s website, their speciality is converting untraditional spaces for high-end parties. In addition to properties in Midtown Manhattan, the group also owns spaces in Brooklyn and has offices in San Francisco.
Founder of @skylightnyc @jenblumin and Melissa Tomkiel, CEO of Fixed Wing Operations, meet up in mint. #PowerTrip
On her Twitter page, Blumin describes herself as:
Seeker of forgotten architecture hidden in urban grit. Believer that history should inspire the future.
Blumin says she got her start after a “crazy Israeli billionaire convinced me to open his former home as an event space because people had asked him about renting it. So I took the risk because I didn’t have anything to lose.”
(Facebook)
In that interview, Blumin name checks some of her clients as Rag & Bone, Ralph Lauren as well as Hollywood mega-agency IMG Entertainment. A separate piece in LLNYC says that one event that Blumin was charged with was organizing Mike Tyson’s birthday party. Initially, Blumin was told it was a 90 person event, however nearly 1,000 people showed up. Blumin referred to herself as an “urban Indiana Jones” in that article.
During a separate New York Times feature, Blumin said that in 2001 her first job was turning Jonathan Leitersdorf’s apartment into a space for Gisele Bundchen to do a Victoria Secret photo shoot.
2. The Man Missing With Blumin Is One of the Founders of Xootr Folding Scooters
The man on board Blumin’s plane is Nathan Ulrich. On his Facebook page, Ulrich says that he is one of the founders of Xootr folding scooters. On his Facebook, Ulrich adds that he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he attained a degree in mechanical engineering.
My ex-hubby’s (Nathan Ulrich) plane is missing over the Bermuda Triangle. I am sad and in shock. So send prayers to his family. Thanks.
In 2011, Ulrich married The Color Purple and Commando actress Rae Dawn Chong. In a tweet about this, Chong referred to Ulrich as her “ex-hubby.” She is the daughter of actor Tommy Chong.
Lt. Commander Ryan Kelly of the U.S. Coast Guard said, via NBC New York, “There’s no indication of significant adverse weather at the time.” The station says that the plane is owned by a company named Ithaca Consulting in Southhold, New York. The CEO of that company is Jennifer Blumin.
3. The Father of Blumin’s Children Is New York City Architect James Ramsey
A New York Times feature on Blumin explained that she was in a long term relationship with New York City architect James Ramsey. Ramsey is the head designer of the RAAD Studio.
The couple’s SOHO home, that Ramsey designed, was the subject of a 2011 Curbed feature. Ramsey described a typical night for the couple saying:
Jen and I cook as much as our busy schedules will allow. We’re both huge food aficionados and we’ve constructed a kitchen area to suit, complete with a blackboard that helps us remember what we’re missing, an in-counter herb garden, and a special hook to hang Ramsey Farms hams, which my family makes in Tennessee.
In the same piece, Blumin described her ideal neighbor as being chef Mario Batali and her ideal dinner guest as former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold.
4. Blumin Studied English at Cornell But Her Passion Is History
On her LinkedIn page, Blumin says that she is a graduate of Cornell University where she studied English. Though Blumin told Impression Magazine:
I studied English in college and I was really into history, so it wasn’t the traditional path. I’m not a businessperson and I’m not an events person, but I spent a year in corporate America and realized it was not my thing.
During a separate interview with LLNYC, Blumin said:
I was an English major in college. I’m from a super liberal academic family. I didn’t even understand what business was, which I actually think helped me. It’s unconscious incompetence.
5. The Aircraft That Blumin Was Flying In Has Been Dogged by Safety Concerns
#Update Picture of overdue aircraft, MU-2B airplane, tail number N220N. t.co/49uGJTgVDt
The Mitsubishi MU-2 plane has been dogged by safety concerns over the years. In 2004, the International Aviation Safety Authority published a report on the plane titled, “The Deadliest Turboprop Ever?” While Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo made a statement in 2008 saying, “How many more people need to die … in order for Mitsubishi to recall this aircraft?” A Flying Magazine feature on the aircraft asked if the crashes associated with the planes were due to bad piloting. The plane has been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of nearly 400 people over the last 50 years.
In past 100 years, it’s estimated that 1,000 people have been killed in the Bermuda Triangle. An average of four aircraft go missing there every year.
