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Key members of the Sports Finance & Management Group
family include:
Michael Shapiro
Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer.
Mr. Shapiro has been active in the sports and
entertainment industries for more than 25 years. He founded and
served as first Commissioner of Major League Rodeo. He
became President of Championship Sports Enterprises, a
sports television production company. Later he joined 20th
Century Fox Film Corporation. There he participated in the
formation of Fox Sports Television and served as the
first Director of Business Affairs for Fox Sports,
predecessor to the Fox Sports Network. He was
responsible for the business affairs and marketing of such
motion pictures and television series as Brubaker, Nine to
Five, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, M*A*S*H and
Breaking Away. During 1982, he became an independent
film producer, and simultaneously commenced a career of
acquiring, financing and advising major league sports
franchises. His sports enterprises have included three Major
League Baseball team acquisitions, two National Football
League team acquisitions and a NBA franchise
acquisition. During his tenure as Chief Executive of Sports
Finance & Management Group, the company and its
affiliates have arranged financing for sports teams and
entertainment/sports facilities aggregating more than $3
billion.
Former Lt. Governor Mark Singel
Executive Vice
President for Public Affairs.
Mr. Singel has a lifetime of
public service. He has served as both Lieutenant Governor
and Acting Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. He is
currently Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party
as well as the principal policy advisor to Governor Ed
Rendell of Pennsylvania.
Peter D. Kelly, III
General Counsel
Mr. Kelly
is senior partner of the Los Angeles law firm of Kelly,
Lytton, & Vann LLP. His practice for more than twenty
years has emphasized corporate and business law. He is the
former Chief Counsel to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Commission and a former Chairman of the California State
Democratic Party.
Arthur L. Walker, Jr.
General Counsel –
Sports Management.
Mr. Walker is an attorney licensed to practice in state
and Federal courts in Texas and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is a graduate of Princeton University and the
University of Texas School of Law. Formerly an Assistant
City Attorney in Austin, Texas, he has more than 25 years
experience as a civil trial attorney and is the founder and
principal shareholder of the Austin law firm of Walker
Bright PC. He is past President of the Austin Black Lawyers
Association, a member of the Travis County Bar Association, the
Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit and a member of
the National Bar Association.
Danton J. Rissner
Senior Vice-President for
Entertainment.
For the past forty years Mr. Rissner has held
senior management roles throughout the entertainment industry,
including Vice President, European Production for Warner
Bros., Executive Vice President, European Production for
United Artists, Executive Vice President - Production,
for Paramount Pictures. Mr. Rissner holds a degree in
Sports Administration from the University of Miami.
Michael Carter
Vice President
Sports Management.
The first African-American graduate of Princeton
University and the first African-American to be selected as
the MVP of Princeton's football team, a holder of numerous
Princeton and Ivy League records, Michael has extensive
experience in the transportation industry as an executive with
the Union Pacific Railroad Company. He is the founder of
B.E.A.R.S., a highly honored and nationally recognized
program working in Omaha with area youth to enhance their
academic and social development. With B.E.A.R.S. He
created youth sports teams that have won regional and national
championships in football, basketball and track and field.
George Sefeotis
Chief Financial Officer
Mr.
Sefeotis has served for 10 years as CFO of 20th Century Fox
Sports, and 17 years as CFO of 20th Century Fox
Television.
Gerald J. Kissel, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of
Operations.
Mr. Kissel is presently a professor of Business
Management at American International University,
Springfield, MA, where he teaches Sports and Recreation
Management. He formerly taught in the field at the University
of Pittsburgh and State University of New York,
where he established the Sports Management Department.
He has been on the faculty of the University of South
Carolina and Georgia Southern University. Dr. Kissel
has held key administrative positions with the NFL, NBA,
NHL, MLS and MLR. He continues to consult with a
number of major sports venues and professional sports leagues.
He is a member of all significant professional organizations in
the field and is a regular columnist and contributing writer to
leading sports journals.
W. Russell Barry
Senior Vice President of
Planning.
Mr. Barry has more than thirty years experience as
a senior management executive in broadcasting, production, and
worldwide distribution. He has served as Chairman and President
of Turner Program Services, the worldwide distribution
company for Turner Broadcasting, senior executive of
Warner Bros. Television, President of 20th Century
Fox Television and Senior Vice-President of CBS.
J. Holt Smith, J.D.
Executive Vice President and
Corporate Secretary.
Mr. Smith is a partner of the Los
Angeles law firm of Kelly Lytton & Vann LLP. He was
previously a partner of Bushkin, Gaims, Gaines & Jonas,
Los Angeles. In 1980, Smith became Vice President of the United
States Trust Company of New York and Beverly Hills. He
specializes in the practice of financial and securities law for
professional sports franchises in the NFL and MLB.
Alan E. Harazin, J.D.
Mr. Harazin began practicing
law with the distinguished Cincinnati law firm of Taft,
Stettinius and Hollister. Mr. Harazin began a thirty-year
career in sports management as owner and operator of the
Asheville Orioles Baseball Club, minor league affiliate
of the Baltimore Orioles. From 1974 to 1980 he was Vice
President, Business Affairs of the Baltimore Orioles.
Between 1981 and 1993, he was Executive Vice President, Chief
Operating Officer and General Manager of the New York Mets.
He has consulted with a number of Major League Baseball
clubs and ownership groups including the New York Mets;
the Pittsburgh Pirates; the Cincinnati Reds
Acquisition; and the Toronto Blue Jays Acquisition
Group.
R. Ruby Richman
Mr. Richman has been a prominent
sports and entertainment executive in the United States,
Canada and South America for the National
Hockey League and the International Olympic Committee.
As a chief executive his expertise is in marketing, media and
finance for a wide variety of sports franchises, motion picture
studios, and theme parks. His sports successes have included
executive management positions in professional hockey,
basketball and baseball. Mr. Richman serves as a consultant and
former member of the Canadian Olympic Association, Sport
for Life, Share Inc. and Can-Star Financial
Consultants Inc. During 1988-1989 Richman was also
Commissioner of the International Basketball Association of
North American, Europe and Asia.
Bill Davidson
Mr. Davidson holds a B.A. degree in
Journalism and Public Relations from Purdue University
and a M.Ed. degree in Entertainment Business Administration
from Wichita State University. He has been involved in
entertainment and professional sports since 1982, serving in a
variety of capacities, including General Manager, Vice
President and President with a number of professional baseball
teams and hockey teams. He currently provides management,
brokerage, marketing and operational advice to a number of
multi-purpose entertainment venues.
Matt Perry
Mr. Perry received a B.S. degree in
Advertising and Business from Southern Illinois University
and a M.A. degree in Entertainment Business Management from
Ohio State University. He has been active in the fields
of entertainment and professional sports since 1983 in a number
of capacities, including as President, Vice President and
General Manager of a number of entertainment and sports
businesses. From 1984 to 1992, he directed day-to-day
operations of a number of professional franchises. He currently
consults on management issues with entertainment venues,
investors and governmental bodies.
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