In 1965, Kern, Herbert Wachtell, Martin Lipton, Leonard Rosen, and George Katz, formed the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.[3] Kern later left the firm to pursue a career in investment banking, running his own brokerage firm J.H. Kern & Company.[3] He returned to law practice, was a partner at Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O’Donnell & Weyher, and eventually becoming an executive committee member of Shea & Gould.[8]
Kern was made CEO of Linkshare in 1999.[15][16] He then served as Chairman and CEO of On Command, the nation's largest provider of pay-per-view video services in hotel rooms from 2000 to 2001.[17][12][18]
Since 2001, Kern has run his own consulting firm, Kern Consulting LLC, focusing on serving clients in the media and telecommunications sectors. He joined the board of Playboy Enterprises in 2002 and served as interim CEO from 2008 to 2009 following the departure of Christie Hefner.[9][19] Kern departed Playboy's board of directors in 2009.[9] In 2007, he also formed Enki Strategic Advisors, a consulting firm helping companies expand into mobile and multi-platform media technologies.[20]
Kern donated $5 million to New York University School of Law and set off a $30 million fundraising campaign for the Root-Tilden Scholarship program.[22] Then NYU Law dean John Sexton renamed the scholarship program Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship in honor of his generosity.[23] He currently sits on the law school's board of trustees.[24]
Kern served as Chairman and CEO of Colorado Symphony from 2016 to 2021 and helped with the symphony's fundraising efforts. Kern took over the symphony in 2011 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, with $1.2 million in debt, and left the organization with an $88 million endowment at the time of his retirement.[1][25] As Chairman, he hired Andrew Litton as music director of the symphony.[26]
^Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1958). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.