During a luncheon at Gotham Hall in Manhattan, New York University, Don’s undergraduate alma mater, honored Don with a 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award for his success in the worlds of art, culture, and entertainment. [11 min. 15 secs.]

Don visited Montclair State University to speak to a full room of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members about transitioning from the writerly life to running a company, turning ideas into reality, and the importance of a broad education and strong teacher relationships. [1 hour]

Don, a graduate of New Trier Township High School, located outside Chicago, was named to the school’s Alumni Hall of Honor. [4 min.; 7 min. video]

Neil Gaiman took the stage at NJPAC in Newark, reading excerpts from his work and answering questions from a packed audience. Don introduced the celebrated author and longtime Audible creator. [3 min.]

Don marked the 70th anniversary of the publication of Ralph Ellison’s iconic novel, Invisible Man, during NYU’s alumni weekend in October 2023. [52 min.]

Audible and Don hosted “Jazz in the Key of Ellison,” a jazz and spoken words tribute to the great novelist whose ability to hear the music in words inspired Don’s writing career and informed the founding of Audible. [8 min.]

Don received the Gotham Film & Media Institute Innovator Tribute at the 32nd annual Gotham Awards Ceremony in New York City on November 28, 2022. [9 min.]

Don hosted noted Chef Marcus Samuelsson for a discussion at the Montclair Film Festival. The event coincided with the launch of Samuelsson’s eight-part Audible Original “Seat at the Table,” exploring the stories behind eight seminal locations in American restaurant history. [1 hour, 20 min.

At the 2023 Aspen Ideas festival, Don discussed the power of storytelling with bestselling author Amor Towles, who also has created an Audible Original, The Didomenico Fragment, narrated by actor John Lithgow. [1 hour, 9 min.]

Brian Greene, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University, sits down with Audible Founder Don Katz during the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival to talk about building Audible from the ground up, surviving the dot-com bubble and how Audible leads with visions of the possible every day. [46 min.]

On March 9th, 2023, Don, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, the City of Newark, Queen Latifah, and Audible joined together to unveil Newark’s new monument honoring Harriet Tubman and her legacy, as well as Newark’s role in the Underground Railroad and the Black liberation movement. [1 hour, 24 min.]

The Ralph Ellison Foundation presented Don with the 2020 Shadow and Act Award for “outstanding service in the spirit of Ellison’s legacy” at its annual gala in Oklahoma City. [4 min.]

“CBS This Morning” interviewed Don for a segment on Audible’s recently opened Innovation Cathedral, spotlighting the company’s 12-year focus on Newark’s turnaround. [8 min.]

Don spoke to CNBC’s “Closing Bell” about Audible’s “profound levels of storytelling that addict huge numbers of people around the world” as audio becomes a “large, diversifying segment.” [3 min.]

Don and Gov. Phil Murphy delivered keynote addresses at a policy forum centered on how New Jersey can drive economic growth in its cities by attracting high-growth tech companies and tech talent. [4 min.]

Nine tech startups took to a stage on the ice at the Prudential Center for Newark Venture Partners’ third ever Demo Day to present their businesses — and showcase the progress the venture fund has made in bringing exciting companies to join Audible in boosting Newark’s tech ecosystem. [3 min.]

At the Milken Institute Global Conference, Don sat down with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan to talk about how Audible has elevated the power of the spoken word, the importance of formative battles to a company’s success and how Newark Venture Partners fits into Audible’s activist mission in accelerating Newark’s comeback.