User:Patrickneil/Ted Leonsis

Theodore Leonsis (born January 8, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York ) is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years. He is the founder and majority owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals, the NBA's Washington Wizards, the Women's National Basketball Association's Washington Mystics and the Verizon Center. He serves as Chairman of Revolution Money, SnagFilms, and is on the board of Groupon and other companies. Leonsis has produced documentary films such as the Peabody and the Emmy Award-winning Nanking and is the author of The Business of Happiness.

Biography
Leonsis was born to Greek American parents in Brooklyn, and spent his early years there. His parents worked as a waiter and a secretary. After skipping 8th grade, Leonsis attended Brooklyn Tech but before graduation, his family moved back to their hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. He graduated from Lowell High School in 1973 and Georgetown University in 1977. After graduation, Leonsis moved back to his parents' home in Lowell and began working for Wang Laboratories.

After surviving an airplane crash landing in 1983, he drafted a list of 101 things to do in life and has completed many of the tasks, including owning a sports franchise.

His career with AOL started in 1993 when AOL purchased his marketing company, Redgate Communications Corp. to help AOL compete with Microsoft. Under his leadership, AOL increased its membership from under 800,000 members to over 8 million, and their annual revenue increased from $100 million to $1.5 billion. He held numerous positions at AOL during his years there, completing his tenure and retiring in 2006 as the audience group's president and vice-chairman. He now serves as vice chairman emeritus of AOL.

Leonsis was named Businessperson of the Year in 2001 by Washington Business Journal and Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine. In 2009, Leonsis was named one of Washington's Tech Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. In July 2010, Leonsis was elected to the Board of Directors of American Express, he chairs the New Innovation and Technology Committee. In December 2008, Leonsis was named to the board of NutriSystem, Inc. In June 2009, Leonsis was appointed as member of Alcatel-Lucent Board's Technology Committee.

Leonsis currently serves as founding chairman of SnagFilms, a social media website that lets viewers watch and share documentary films. He is also chairman of Clearspring Technologies and Revolution Money, a subsidiary of Revolution LLC, the investment company created by Steve Case. Leonsis also serves on the board of Groupon and Rosetta Stone. Leonsis is currently on the board of directors at Georgetown University, his alma mater. In 2010 Leonsis authored, The Business of Happiness.

In early 2011, Leonsis announced his purchase of Marwood, a historic 13-acre estate in Potomac, Maryland. He acquired the property, a chateau-style riverfront mansion, for $20 million after selling homes in McLean, Virginia and Vero Beach, Florida. The 20000 sqft estate was once the home of Joseph P. Kennedy, summer home of Franklin Roosevelt , and was owned by the Gore family from 1942-1995. Leonsis purchased the home from Chris Rogers, a telecommunications executive who acquired Leonsis' home in McLean. The house, which was built in 1926, or 1930 by Samuel Martin, has 8 bedrooms, 11 full baths, and parking space for 10 cars. By some accounts, the estate is haunted,  and has been called the "creepiest" home in Potomac.

Leonsis' son, Zachary, is an undergraduate in the class of 2011 at the University of Pennsylvania and a volunteer for Street Soccer USA. His daughter, Elle, is a student at Georgetown University.

Sports team ownership
Leonsis is the founder, majority owner, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the sports and entertainment group which on June 9, 2010 became owners of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, NHL's Washington Capitals and the WNBA's Washington Mystics and the Verizon Center. Monumental Sports also manages Kettler Capitals Iceplex and George Mason University’s Patriot Center.

Leonsis has a "hands on" approach to management of his sports teams. Leonsis has sought to roll-back changes to the Wizards and Capitals franchises that coincided with the opening of the Verizon Center in 1997. In 2007, he changed the Capitals team logo and its colors back to red, white, and blue, and intends to do the same for the Wizards in 2011. Additionally, he had taken under consideration changing the name of the Washington basketball franchise to the Bullets. Critics said that this would "send the wrong message" about gun violence in Washington. After purchasing the Wizards, Leonsis criticized the NBA's salary cap at a luncheon with business leaders. He was fined $100,000 by the league, for "unauthorized public comments regarding the league's collective bargaining negotiations."

In the early years of his ownership, the Capitals went on to win back-to-back Southeast Division titles in 2000 and 2001, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the summer of 2001, the Capitals traded for Jaromir Jagr and signed him to what was at the time, the largest contract in NHL history. After Jagr was traded in 2004, Leonsis received overwhelming criticism from fans, and was involved in a physical altercation with a 20-year old fan, Jason Hammer, who led a mocking chant of Leonsis during the game and hoisted a sign chiding him. Hammer confronted Leonsis, who grabbed and threw him to the ground. Leonsis was fined $100,000 and suspended for a week, during which he was prohibited from having any contact with the team.

The Capitals captured their fourth consecutive Southeast Division title in 2010-11 and completed the 2009-10 season with a franchise record 121 points, earning the Presidents' Trophy for amassing the most points in the NHL during the regular season. The 2010-11 season marked the highest attendance in franchise history, drawing 754,309 fans. The Capitals, like other teams, have raised ticket prices in recent years. In 2001, Leonsis claimed to have written a computer program that prevented Pittsburgh Penguins fans (the Capitals first-round opponent) from purchasing tickets online. When asked if the actions were unfair, Leonsis stated, "I don't care. I'm going to keep doing it." Again in 2009, he received criticism for preventing visiting team fans from purchasing Capitals playoff tickets.

Filmmaking
Leonsis has become involved in film investing as a philanthropic interest, which he calls "filmanthropy". "The driver of filmanthropy is that the world is more screwed up every day and people want to call attention to issues," he told the Financial Times. His first production was the documentary Nanking which made its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The 2009 Best Historical Programming Emmy and 2008 Peabody Award winning film is based on the best selling book The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang.

In 2008, Leonsis produced Kicking It, a documentary by Susan Koch about the 2006 Homeless World Cup. The film, narrated by actor Colin Farrell, featured residents of Afghanistan, Kenya, Dublin, Charlotte, North Carolina, Madrid and Saint Petersburg. The film premiered in January, 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival and is being distributed by Liberation Entertainment, Netflix and ESPN.

Philanthropy
Leonsis is a mentor through the Hoop Dreams program. Through Hoop Dreams, Leonsis was able to guide Michael Hendrickson into and through his first choice college. Leonsis and Hendrickson continue this relationship today. About Hoop Dreams, Leonsis has stated, “"The Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund is extraordinary and this Tournament really brings together so many different segments of the city to do something good for the youth of DC. Together, we can help make the educational dreams of hard working students a reality."

In addition, Leonsis is a contributor to the See Forever Foundation and to YouthAIDS. He also sponsors his own philanthropic foundation,the Leonsis Foundation, dedicated to creating “opportunities for children that enable them to reach their highest potential.” The Foundation “partners with and supports organizations with the creativity, skill and dedication to help children overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.”

On November 20, 2010, Leonsis was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame due to his work in AOL, Washington’s major sports, filmmaking and donations to local charities.