Greg Suess

Gregory Suess (pronounced "cease") is an American talent manager, brand manager, and entertainment lawyer. Previously co-founder of the talent and brand-management company ROAR, in 2018 he was a founding partner of Activist Artists Management, a full-service talent management, integrated media and advisory firm based in West Hollywood, California.
==Education==
Suess graduated from the University of Southern California's entrepreneur program in 1994. In 1997 he earned a JD/MBA from Pepperdine University, graduating with honors in three years while working for Michael Milken and becoming the youngest graduate up to that point in Pepperdine's law and MBA degree program. Years later he established a scholarship fund for students in the program.
==Law Career==
He proceeded to work as a corporate attorney for Los Angeles law firm Glaser Weil, focusing on securities and entertainment and working on large business deals for entertainment companies such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., MGM Grand and PolyGram. He became a partner and remained with the firm until 2022 when he joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, serving as a senior advisor in the Media & Entertainment and Corporate & Securities practice groups.
==Entertainment Career==
In 2004, Suess and partners Bernie Cahill, Jay Froberg, and Will Ward founded the integrated management company ROAR, LLC. ROAR is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California with offices in New York, Atlanta, and Nashville.
As a founding partner of the company he oversaw a talent roster that included Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth, David Alan Grier, Aisha Tyler, Cobie Smulders, and Ken Watanabe. He has produced and executive produced more than 10 film and television productions. ROAR's music division managed artists including Zac Brown Band, musician and actor Dwight Yoakam, the Grateful Dead, Ben Rector, and Gaelic Storm. In 2010 he negotiated the book deal with HarperCollins for Tim Tebow's bestselling memoir Through My Eyes, the best-selling sports book of 2011.
ROAR acquired Jennie Smythe's Nashville-based digital marketing firm Girlilla Marketing in 2009.
In April 2018, Suess and Cahill left ROAR, along with the head of the company's Nashville Office, Matt Maher, and head of media & brand strategy Liz Norris, to launch Activist Artists Management, a full-service talent management, integrated media and advisory firm with 23 associates and offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and Atlanta.
Activist's clients include the Grateful Dead, Dead & Company, The Lumineers, Dwight Yoakam, Michael Franti, and Alec Benjamin, as well as David Alan Grier, Terry Rossio, Appetize, Steady, Influential, Acorn International, All Elite Wrestling, Inc., Z. Alexander Brown Winery, Zedge, Virgin Hotels, David Steward II’s companies Polarity and Lion Forge Animation, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The firm has also recently expanded into Asia.
Suess established and leads Activist's Family Office & Corporate Division, which advises families and emerging businesses in media, entertainment, and technology. He is co-chair of the Activist Foundation and the Activist Artists Fellowship, which provides pro-bono management and grants to support social and environmental missions. He oversees the Activist Green Fund, a growth-oriented opportunity fund focused on brands and intellectual property in the cannabis and CBD industry.
==Board Member and Advisor==
In 2010 he joined the board of directors of Derycz Scientific and in 2011 that of Wizard World (now Creek Road Miners), where he remained for a decade. Both were controlled by Paul Kessler’s Bristol Capital.
He was an early investor in and strategic advisor to Appetize, an enterprise cloud POS and digital ordering platform for the music and entertainment industries backed by the Anderson family (Kevin Anderson). He advised and helped architect the firm's strategic partnerships with Live Nation and Shamrock Capital Advisors.
He is a strategic advisor to Lyte, a technology platform for the secondary ticketing market; was Secretary, Treasurer and Director of Zac Brown’s Camp Southern Ground where he presently serves on the Advisory Board; and advised Tony Khan on the launch of All Elite Wrestling and Khan's investment into Epic Games. He serves as a strategic advisor to Michael Loeb's Steady, a platform focused on improving incomes and providing cash grants to workers who have experienced traumatic income loss. He is an advisor to and an investor in MyWorld, a technology platform that gamifies philanthropy to address climate change.
In 2020 he joined the board of directors of mobile personalization app company Zedge, which is controlled by the Jonas family.
==Personal Life==
Suess is married to Michelle Suess, formerly an executive at ICM Partners. In 2022 they moved from Bel Air, Los Angeles to Birmingham, Alabama.
Category:1972 births
Category:American talent agents
Category:American entertainment lawyers