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Trying to reason with his multimillionaire client while plying him with black coffee, Chuck Kanner ducked and narrowly missed a bottle of whiskey aimed at his head.
“He’d be sitting there [meeting] with people like Bill Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani and Mario Cuomo, spaced out, and I’d be saying: ‘Dude, this is not OK!’ ”
The unseemly row aboard the drunken CEO’s yacht in the Caribbean was all in a day’s work for Kanner, a so-called “sober companion” who makes his living keeping high-powered business executives on the straight and narrow.
He is part of an elite team of advisers and confidantes who work undercover, often 24/7, as personal assistants, bodyguards, researchers and potential investors, so the Masters of the Universe can get help for their addictions — while saving face as they rule the world.
“Only the guy’s close family knew who I really was, ” recalls 46-year-old Kanner, of this particular client, who made his fortune in digital technology and had him pose as an “organizational consultant.”
“There were mistresses, plural, and a lot of the people around him were enablers, so he constantly needed support.”
Sober companions like Kanner have never been more in demand. Medical experts report an explosion in the number of white-collar workers dependent on alcohol and addictive painkillers such as Percocet, Oxycontin and Vicodin.
Research this year by the University of Pennsylvania showed that 60 percent of investment bankers suffer “serious stress,” with many abusing illegal and prescription drugs. In March, psychologists in New York City reported a 35 percent increase in the number of referrals of Wall Street employees.
“These people tend to be adrenaline junkies who are highly functional and competitive,” says Patty Powers, a veteran sober companion who lives in the East Village.
The sober-companion trend, first adopted by troubled celebs like Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, is increasingly showing up in popular culture. Hayden Panettiere’s character on the hit ABC show “Nashville” hired a coach for her alcoholic mom while Lucy Liu reins in the addicted detective Jonny Lee Miller in the CBS crime series “Elementary.”
Meanwhile, scores of stressed-out business chiefs are flocking to the luxurious Executive Treatment Program at the Dunes Rehab Center, launched in the Hamptons in March 2011, because of its sober companions policy.
“These guys can’t possibly conceive of burying themselves away somewhere for 30, 60, 90 days,” says Joe McKinsey, founder of the Dunes. “They have empires to run.”
The 10-bed luxury facility, which charges between $50,000 and $80,000 per month, allows them offsite for limited contact with their business associates. Last month, for example, a 50-something venture capitalist was permitted to attend an important meeting in Miami five days into his rehab, with sober minder Peter Downing passed off as his driver.
After the obligatory emptying out of the minibar, Downing slept in the same hotel room as the client and subjected him to random drug tests. He escorted his VIP everywhere, stationing himself at the restaurant bar during one meeting to literally block the way if the client felt the urge to drink.
But things don’t always go so smoothly: Once, when Downing was minding a preppy 35-year-old real-estate mogul in the Hamptons, the man disappeared from his home in his Lexus sports car in the dead of night. He returned after a two-day bender, and slumped onto the bed. Next up was a knock at the door by a bunch of hookers and a dealer. “They demanded to know where the money was,” says Downing. “I told them to scram.”
Meanwhile, a small but increasing percentage of Powers’ charges are wealthy professional females, working in demanding fields such as fashion and social media. In these circumstances, Powers usually masquerades as an out-of-town girlfriend or business associate.
“I’m very good at taking charge of situations,” she says. “We’ll go for dinner with co-workers or clients and, when the wine comes around, it’s me who will say to the waiter: ‘Hey, we’ve been running around all day, how about some chamomile tea?’ ”
jridley@nypost.com