It Was Never about the Ketchup: The Life and Leadership Secrets of H. J. Heinz
Currently: Senior Partner, Lentz, Stepanovich and Bergethon, P.L.C. Lentz, Stepanovich and Bergethon, P.L.C. (""L.S.B."") is a transactional business law group committed to surrounding small to mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs and families with exceptional legal counseling and services to: protect their wealth; defend their assets; and preserve their legacies for the generations to come. LSB emphasizes Four Pillars of Practice: Planning (estate and business), property (Commercial and Residential Real Estate and Intellectual Property); Advocacy (Corporate and Personal Civil Litigation), and Constitutional Law. Legal Experience Concentrations of his local practice include: Corporate Law, Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property, Elder Law, Wills, Trusts and Estates. He serves as an adjunct professor at Regent University, Graduate School of Communications and the Arts, teaching Entertainment Law. He also serves as a member of the adjunct faculty for Regent Law School, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 1998 - 2000 President - Middle East Television In his capacity as President of Middle East Television, Mr. Lentz was responsible for crafting the legal strategy to change the commercial broadcast laws in Israel to permit non-Israeli television entities to run advertising targeted at Israel. Representing the largest super-station in the Middle East, reaching a potential audience of over 100 million viewers in 17 Arab countries and all of Israel, Mr. Lentz functioned as in-house counsel, and appeared either in person or by counsel before the Israeli Supreme Court six times in the fourteen months prior to Mr. Barak's election to Prime Minister in 1999. 1993 - 1997 President/CEO - FIT-TV In his capacity as President of Fit-TV, Mr. Lentz also served as the in-house counsel responsible for employment law, television, broadcast and entertainment contracts. As in-house counsel for a national cable television network, Mr. Lentz regularly dealt with drafting and implementing the strategy for the sales of products sold through national television, which also required directing the interstate commercial law strategy for the network and emerging cyber-law issues. 1975 - 1984 A graduate of Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and practiced law in Williamsburg and Chesapeake, Virginia prior to his employment with International Family Entertainment in 1984. Executive Experience 1998 - 2000 President - Middle East Television From 1998- 2000, Mr. Lentz served as President of Middle East Television, the largest superstation in the Middle East, offering family programming to over 200 million television homes in 17 Ara & countries and throughout Israel. He was responsible for the re-launch of Middle East Television as METV, the American Family Channel to the Israeli and Arab markets primarily in Israel. The position required serving as liaison with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, Prince Abdallah in Jordan (now King Abdallah), with General Lahad, General of the South Lebanese Army in Lebanon and with government officials in Cyprus. Mr. Lentz was responsible for crafting a commercial strategy to convert METV into a commercially profitable superstation. At the same time, Mr. Lentz was responsible for selecting the site for the relocation of the television station out of the war zone in South Lebanon. He successfully negotiated the uplink permits for relocation of the station to Cyprus prior to the IDF withdrawal from the region in 2000. 1993 - 1997 President and CEO - FiT TV From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Lentz served as President, CEO and Chief Legal Officer for FiT TV, (launched in 1993 as Cable Health Club). Conceived by Jake Steinfeld, Mr. Lentz was instrumental in building FiT TV into an attractive national niche cable network. Mr. Lentz was the key managing and sales executive responsible for building the national cable network into a $250 million asset acquired by Fox Sports in 1997. As president and CEO Mr. Lentz was also responsible for overseeing the drafting and negotiating of talent and production contracts. Senior Sales and Marketing Experience 1985-1993 Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales - International Family Entertainment From 1985 to 1993 Mr. Lentz held several key national sales positions for International Family Entertainment, culminating in his being selected as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales in 1992. IFE owned The Family Channel basic cable network and MTM Syndication Studios in London and Los Angeles. Mr. Lentz managed advertising sales offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, London, and Hong Kong, overseeing annual revenue in excess of $100 million. He was part of the strategic management team that lead to International Family Entertainment completing a successful IPO and later sale to Rupert Murdoch for $1.6 billion.