Company
Advisory Board
Since its founding, Network Foundation Technologies has tapped some of the brightest and most influential members of the film, music, and media industries. Our key advisers range from the former chairman of Motown Records to the creator and producer of the HBO series Rome.
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Clarence Avant
Clarence Avant is the former Chairman of Motown Records and Board member of PolyGram. He is a renowned entertainment industry executive known for his keen business sense and unique deal-making skills. A well-respected leader, Avant is regarded in the highest esteem and is arguably one of the most influential African Americans in entertainment business history.
Avant has worked with industry greats, such as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Doug Morris, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, but his scope extends beyond the music industry to people such as presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves, Oprah Winfrey and BET founder Robert Johnson.
Among the many honors he has received are the Heroes Award from the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy, an honorary doctorate from Morehouse College, and the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award.
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William J. Macdonald
Macdonald conceived of and is co-creator with John Milius (Apocalypse Now) and Bruno Heller (The Huntress) of HBO's epic series Rome. Macdonald received a Golden Globe and Writers Guild nomination for writing Rome. The DVD, which released in August of 2006, is one of 2006's most successful television production releases. Rome is the most ambitious cable television series in history.
Heller and Macdonald are currently collaborating together on Coloseum, an action adventure television series involving the exciting world of the ancient Roman arena in the style of the film 300.
Macdonald is also producing Lonesome Traveler, the story of the last young man lynched in America who triggered the civil rights movement. Forrest Whitaker, last years Oscar winner for his portrayal of Idi Amin in the Last King of Scotland is attached to star. Macdonald is also producing the Resurrection, the sequel to Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ for Sony Pictures in Spring 2008.
Macdonald recently wrote Dynamo for Mos Films in Moscow, the Rape of Nanking for Franchise Pictures, Khalid the Sword of Allah for Insomnia films, and the four hour limited series Flying Tigers for the American Movie Channel and Channel 16 China.
In 2005, Bill re-acquired the rights to the The Saint, Leslie Charteris' legendary swashbuckling rogue with partners Geoffrey Moore, son of television's first Saint, Sir Roger Moore, and Jorge Zamacona (of HBO's OZ ABC's 10-8 and TNT's Wanted) for creation into a new international series to be aired on TNT in the Fall of 2007.
Among Mr. Macdonald's credits are: Producer- The Saint, starring Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Shue for Paramount Pictures; Producer - One Man's Hero starring Tom Berenger, Daniela Romo and Joaquim De Almeida for MGM; Producer - Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders for Turner Pictures, starring Tom Berenger and Sam Elliott, directed by John Milius; Producer - Molly starring Elizabeth Shue, Aaron Eckhart (Erin Brockovich), and directed by John Duigan (Flirting, Sirens); Executive Producer - Jade starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino and Chazz Palminteri; Co-producer - Sliver starring Sharon Stone, Tom Berenger and William Baldwin. Although personally uncredited, his film company produced Gettysburg starring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels and Martin Green; The Two Jakes starring Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel and Madeline Stowe; The Burning Secret starring Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, and; Siesta starring Ellen Barkin and Jodi Foster.
Bill Macdonald was the President/Partner in the Robert Evans Company at Paramount Pictures for five years. Before rejoining Paramount, Mr. Macdonald served as the Vice President of Business Affairs for Siren Pictures. Mr. Macdonald entered the entertainment industry as a film investor and international legal/financial consultant.
Previously, while living in Europe, South America and Asia, Mr. Macdonald's business ventures involved manufacturing, import/export, franchising and all forms of international commerce and consulting.
He has a bachelor of science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a JD from Fordham Law School (Law Review) in New York City.
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Virginia K. Shehee
Mrs. Virginia K. Shehee ranks high among Louisiana's most revered business
leaders and is one of the most renowned philanthropists in the State of Louisiana.
She has been a leading force in the
development of Louisiana's budding science/technology industries through
tireless guidance, years of voluntary service, and philanthropic efforts.
Mrs. Shehee is President/CEO of Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company, Inc., and her civic contributions
are legend.
She is the first woman to be elected to the Louisiana State Senate and the first woman to become a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society. She is the first woman to receive the Community Council Special Humanitarian Award for Outstanding Service, the Clyde E. Fant Memorial Award for Community Service, and the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year Award.
In 1989, she received the Benemerenti Medal conferred by Pope John Paul II for outstanding community service. In 1994, the Shreveport Medical Society honored her for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Medicine in Shreveport. In 1996, Mrs. Shehee was honored with the renaming of Northwest Louisiana's Biomedical Research Institute. The Virginia K. Shehee Biomedical Research Institute stands as a lasting tribute to Mrs. Shehee's work and community leadership.
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Jac Sperling
Sperling is Vice Chairman of the Minnesota Wild Hockey Team of the National Hockey League (NHL), and its parent company, Minnesota Sports & Entertainment (MSE). He is one of the team’s Alternate Governors at the NHL’s Board of Governors’ meetings. Jac served as co-General Partner of MSE from 1997-2008, CEO from 1997 until 2004, and Vice Chairman from 2004 until the present.
In 2004, he founded Grit Rock Ventures, LLC, an investment company focused on sports, media and entertainment businesses. Grit Rock is a partner in the entity that owns the media and marketing rights to the “Toughest Cowboy” nationally televised series (last year on Spike TV). Both AEG (one of the largest live entertainment companies in the world) and Mark Burnett Productions (producer of “Survivor”, “Contender”, “Apprentice” and “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” ) are also partners in “Toughest Cowboy.”
Jac Sperling was named the Minneapolis Star Tribune Sportsman of the Year in 2000 for his vision, leadership and dedication to the Wild and sports in the Twin Cities. The success of the Wild is underscored by the fact that the Wild had sold out every home game in franchise history held at their home arena. In 2003 and 2004, the Wild was recognized as one of the top businesses in professional sports: ranked as #1 for stadium experience and #2 for fan relationships in an ESPN survey of all 123 sports franchises, the Prism Award by the Sports Business Daily as the “Best-Managed Team in Professional Sports”, and the “Fan Friendliest NHL Team” by the NHL Fans’ Quality Awards.
Jac Sperling was named a recipient of the 2002 Service to Humanity Award by the United Hospital Foundation in the Twin Cities. He also has served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Capital City Partnership, and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to accepting his position with Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, Jac was a partner in the Denver office of the Washington D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson.
While as a lawyer, and now at Grit Rock Ventures, Sperling has dealt extensively with the legal, finance and marketing aspects of the acquisition, relocation and expansion of professional sports franchises, and the construction and financing of sports and entertainment venues throughout the United States.
He is an avid skier, golfer and fly fisherman. Jac was born in New Orleans, LA, and graduated from the University of Virginia, both from the College of Arts and Sciences (B.A. with Distinction, 1971) and the School of Law (J.D., 1975). He and his wife, Mary Griesedieck, reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have two grown children: a son, Jay, and a daughter, Teale.
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Brian Crosby
Brian Crosby is a Partner at Falconhead Capital, which he joined in 2002. Based in New York, Falconhead Capital is a private equity firm focused on growth investments in the consumer, leisure, sports and media sectors. Prior to joining Falconhead Capital, Mr.Crosby co-founded Wright Venture Partners, a boutique private equity firm focusing on developing, advising and funding several venture investment opportunities.
Before founding Wright Venture Partners, he worked at Icahn Associates, a private investment group, investing in growth equity, leveraged buyout, distressed, and public equity opportunities. Crosby began his investment career as an Associate at Kohlberg & Company, a $1.2 billion private equity firm, performing leveraged buyouts and growth equity investments.
Brian Crosby currently serves on the boards of Extreme Fitness Inc., a fitness club chain located in Toronto, and Competitor Group, Inc., a media and event business in the endurance sports space. In addition, he was involved in the investment in ESPN Classic Europe, a JV with ESPN which launched a sports cable channel in Europe. Crosby was previously a member of the boards of The Golf Warehouse, the leading online retailer of golf merchandise, and Maritime Telecommunications Network, a telecom company providing consumer media services for the cruise industry.
Brian Crosby received an AB degree in History at Princeton University, and later attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business where he received his MBA. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children.