Talk:Bennett Greenspan

Article start
This article needs a picture, education background, alma mata, family info and birth info. More work needs to be done. Feel free to help! Jrcrin001 (talk) 01:10, 15 February 2012 (UTC)
 * What else do you think we should add, JC? --RebekahThorn (talk) 23:03, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Why I re-added the advertisement tag
GenQuest added the advertisement tag on 9 January 2013. I started cleaning up this article on 13 June 2013, and felt comfortable enough to remove the advertisement tag the same day. I then started to expand the article and asked around for a photo of BG. BG contacted me and said he had asked a friend to upload a picture, which seemed to attract other attention to the article which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, since then I have removed first name references, content that is not encyclopedic, editorializing and images that are not significantly relevant to the article. I am still not comfortable with the tone of the article, especially in the sections on Personal life and Early business ventures. The promotional tone was also raised on 28 June 2013 in a peer review. I do not have any personal connection to BG other than being a customer of Family Tree DNA, and have cleaned up quite a few Wikipedia BLP articles. I would clean this article up myself if I didn't expect my edits to be reverted, and I have no interest in edit warring. I therefore re-added the advertisement tag on 1 July 2013. Helen (talk) 07:47, 3 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Helen, you have made an overstatement of the peer review, which I requested. However, I am deeply hoping your action was not retaliatory in response to my requesting that review. I consider the article an ongoing challenge and am working to remove the corporate links that give it an advertisement tone. In my opinion, corporate links and familiar language from company/group websites regardless of for-profit status is the most outstanding problem in all Wikipedia's genetic genealogy related pages. --RebekahThorn (talk) 22:42, 5 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Not at all, I am grateful for the peer review. It helps a great deal to have an objective third party's view as we are both too close to the article. As stated above, my concern is the article tone not the sources or links. For example, statements such as "There, he gained the speaking skills that would later serve him in business" is subjective and promotional in my opinion (see WP:BLPSTYLE). As WP:COI was raised in the peer review, albeit without any explicit accusation, I also felt it appropriate to make full disclosure of my connection to the subject of the article and my role in the article. Helen (talk) 09:20, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Good. "Close to the subject" generally is a reference to a source that could be influenced by the subject matter. i.e., a company website or the website of an affiliated company. The exact sentence about COI was "I'm not accusing anybody of WP:COI here." The tone across the Gene by Gene section was bad. It also was not entirely factual. For the record, the GRC has been the GRC since Thomas and Astrid Krahn moved from Germany to Texas and helped set it up. I shall not comment on the motivations to move away from the University of Arizona as I do not have reliable non-biased sources. I can go back to Rootsweb for exact dates for the other articles though. --RebekahThorn (talk) 12:24, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry I don't follow the "close to the subject" part. I said "close to the article" and that is what I meant. Helen (talk) 15:59, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

Source Review
This is a review of all sources and external links used to determine their quality and necessity.

An Insider's Look at the Genealogy DNA Field

 * WARNING- This is essentially an autobiographical work.
 * Greenspan was working on his Nitz family lineage in 1999.
 * Quote- One was on a group of Jews, called Cohanim, who claimed to be direct male descendents of Aaron, the brother of Moses. Cohanim were always males, and generally had surnames like Cohn, Cohen, Kahn, Katzman, and Rappaport—just to make it confusing. The other story was of great interest, as it dealt with early American History, slavery, and the Jefferson family of Virginia.
 * Quote- I discovered that no commercial Y-DNA testing facility existed although dozens of firms were conducting paternity tests (which I found used an entirely different portion of our DNA).
 * Quote- He [Dr. Michael Hammer] volunteered to test two dozen males of my choice, as a proof of concept, with the quidpro-quo being that IF this technique worked, I’d start a commercial enterprise, with them providing the science and me organizing a company to deal with the clients on the front end.
 * Greenspan Allele values:
 * Bennett 12 23 14 10 14 17 11 17 12 13 11 29 17 8 8 11 11 25 14 20 25 14 14 16 16
 * Elliott 12 23 14 10 14 17 11 17 12 13 11 29 17 8 8 11 11 25 14 20 25 14 14 16 16
 * M.I. 12 23 14 10 15 17 11 17 12 13 11 29 17 8 8 11 11 25 14 20 25 14 14 16 16
 * Jim 12 23 14 10 15 17 11 17 12 13 11 29 17 8 8 11 11 25 14 20 25 14 14 16 16
 * The paper explains that Elliott is his son, Jim is his brother, and M.I. is his father.

Y chromosomes of Jewish priests

 * This is one of the original inspirational papers that triggered news headlines.

The Shield

 * Quote- Nancy Summer and Bennett Greenspan qualified as quarter finalists in the South High Novice Debate Tournament in October. Both divisions attended the OU Debate Tournament in November.

Interview with Bennett Greenspan

 * Quote- JoGG: The people who have attended the conferences for project administrators in Houston have heard you speak about the origin of Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), but many others in our community may not know how you got started.  Could you repeat your origin story for JoGG readers? BG:  I was unemployed in 1999 and didn’t have enough to keep me busy…my wife suggested that I take up my genealogy as a way to keep me out of her kitchen.  In doing so I found not only long lost family members in the US, but I found a possible cousin in Argentina who I wasn’t able to absolutely prove was related…I couldn’t find the paper trail…I was at a dead end in the road.  Fortunately I remembered articles on the Cohanim and the Jefferson study, both using the male inherited Y Chromosome and I reached out to the U of Arizona to help me.  It turned out that they helped me right into new job, and an industry, Genetic Genealogy, was born.
 * Quote- JoGG: In addition to your “official” position at FTDNA, you are also the project administrator for several projects. How’s that going?  Have you established any connections with any famous Greenspans? BG: If I were a cobbler I’d have lots of holes in my shoes…the Greenspan project has not reflected the same level of success as most of our clients’s projects.

National Genealogical Society Quarterly

 * Businessman Bennett Greenspan hoped that the approach used in the Jefferson and Cohen research would help family historians. After reaching a brick wall on his mother's surname, Nitz, he discovered and Argentine researching the same surname. Greenspan enlisted the help of a male Nitz cousin. A scientist involved in the original Cohen investigation tested the Argentine's and Greenspan's cousin's Y chromosomes. Their haplotypes matched perfectly.

U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1 [database on-line]

 * The record includes Bennett Greenspan's full address at the time and his date of birth. For privacy reasons, only the year of birth is being used in the article and I will not post details here.

IPS Court Case

 * The record gives us the name of Bennett Greenspan's photography business that by comparing dates can be determined to be the second one. It also provides a strong hint as to who the buyer of the business was, but I consider that beyond the scope of this article. Others may wish to research further.

California Marriage Index, 1960-1985

 * The record provides the California county and exact date of Bennett Greenspan's marriage as well as his approximate age at the time and the name of his wife. For privacy reasons, I will not include details here.

Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997

 * Includes records of the Texas county and date of birth of Elliott and then Briana Greenspan. This shows that the Greenspans were living in Texas at the time. I will not include dates here for privacy reasons.

Obituary: Maurice I. "Bud" Greenspan

 * Quote - Bud is survived by Rosalie, loving wife of 58 years; sons and daughters-in-law, Bennett and Robin Greenspan, Jim and Wendy Greenspan; grandchildren, Elliott, Brianna, Kayla and Megan
 * Shows that Bennett Greenspan's father's name was Maurice I. Greenspan. Maurice's wife and presumably Bennett's mother is Rosalie. Bennett's brother is Jim Greenspan and Bennett's wife's name is Robin. From this, you cannot say which of the children are Bennett's.

Riding the 'genetic revolution'

 * Quote- Gross revenue of $2.6 million in 2004 jumped to more than $8.99 million in 2005 and $12.2 million in 2006.
 * Quote- In November 2003, Family Tree was contacted by National Geographic. "They explained to us their idea of creating a 'virtual migration map of the humankind' by analyzing the mutations in the DNA that allow us to recreate the migration path of our ancestors," Blankfeld says. "This was a very exciting idea, and Spencer Wells -- who you may know from his famous documentary 'The Journey of Men' -- was behind it."
 * Quote- Company president Bennett Greenspan, a native of Nebraska who graduated from The University of Texas and studied at Southern Methodist University's Caruth Institute of Entrepreneurship in Dallas, started Family Tree DNA with Blankfeld after selling a prior business in 1997.
 * Quote- In December 2007, the Family Tree DNA offices and lab moved into a larger facility at 1445 N. Loop West.
 * Quote- The company's startup was plagued with its share of challenges. Jim Warren, a founding partner and head of the company's information technology, died suddenly of cancer in 2003.
 * Stats
 * Business: DNA testing for ancestry research
 * Founded: April 2000
 * Top executives: Bennett Greenspan, president; Max Blankfeld, chief operating officer
 * Employees: 25
 * Revenue:
 * 2004: $2.6 million
 * 2005: $8.99 million
 * 2006: $12.2 million

Houston-Based Gene By Gene To Provide Student Clinical Phase Instruction, Training, And Supervision At MD Anderson Cancer Center

 * Quote- “We’re delighted to partner with Gene By Gene, with its long and pioneering history in the field of genomics,” comments Program Director, Peter Hu, Ph.D., with the MD Anderson School of Health Professions in a release. “Gene By Gene’s sequencing, next-generation sequencing and microarray laboratory will provide the top level of experience and training that we want all our molecular students to attain.”

Supreme Court Ruling Today Allows DNATraits to Offer Low Cost BRCA Breast and Ovarian Cancer Gene Testing in U.S.

 * Quote - DNA DTC is the Research Use Only (RUO) division serving both direct-to-consumer and institutional clients worldwide. Gene By Gene offers AABB certified relationship tests through its paternity testing division, DNA Findings. The privately held company is headquartered in Houston, which is also home to its state-of-the-art Genomics Research Center.

Moneymakers: Bennett Greenspan

 * Quote - Years of researching his family tree through records and documents revealed roots in Argentina, but he ran out of leads looking for his maternal great-grandfather. After hearing about new genetic testing at the University of Arizona, he persuaded a scientist there to test DNA samples from a known cousin in California and a suspected distant cousin in Buenos Aires. It was a match. But the real find was the idea for Family Tree DNA, which the former film salesman launched in early 2000 to provide the same kind of service for others searching for their ancestors.

Who's Your Daddy?

 * Quote - A real estate developer and entrepreneur, Greenspan has been interested in genealogy since his preteen days. He recalls drawing up his first family tree at age 11 or 12. "I was just interested in it," he says. "I was the only one in the family who was interested in it. My parents didn't understand -- but it was great because it gave me an excuse to talk to my grandparents and great-aunts, and of course they loved that. They would say things like, 'Oh, he's such an interesting young boy.' "
 * Quote - Like many genealogists, Greenspan hit some dead ends. In the mid-'90s, he discovered another Greenspan living in Argentina who grew up ten miles from his grandfather in Ukraine and whose family was in the same business as his. He had a hunch that they were related, but there were no documents to back it up. He wanted to do a DNA test, but no company did DNA testing for genealogical purposes back then. "I searched everywhere, and I was talking to a genetics professor at the University of Arizona, and he said somebody should start a company doing something like this, because he got phone calls from genealogists all the time," he says. "And sure enough, it took me a while, but eventually I convinced him at the University of Arizona to do the testing, and the rest is history. We really are the first company in the world to offer this service."
 * Quote - And the business is doing well. The first anthrogenealogy conference, held in Houston late last year, was a success. Greenspan was treated as a rock star by the mostly aging genealogists who attended. The future of this young hybrid science was a hot topic. 

DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots

 * Quote - Mr. Greenspan said that anyone who starts to research his or her family history will eventually encounter roadblocks. 'This is where DNA comes in and offers clues that might otherwise never be known,' said Mr. Greenspan, who started Family Tree DNA in 2000, after encountering his own roadblocks while researching his Jewish ancestry.

Seeking the perfect school

 * Quote - To Bennett Greenspan, one of the Internet's new college brokers, the news is only good. He is chief executive officer of Houston-based GoCollege, a two-year-old online college-search site.

When oral history meets genetics

 * Quote - Greenspan, born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, has been interested in genealogy from a very young age; he drew his first family tree at age 11.

Library Issues Forum: Bennett Greenspan

 * Note - There is some great information here, but it is presumably supplied by Bennett or office staff.
 * Family Tree DNA was founded in 2000
 * National Geographic Society's Genographic Project
 * AfricanDNA.com
 * B.A. from the University of Texas
 * Nebraska native
 * Quote - Mr. Greenspan, a Nebraska native who received his B.A. from the University of Texas, spent years investigating the ancestors of his maternal grandfather, an obsession which eventually led to the founding of Family Tree DNA and the beginning of a new kind of genealogy. As a serial entrepreneur, his business career has spanned photographic equipment and supplies, real estate, the pro-college website GoCollege.com, Family Tree DNA, and is now also involved in DNATraits.com, a new medical genetic testing company.

Bennett Greenspan Discusses Using DNA to Track Genealogy @ The Breman Museum, Atlanta GA

 * Quote - Mr. Greenspan will be speaking on 'Using DNA to settle family disputes, connect to long-lost relatives and to garner an appreciation for where your ancestors came from and where they journeyed since our departure from Africa.'

About GoCollege.com

 * Quote - GoCollege.com offers helpful information for current and soon to be college students. The site was formed in 1997 to guide students on the complexity of the admissions and financial-aid process.

Who's Who at Family Tree DNA

 * Quote - An entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast, Mr. Greenspan founded Family Tree DNA in 1999, turning – dare we say – a hobby into a full-time vocation. Together with Max Blankfeld, they founded in 1997 GoCollege.com a website for college-bound students which survived the .COM implosion.

Bennett Greenspan – Class of 1970, Westside High School, Omaha, Nebraska, United States

 * Shows that Bennett Greenspan graduated from Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska in 1970.

CSE Distinguished Lecture Series: Bennett Greenspan

 * Quote- Bio: An entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast, Bennett Greenspan founded Family Tree DNA in 2000, the first company in the world to develop DNA testing for ancestry and genealogical purposes as a commercial application. Prior to the company’s initiative, these tests were only available for academic and research purposes. Because of this innovation, the National Geographic Society and its partner, IBM, selected FTDNA to provide the testing and manage all public participation in the Genographic Project, and National Geographic renewed that commitment by making FTDNA the processing lab for the landmark Geno 2.0 Project. Mr. Greenspan’s business and entrepreneur experience spans photo-imaging/industrial photography and commercial real estate. In a prior career he oversaw the conversion of a company sales force from analog to digital data capture.

Elliott Greenspan Bat Mitzvah announcement

 * Shows the Greenpan family was living in Houston, TX at the time of Elliott Greenspan's Bat Mitzvah.

Industrial Photographic Supply

 * Industrial Photographic Supply
 * Founded: 1980
 * Location: Bellaire, TX
 * 4-year growth: 686%

Interview Series I – Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA

 * Quote - "TGG: You founded Family Tree DNA in 1999, one of the first companies to offer genetic genealogy testing. What led you to create FTDNA? BG: I got the idea in 1999 but before the proof of concept was completed it was march of 2000 we began to accept orders at that time and formally launched the service, for Y DNA, in May of 2000 3 days after Oxford Ancestors launched their mtDNA testing service. As we all know Y-DNA is much more genealogical then the female inherited mitochondria because of the much faster mutation rates for the STRs that we test in male genetic genealogy, as well as the fact that in the Western world surnames go down the line along with the Y-DNA, which is not the case with the mtDNA."
 * Quote - "TGG: You recently launched DNATraits. What led you to explore this area of genetic testing? BG: After being reluctant for some time to offer these tests I thought that it was time to launch them for 2 reasons. 1. We saw the demand starting from our own community 2. Mendelian disorders ARE genealogy we either have had a disaster in our families and therefore we know that someone carries the mutation, or they are hidden and depending upon whom we marry they might create a personal disaster for the family who is a carrier. 2. Because Mendelian diseases are testable and predictable along the lines of 1-2-1 (presuming both parents are carriers for the same recessive mutation) we can actually prevent the birth of sick children by education and screening pre-conception or pre-marriage. This seems to us a noble if not earnest task. It's quite different form the associated gene tests by 23&Me, et. al. since they tell you that you have a greater risk but the SNPs are incomplete and therefore, IMHO, not ready for prime time."

Family Tree DNA Launches DNATraits, A New DNA Testing Company

 * Gives an approximate launch date for DNA Traits and outlines the original testing/business model.

Blacks Pin Hope on DNA to Fill Slavery's Gaps in Family Trees

 * Quote - One African-American, upon confirming a match with a white man whose ancestors had owned his, told him he owed reparations and could start by paying for the test, said Bennett Greenspan, chief executive of Family Tree DNA, which offers tests for $129 and up.

Hispanics Uncovering Roots as Inquisition's 'Hidden' Jews

 * Quote- Family Tree DNA, a Houston company that offers a Cohanim test to its male clients, gets about one inquiry a day from Hispanics interested in exploring the possibility of Jewish ancestry, said Bennett Greenspan, its founder and chief executive. Mr. Greenspan said about one in 10 of the Hispanic men tested by his company showed Semitic ancestry strongly suggesting a Jewish background. (Another divergent possibility is that the test might suggest North African Muslim ancestry.) "The results have just blown me over, reminding me of something out of Kaifeng," Mr. Greenspan said, referring to the Chinese city of Kaifeng, where a small Jewish community persisted for about 1,000 years until the mid-19th century when it was almost completely assimilated. "Lots of Hispanic people tell me they're interested in something Jewish and they can't explain it. Well, this helps explain it."

DNA Kits Aim to Link You to the Here and Then

 * Quote- "We test 20,000 people a year," said Bennett Greenspan, chief executive of Family Tree DNA, which generated $5 million in sales last year. "We grew up as Americans, and we don't know exactly where we came from."
 * Quote- Other answers may not be as simple, though company Web sites work to provide explanations. At Family Tree DNA, consumers receive a personal Web page with the names of people with certain DNA matches and the countries in which they live. By mail, consumers also receive a document with their DNA string of markers, which looks like a list of numbers, and a report that explains how to make sense of it.

Back to Earth After Taking Fall From Genghis's Family Tree

 * Quote- He sought the view of Family Tree DNA of Houston, only to learn last week from its president, Bennett Greenspan, that he belonged to a different branch of the Y chromosome family tree from that of the Mongol emperor, and could not be descended from him.... But the major branches of the Y chromosome family tree are defined by mutations at sites that change very seldom. Oxford Ancestors did not check the slow-mutating site that defines the branch to which Genghis Khan belongs. But at Family Tree DNA, Mr. Greenspan saw a feature in one of the fast-mutating DNA sites that bothered him, and did the costlier test of a slow-mutating site.

Study Raises Possibility Of Jewish Tie For Jefferson

 * Quote- "Bennett Greenspan, president of Family Tree DNA, a DNA-testing service, said that among the 90,000 Y chromosome samples contributed to his database, K2 occurred in 2 percent of Ashkenazim, Jews of Central or Northern European origin, and 3 percent of Sephardim. “Whether the non-Jews with K2 are descendants of Jews or come from an earlier migration into Europe is hard to say,” Mr. Greenspan said, “but my sense is that it’s separate migrations from the Middle East.”"

Stalking Strangers’ DNA to Fill in the Family Tree

 * Quote (ISOGG Director)- “People who realize the potential of DNA,” said Katherine Borges, a co-founder of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, “will go to great lengths to get it.”
 * Quote (ISOGG Member)- Derrell Teat, 63, a wastewater coordinator, recently found herself staking out a McDonald’s. The man she believed was the last male descendant of her great-great-great grandfather’s brother had refused to give her his DNA. So she decided to get it another way.
 * Quote (Bennett Greenspan)- "“If you won’t give me your DNA but I run after your cigarette butt and I don’t contaminate it, can we get your DNA?” said Bennett Greenspan, president of Family Tree DNA, which nearly doubled its kit sales last year. “The answer is yes.” But that does not mean genetic genealogy companies want to encourage the practice. Mr. Greenspan invited a bioethicist to speak at the company’s third annual genetic genealogy conference in Houston last fall. “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do in broad daylight,” the speaker told the audience."

DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots

 * Quote - Mr. Gates recently teamed up with Family Tree DNA, a DNA testing and genealogy firm in Houston, to provide genetic testing and genealogy work for African-Americans. The new venture is called AfricanDNA.
 * Quote - In an editorial in Science magazine in October, a number of scientists and scholars said companies might not be fully explaining the limitations of genetic testing, or what results actually mean.
 * Quote - Bennett Greenspan, founder and president of Family Tree DNA, said his company sometimes has to tell clients just the opposite. “We’ll have people who may think that they have a certain type of ancestry and we’ll tell them based on the test they are not,” he said. “I can only tell them what the tests show, nothing more. And sometimes it’s not what they want to hear.”