TechJournal South selected 25 of the Most Influential People in Southeast Tech in its Nov. print edition. This is the final three: DC’s Ted Leonsis; billionaire David Murdock; and Atlanta attorney John Yates.
Ted Leonsis’ many lives
WASHINGTON, DC—Ted Leonsis, a former vice chairman of AOL, where he was also president of several business units, also owns sports teams, produces films, invests other companies and is a philanthropist.
Leonsis now chairs Tampa, FL-based Revolution Money, the Web 2.0 credit card serviced and Internet-based payment platform in which former colleague Steve Case also has an interest.
In his early career, Leonsis founded several new media companies and six personal computer magazines. He authored four books and worked on the IBM PC and the Apple Mac. He coinvented a successful board game (“Only in New York”) and was a marketing executive with Harris Corp. and Wang Labs.
He is founder, chair and majority owner of Lincoln Holdings, which owns the NHL Washington Capitals and the WNBA Washington Mystics.
He 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. He serves on the board of several of those companies.
Leonsis 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. He 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.
He is a major philanthropist, involved with numerous charities, including Best Buddies, Hoop Dreams, See Forever Foundation, Youth Aids and others through the work of the Leonsis Foundation.
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.
David Murdock, from drop-out to billionaire
Kannapolis, NC—David Murdock, 82, dropped out of high school, but astute real estate and business deals led to his current net worth in the $4.2 billion range, making him the 204th richest man in the world, according to Forbes. The way Murdock is deploying a chunk of that money in the Southeast will influence biotechnology and medical research in the region for decades to come.
Murdock funded North Carolina Research Campus, a billion dollar, 350-acre biotech center that includes plans for shops, movie theatres, restaurants and residential components, is expected to create up to 30,000 jobs in and around the once-thriving mill town hard hit by plant closings. Murdock himself had bought Kannapolis’ Cannon Mills in 1982 and sold it to Fieldcrest Mills in 1986, and some residents of the area still consider him a raider.
The North Carolina Research Campus, however, is likely to develop into even more of an economic engine than the lost textile mills.
All of North Carolina’s major research universities are participating in development of the campus, which will also include a Dole Foods nutritional research center. Murdock owns Dole Foods and Castle & Cooke, which is developing the campus.
In addition to funding the development of the Kannapolis campus, Murdock also has invested a biotech company that will headquarter there, and gave Duke University Medical School its largest gift ever, $33 million. The five-year Duke study using Murdock’s funds will significantly advance the field of translational medicine – or how scientists, doctors and entrepreneurs translate vast amounts of knowledge into real world applications.
John Yates, Attorney, Morris Manning, Atlanta
ATLANTA– John C. Yates is the partner-in-charge of the technology group of Morris, Manning & Martin. Yates is one of the pioneers of the technology law field and has been practicing exclusively in this area for over 26 years. He was instrumental in founding the Technology Association of Georgia and the Southeastern Medical Device Association, among other technology groups.
The firm’s technology group has represented hundreds of technology companies and provided legal services in such areas as IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, patent prosecution, Internet law, ecommerce/distribution, corporate finance and venture capital, international law and dispute resolution.
Yates is internationally recognized in the computer and software legal area. He has been a member of the board of the Computer Law Association and the Technology Association of Georgia and is a co-founder of the Minority Technology Entrepreneurs (MiTE). He serves on the board of advisors of many technology companies in the US and internationally.
As the founder, past president, and a former member of the board of the Southeastern Software Association, Yates was instrumental in the growth of this non-profit trade association.
Yates is a frequent speaker at national, regional and local computer organizations. He has delivered more than 100 speeches to organizations too numerous to list.
Yates serves on the editorial board of The Computer Lawyer, is a past editor of the Computer Law Association Bulletin, and is a contributing author for the European Intellectual Property Review. His articles have been widely cited in the computer law area, including citation by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kodak vs. Image Technical Services.
Techjournal South editor Allan Maurer can be reached at: allan@techjournalsouth.com
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