Senior Management

Art Lindgren
Chairman and Interim CEO
Art Lindgren is a producer and director whose career spans three decades in the entertainment industry. Mr. Lindgren's work has been seen on the Discovery Channel, NBC, CBS, CCTV, QVC, and other broadcast affiliates, with shows including Good Morning America and CBS Evening News. With his experience serving as president and chief executive officer of AHL Entertainment, Inc., Monumental Productions, Inc., and Pantheon Advertising Group, Inc., he has a unique approach in producing products for niche markets. He has produced and directed more than 50 hours of award-winning documentary programming, including in-depth documentary series on WWII and the Korean War. Korea: Remembering a Forgotten War is used at the United States War College as a teaching tool.

Robert Shipstad
Chief Creative Officer
Robert Shipstad is a producer and director whose career spans four decades in the entertainment industry nationally and internationally. He has produced acclaimed entertainment and sports specials for ABC, CBS, and NBC. He has been a producer and director of the Shipstad & Johnson Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice; executive producer and consultant with Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden Productions; and co-owner, founder, and producer of Sesame Street Live and the Muppets On Tour, featuring Jim Henson's lovable Sesame Street and Muppets characters. He has also produced award-winning shows for Caesar's Palace, Harrah's Casinos, and Sea World. While working for Radio City Music Hall’s special-event division, Mr. Shipstad served as executive producer for the NFL’s Super Bowl half-time show, the Beverly Hills Diamond Jubilee, the International Special Olympics, and Pope John Paul II’s appearance at Dodgers Stadium.

Tom Picard
Corporate Strategy
Tom Picard is managing director of Picard Creative Strategies, Inc., a consultancy for marketing strategy and development. In addition to the Water Channel, his clients have included Ford, Caribiner, Trilogy, Sandy Corp., and Emednet.

George Sullivan
Marketing and Business Development
George Sullivan served more than 30 years as a senior marine-industry executive. His marketing and branding skills sparked the growth of some of the world’s largest boat builders, including Bayliner and Genmar. While at Genmar, he developed global sales programs integrating e-commerce with a network of 1,800 dealers, resulting in market share gains that made Genmar the world’s largest unit-sales boat builder. Earlier, he pioneered the use of television in the marine industry by helping create an internationally syndicated weekly water sports show establishing Bayliner as the industry’s most recognized boat brand. Mr. Sullivan has served the marine industry on the board of directors of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, Boat Manufacturers Division; as director of the Council for Environment Education and Research/Marine University; as chairman of the statistics task force for the Marine Industry Grow Boating Initiative; as a marketing task force member for the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation; and in numerous committee positions.

Howard Fried
Director of Programming and Operations
Howard Fried comes to the Water Channel after a distinguished 23-year career at KNBC-TV, the NBC-owned and -operated flagship station in Los Angeles. Mr. Fried served as KNBC's manager of broadcasting and programming for 14 years and oversaw all of the outlet's programming acquisitions, development, and scheduling. During that time, he supervised production on a number of acclaimed specials, some of which won local Emmy awards. Prior to becoming its manager of broadcasting and programming, Mr. Fried spent nine years in various capacities at the station, including production management, local programming, budgeting, and scheduling.

Advisors

Peter Engel
Peter Engel is chairman of Peter Engel Productions, a subsidiary of NBC Enterprises, and executive producer of NBC’s current hit show, Last Comic Standing. One of television’s most prolific producers, Engel is the executive producer of a number of Emmy-nominated teen comedy series. In 1983, Engel formed Lightstream Productions, Inc. and served as president until he joined NBC Productions (now NBC Studios) in 1986. In May 1999, Peter Engel Productions and NBC Enterprises formed Beyond Talent Management as part of a five-year partnership.

Tony Fantozzi
Tony Fantozzi is a former senior vice president and board member of the William Morris Agency.

Ronen Lasry
Ronen Lasry is the founder and creative director of Full Mental Jacket, a Los Angeles design and production company specializing in real-time visual effects for film and television. The company most recently completed HD effects for the FX Network movie of the week Meltdown. Mr. Lasry designed the virtual environments for DVD on TV, currently in its second season on FX, and served as art director for NBC's Dateline specials “Michael Jackson Unmasked" and “ER, the 200th Episode Celebration," the latter hosted by Stone Phillips. Mr. Lasry worked with Grease director Randal Kleiser on a special short film for the U.S. Army's virtual-reality lab, ICT, and designed sets for NFL on TNT with host Vince Cellini. The sports special won a BDA award for set design and technical innovation. Other clients include AOL, the Hallmark Channel, and VH1. Mr. Lasry earned his degree in architecture from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and has extensive knowledge in interactive design and programming.

Lee Mimms
Lee Mimms is managing director of strategic entertainment marketing. Clients include Peter Engel Productions, Porter Novelli Public Relations, Radio City Music Hall, Dennis Grimaldi Productions, ABC Sports, and Phillip Morris Companies. Previously, Mr. Mimms was career manager for John Schneider, Gavin MacLeod, Carol Lawrence, and many others; co-executive producer of Symphony of Sports, for ABC and NBC; executive producer of The All Star Pro Sports Awards, for ABC; coproducer of Symphony on Ice, for IMG and Phillip Morris; and director of special events for Walt Disney Productions.

Anthony D. (Tony) Thomopoulos
Tony Thomopoulos is well known in the motion picture and television industries for his innovation and achievements. Mr. Thomopoulos spent 12 years at ABC, moving from vice president of prime time programs to president of ABC Broadcast Group. From late 1991 to early 1995, he was president of Amblin Television, a division of Amblin Entertainment. In 1995, Mr. Thomopoulos joined International Family Entertainment, Inc. (IFE). Later, he was named CEO of MTM Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of IFE, and was responsible for all aspects of MTM Television and MTM Distribution.