About Bjorn

Bjorn Hanson, Ph.D. is a professional magician.  Bjorn celebrated the 25th anniversary of his first performance at The Magic Castle in Hollywood when he performed 30 shows in 2014, and he performed at The Magic Castle again last January in the Close-up Gallery.  He is a published historian and collector (his collection and that of one other collector were the “Golden Age of Magic” record attendance exhibition at the Hudson River Museum in 2012) and author (his original material has been published in many of the most prestigious magic publications).

Bjorn has presented special lectures to International Brotherhood of Magicians Rings in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019.

He has been recognized as an Order of Merlin member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Bjorn’s material includes advanced card techniques (for the magicians: ambidextrous Erdnase Diagonal Palm Shifts, the Erdnase Shift – One Hand, the Classic Pass, Second and Bottom Deals, the Top Change, Top and Bottom Palms, and many more) but they are invisible except to the most knowledgeable card expert.

In addition to magic, Bjorn’s career has been as a consultant and investment banker for hotels, casinos and restaurants. He served as Industry Chairman – Hospitality for Coopers & Lybrand, Global Industry Leader – Hospitality & Leisure for PricewaterhouseCoopers and led lodging and gaming investment banking for two major “Wall Street” firms. From 2010 to 2014 he was the Divisional Dean for the New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management and a full Clinical Professor at NYU. Bjorn has appeared on CBS, NBC and ABC network evening news and has been quoted multiple times each in Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and hundreds of times in numerous publications.