Ted Leonsis

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.

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.