Ted Leonsis

Ted Leonsis is known as one of the country's premiere businessmen having held numerous leadership positions at AOL. He is also a professional sports team owner, a film producer, a private-angel investor, an active Board member and a committed philanthropist.

During his 14-year career with AOL, the company enjoyed its greatest periods of growth and financial success. Ted now serves as Vice Chairman Emeritus, having stepped down from day-to-day management at AOL on December 31, 2006. He has served as AOL Vice Chairman as well as President of several business units including the AOL Services Company; AOL Studios; AOL Web Services; AOL Core Service and the AOL Audience Business.

Ted is now the Chairman of Revolution Money, an innovative new Web 2.0 payment platform and credit-card service created to transform the financial services industry by drastically altering the economics through Internet-based technology. This new payment platform also generates significant merchant and consumer benefits. Revolution Money, formerly GratisCard Inc., is a subsidiary of Revolution LLC, the investment company created by Steve Case.

Early in his career, Ted was the founder of several new media companies including Redgate Communications Corporation, a pioneering new media company which, in 1993, was the first company acquired by AOL. He was also the founder of six personal computer magazines, authored four books and worked on the introduction of the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. He co-invented a very successful board game called "Only in New York," and served as a marketing executive with Harris Corp and Wang Laboratories.

Ted is also the founder, chairman and majority owner of Lincoln Holdings LLC, a sports and entertainment company that holds ownership rights in several Washington, DC entities including 100% of the NHL's Washington Capitals and the WNBA's Washington Mystics. Lincoln Holdings also owns approximately 44% of Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership (WSELP), which owns the NBA's Washington Wizards, DC?s Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise.

During Ted?s tenure as majority owner of the Capitals, the team has won two division titles and recorded the second-most points in franchise history. Under his leadership, several Washington Capitals business units have been recognized nationally, including game presentation by IDEA, media relations by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and the website by Sports Business Journal and Forbes magazine.

In addition to Lincoln Holdings LLC, Ted also has investments in a large group of web-related companies including: Algentis LLC; Beacon Capital Strategies LLC; Clearspring Technologies; Geneva Acquisition Corp.; Mahalo; Mobile Posse; Object Video and Qloud. Ted serves on the board of several of these companies as well as PodShow.

Ted has recently become involved in filmmaking through conceptualizing and producing "Nanking," a documentary film that made its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Documentary Editing Award. Since that time, the film has been screened at film festivals around the globe including the Hong Kong Film Festival, where it won the Humanitarian Award, and is already the best-selling documentary in China's history.

For Nanking, with which Ted made his production debut, he assembled a highly acclaimed filmmaking team including the Academy Award-winning writer/director team of Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, as well as a strong Hollywood cast including Woody Harrelson, Jurgen Prochnow, Mariel Hemingway and others to narrate the film. Nanking is a documentary film that serves as a powerful, emotional and relevant reminder of the heartbreaking toll war takes on the innocent as it tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II. The film is set for theatrical release on December 12, 2007 by THINK Films, and will air on HBO after its public run.

While at the Sundance Film Festival, Ted coined the phrase "Filmanthropy" to describe a new category of filmmaking that activates discussion as well as new volunteers and new funds that benefit a social cause. Ted is currently in production of "Kickin' It," a feature documentary about the power of sports as an agent for change, personal redemption and to help people find a better life. The film presents a natural extension of Filmanthropy.

Ted is a major philanthropist and is very involved with numerous charities, including Best Buddies, Hoop Dreams, See Forever Foundation, Youth Aids and others through the work of the Leonsis Foundation.

He also once served as mayor of Orchid, FL. Among his many honors, Ted 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. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, and later, Lowell, MA, he now lives in McLean, VA, and Vero Beach, FL, with his wife and two children.

In Theatres
'Darfur Now'
Darfur Now
'Darfur Now' is a story of hope in the midst of one of humanity's darkest hours - a call to action for people everywhere to end the catastrophe unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. In this documentary, the struggles and achievements of six different individuals from inside Darfur and around the world bring to light the tragedy in Sudan and show how the actions of one person can make a difference to millions.

Watch Excerpt (6:12)
Watch Interview with Don Cheadle
Watch Darfur Now PSA

'Angels in the Dust'
Angels in the Dust
'Angels in the Dust' is the story of a courageous, self-sacrificing, fiercely loving woman who chooses a spiritual path over a material one; it tells of the life-changing power of one compassionate heart. For a nation overwhelmed by an epidemic of HIV/AIDS, orphans, rape, violence, and Apartheid's legacy of social and political unrest, the film offers a clear pathway of hope and a replicable paradigm for the future.

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Watch Excerpt 1
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'In the Valley of Elah' In the Valley of Elah

On his first weekend back after serving in Iraq, Mike Deerfield (Jonathan Tucker) goes missing and is reported AWOL. When Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), a former military MP and his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) get the phone call with the disturbing news, Hank sets out to search for their son. Local police detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) reluctantly helps him in his search and soon finds herself in a fight with the military brass. When the truth about Mike's time in Iraq finally begins to emerge, Hank's entire world is challenged and he's forced to reevaluate long-held beliefs to solve the mystery behind his son's disappearance.


Watch Excerpt
Story Corps

"I can still hear him hollering and coaching.." -- William Haley (L) and his brother Glen remember their father, Joseph Howard Haley, founder of Jackie Robinson West Little League in Chicago. More



'Fears of Your Life', by Michael Bernard Loggins, read by Tom Wright

What are you afraid of? Michael's afraid of exactly 183 things. He counted. More


Cinematical
HBO Documentary Films
Reel Works
International Documentary Association
StoryCorps
Media that Matters Film Festival
Independent Lens
Docs that Inspire
Doc it Out
Indiewire