Ted Leonsis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theodore "Ted" J. Leonsis is a pioneer of the Internet and new media, a sports team owner, and an active philanthropist. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1956 to Greek immigrant parents, their goal was for their only son to become educated and go to a good college. [1].
As one of the country's premiere business leaders, Leonsis is a Vice Chairman of AOL LLC and leads the company's Audience Business. He is also the majority owner of Lincoln Holdings LLC, a sports and entertainment company that includes a partnership of 11 area business leaders. Lincoln Holdings owns 100% of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and approximately 44% of Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership (WSELP), which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the Verizon Center (formerly the MCI Center) and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise. Leonsis has been named one of the 20 most powerful people in sports by the Sporting News, Washington's Business man of the Year by Washington Business Journal, a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine, and ADL's man of the year.
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[edit] With AOL
Leonsis acquired his fortune as an executive at America Online. He is currently the longest tenured senior level executive at America Online, serving as Vice Chairman of the company, and as President of its Audience Business. He has served as President of the AOL Core Service and AOL Web Properties, as well as President of the AOL Services Company. He is credited with positioning AOL as a media company and being the first to create and invest in “made-for-the-medium” interactive content properties. Prior to joining AOL in 1993, he was founder and CEO of Redgate Communications, the first venture-capital backed new media company. He now runs all of AOL's Audience-based businesses, which seek to grow AOL's Internet audience via Web-based programming and products across AOL's leading network of Web properties – including AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, Moviefone, Netscape.com, Advertising.com, Weblogs, Truveo, and others – and to monetize this audience through advertising, search, and commerce. He was named Time Warner's Community Action Man of the Year in 2005. Leonsis was also a judge in the 2004 All Star Blogger contest, which saw author/blogger Stacey Monponsett rise to prominence. Mr. Leonsis is scheduled to retire from AOL in 2007.
[edit] Ownership of the Capitals
Many fans have cited frustration with Leonsis. The worst criticisms came during the 2003-2004 fire sale in which Leonsis and general manager George McPhee traded Sergei Gonchar, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Michael Nylander, Mike Grier, Robert Lang and Steve Konowalchuk all in one year. The fire sale was a strategic move to begin a youth movement for the Capitals and save the team a lot of money. Yet in the first game after trading Jaromir Jagr (who still receives money from the Capitals), Jason Hammer, a Caps fan who attended the Capitals 2-1 victory over the Flyers at the MCI Center, came up to Leonsis and taunted him while holding a sign that claimed "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock -- See a Pattern?." Leonsis allegedly grabbed the fan and had to be separated by security guards. He has since apologized to Hammer and gave him some tickets to games in Leonsis' owner's box, which Hammer accepted. And while the team has made three playoff appearances (along with two Southeast Division titles, and the second best Capitals regular season of all-time in the 1999-2000 season) since Leonsis purchased the team, many are bitter at Leonsis for not fulfilling his promise of competing for a Stanley Cup victory within 5 years of him owning the team since when the team has been in the playoffs during his tenure as owner, they have not gone past the first round of the playoffs.
[edit] Other
Ted Leonsis is known for his multitasking, long-term focus on interactivity and colorful personality. After surviving a dire airplane crash landing in 1983, he committed to living life to the fullest and drafted a list of 101 things to do in life and has completed many of the tasks including owning a sports franchise. He is also involved in the filmmaking business through his producing of a documentary feature, "Nanking," which will premier in 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. He also has two other films in development for theatrical release.
Leonsis is a philanthropist and is very involved with numerous charities, including Best Buddies, Hoop Dreams, See Forever Foundation, Youth Aids, and numerous others through the work of the Leonsis Foundation. He is an author of several books, including Blue Magic, and has invented a board game called Only in New York. Leonsis once served as mayor of Orchid, Florida, and serves on the board of directors of his alma mater Georgetown University. He lives in McLean, Virginia and Vero Beach, Florida with his wife and two children.
Leonsis's uncle and cousin, George "John" Apostolos and Sebastian "Sammy" Sampas, were best friends of Jack Kerouac, which Kerouac mentions numerous times throughout his writings.[2] Kerouac's 3rd marriage is with Stella Sampas, older sister of Sammy & Ted Leonsis' cousin.[3]
Ted famously runs his own blog at Ted's Take.
