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News & Information
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Ted Leonsis - Founder, Chairman, Majority Owner,
CEO
Ted Leonsis is the founder, chairman and majority
owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which comprises
three professional sports teams - the Washington Capitals (NHL),
the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Mystics (WNBA) -
as well as Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster
franchise. The company also operates Kettler Capitals Iceplex (the
Capitals training facility and front office) and George Mason University's
Patriot Center.
Leonsis retired from active management of AOL in 2006, where during
the previous 13 years he held a number of senior positions, including
vice chairman and president. Since his retirement from active management
at AOL, Leonsis retains the position of vice chairman emeritus.
At a May 2010 ceremony celebrating AOL's 25th anniversary, one of
the buildings on AOL's Virginia campus was renamed the Leonsis Creative
Center in his honor.
Recently Leonsis was chairman of Revolution Money, which provides
secure payments through an Internet-based platform and in 2009 was
sold to American Express; Leonsis is now on the board of directors
at American Express. He is currently chairman of Clearspring Technologies,
the largest online content sharing network, which connects publishers,
services and advertisers to audiences on the social web. Over the
past 20 years he has been a board member or early investor in a
number of successful technology companies, from Google to Groupon.
In 2008 Leonsis founded SnagFilms, which enables online audiences
to find, watch, share and support thousands of documentary films.
SnagFilms grew out of Leonsis' experience as a producer of such
award-winning documentary films as Nanking and Kicking It. Nanking
premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded
the Documentary Editing Award and has won a Peabody Award and an
Emmy Award. Kicking It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
and aired on ESPN. A third documentary produced by Leonsis, A Fighting
Chance, will air on ESPN in fall 2010. In addition to being the
Internet's leading site for watching and sharing nonfiction films,
SnagFilms owns indieWIRE, the leading news, information and networking
site for independent-minded filmmakers, the industry and moviegoers
alike.
While working on documentaries and establishing SnagFilms, Leonsis
coined and championed the term "filmanthropy." It is his
unique way of combining film and philanthropy, raising the awareness
of important issues with the goal of promoting change by increasing
volunteerism and activating charitable giving.
Leonsis' book The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets To Extraordinary
Success In Work And Life was published in February 2010 and quickly
became a bestseller. Previous books by Leonsis include Blue Magic:
The People, Power, and Politics Behind The IBM Personal Computer
(1988.)
In addition to serving on the board of directors of American Express,
where he is chairman of the Technology and Innovation Committee,
Leonsis sits on the board of publicly held companies such as Nutrisystem
and Rosetta Stone. He also serves on the Technology Committee of
the board of directors for Alcatel-Lucent. He also serves on the
board of directors of his alma mater, Georgetown University. Leonsis
has numerous business interests and investments, including the following
companies: Algentis, GridPoint, Triporati, Mahalo.com, MediaBank,
MobilePosse, ObjectVideo, SB Nation, TidalTV and Zedge.
Leonsis is a committed philanthropist and is actively involved
with numerous charities, including Best Buddies, D.C. Central Kitchen,
See Forever Foundation, Street Soccer USA, Venture Philanthropy
Partners, YouthAIDS and others through the work of the Leonsis Foundation.
Early in his career Leonsis was the founder of several new media
companies, including Redgate Communications, a pioneering "new
media company" - a phrase Leonsis is crediting with coining
- that in 1993 was the first company acquired by AOL. He was also
the founder of six personal computer magazines and worked on the
introduction of the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. He co-invented
a successful board game called "Only in New York" and
served as a marketing executive with Harris Corp and Wang Laboratories.
He once served as mayor of Orchid, Fla. Among his many honors,
Leonsis has been named Washington's Businessman of the Year, a Washingtonian
of the Year, one of the 20 most influential people in sports, one
of America's most creative executives and a top 10 entrepreneur
of the year. Leonsis blogs daily at TedsTake.com. Originally from
Brooklyn, N.Y., and later, Lowell, Mass., he now lives in McLean,
Va., with his wife and two children.
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