Ted Leonsis

Leonsis was born on January 8, 1957, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City to a family of working-class Greek immigrant grandparents, who were mill workers, and parents who worked as a waiter and a secretary. When his high school guidance counselor evaluated his skill set, the counselor concluded that young Ted was destined to work in a grocery store.

He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, before moving to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Lowell High School in 1973. He was first in his family to go to a university, where he attended Georgetown University to pursue his undergraduate studies majoring in American Studies, and graduated in 1977 at the top of his class.

Early business career

After graduating from college, he moved back to his parents' home in Lowell and began working for Wang Laboratories as a corporate communications manager and Harris Corp. as a marketing executive.

Leonsis left Harris Corporation in March 1981. He started LIST, a magazine focused on personal computing. He raised $1 million in seed capital with his partner Vincent Pica. The first issue of the magazine was published in 1982. Two years later, he sold the company to Thomson Reuters for $40 million, netting him $20 million.

AOL

In 1988, Leonsis established the PR company Redgate Communications Corporation. When the organization was acquired by America Online (AOL) in 1994, Leonsis began working with AOL as a senior executive, remaining with the company for 13 years. He held numerous positions at AOL before retiring in 2006 as the audience group's president and vice-chairman.

Leonsis married Lynn Leonsis in August 1987 and they have a son and a daughter.

As of February 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth at $3.1 billion. In early 2011, Leonsis purchased a 13-acre estate in Potomac, Maryland. He acquired the property for $20 million after selling homes in McLean, Virginia, and Vero Beach, Florida. The 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) estate was once the home of Joseph P. Kennedy, summer home of Franklin Roosevelt, and was owned by the Gore family from 1942 to 1995. Leonsis purchased the home from Chris Rogers, a telecommunications executive who acquired Leonsis' home in McLean. Leonsis is the former owner of a 40-foot yacht.

Leonsis has authored a number of books, including Blue Magic: The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM PC and The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Work and Life.

He was on the board of directors and board of regents for Georgetown University in 2008–2009. Leonsis is the founder of the Leonsis Foundation, which supports children "overcome obstacles and achieve their goals".

Leonsis once served as the mayor of Orchid, Florida. Leonsis got involved in politics after he ran a friend's campaign for Congress and worked as an intern for Paul Tsongas's office in Washington, D.C. He donated to the campaign of Barack Obama during his 2008 and 2012 elections and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Leonsis was vice chairman of Washington 2024, the region's bid for Summer 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In June 2014 the United States Olympic Committee identified Washington and three other cities as potential locations. The USOC ultimately selected Los Angeles, which lost the 2024 bid, but was awarded the 2028 Summer Games.