I am really pleased, honored and excited to have a great group of friends to be my partners in ownership of our teams. Lincoln Holdings is run like a huge ethnic family. We are a tight knit group of friends focused on doing well by doing good.
We have – I believe - the most committed; most financially successful; most culturally diverse; and most local and philanthropic group of partners in all of sports.
We all live here in DC, VA and MD. We all go to games. We all serve as huge fans to our teams - no absentee owners here. We are all hyper competitive; want to win; and love the communities we serve.
We all started and grew our companies here; raised our families here; and we love the community and the fan base.
As a reminder, here is a quick snapshot of our ownership group. You can find more information by clicking here to read their full bios.
Raul Fernandez founded several local successful companies and took one public. He is a Co-Founder of VPP, one of the most innovative charitable organizations in the world. He is a great family man; went to University of Maryland; lives in Maryland; and works out of VA and DC. He is helping out our US Olympic Committees now along with Paul Tagliabue. Raul loves sports and business and is very connected to local government agencies and to many local Hispanic and other related charities.
Dr. Jeong Kim also went to University of Maryland and then Johns Hopkins. He started a company in Maryland. It was acquired by Lucent. He is now President of Bell Labs and head of technology for Alcatel. Jeong is a committed philanthropist; a great family man; and a hyper competitive person in every field of action. He is considered the number one leading technologist in US today. His team has won Nobel prizes for research and I believe Jeong is the most successful Korean born business executive in America.
Richard “Rick” Kay went to University of Maryland as well. He started a few local companies and took one public. He is very involved with many local charities and Jewish charitable efforts. Rick runs yet another successful start up and lives in Maryland with his beautiful family. He loves basketball and won the free throw shooting contest at a Michael Jordan camp one year. Rick rocks the red at Caps games with his family!
Richard Fairbank is Co-Founder and CEO of Capital One and lives and works in VA. He is our largest Caps season ticket holder family and sits on the glass at all games; Tivos all home games; and goes home and watches the games with his family that he just attended. He has an indoor basketball court in his home and plays hockey with his son in a men’s league at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Rich’s company may be the most successful local concern in last twenty years. His charitable foundations do an unbelievable amount of good for our community. Rich is one of the most intense and competitive people I have ever met.
Sheila Johnson lives and works in Virginia and DC. She is Co-Founder of BET and Founder of Salamander Hospitality. She is a noted philanthropist; President and Managing Partner of our WNBA team the Washington Mystics; a filmmaker; an activist for children, women and African American causes. No one works harder and has more passion about sports and local concerns than Sheila. She is the only African American woman to hold ownership positions in three professional sports teams.
Mark D. Lerner is a noted local real estate developer and member of the family that owns the Washington Nationals. He helped to develop Tysons Corner. Mark and his wonderful family live in DC. He is one of the execs that manage and leads the Washington Nationals. He is very active in charitable efforts and in the local Jewish community. He and his family are very connected to George Washington University and to Georgetown University locally. His entire family is a pillar of our local community.
Jack Davies lives in Georgetown in Washington DC and worked closely with me at AOL. He was founding head of AOL International as well and is considered one of the leading business execs dedicated to philanthropy now in the country. Jack is leading the charge in charitable work in DC and with Venture Philanthropy Partners. He raised his son in downtown DC and is very involved in the arts. Jack is the only man I know who can come to a Caps game dressed in red and then go to the ballet or opera dressed in a tuxedo ten minutes after the game ends. He is deeply involved and making a positive impact on inner city charitable concerns. Jack is connected and involved with local DC politics and loves hockey but played power forward in basketball growing up.
Michelle Freeman lives and works in Maryland and runs the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation. She is a local real estate developer and raised her family in Maryland. I am proud to say that her oldest son now attends Georgetown University. Michelle is also renovating her family’s historic 500 acre farm in Maryland. She is loud and proud at all Caps games and is very active in many women’s and children’s charitable concerns around the community. We have two women on our board of directors as a partnership. I can’t name another group that can say that of which I am quite proud.
Dick Patrick is longtime President of Washington Capitals. His family has perhaps the most important family tree in all of NHL and he lives and works in VA. His great family wwas raised in VA. Dick is a local real estate developer; went to Dartmouth; has a law degree; and gets all of the deserved credit for building and developing the Capitals training facility and new office space in Ballston. Dick won’t die happy until his name is etched on the Stanley Cup.
George Stamas, our attorney and a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, lives in Baltimore and works out of DC. He is a UPenn Wharton School and University of Maryland Law School graduate; a partner at NEA VC firm; former Vice Chairman of Alex Brown; and a fellow Spartan.
And then me.
There you have it. This is a wonderful group of friends and partners who are all local; all successful; all charitable in their efforts; and all are huge fans of sports and of local concerns. I count myself blessed to be associated with this group of folks and I consider all of them like extended family.
We, too, are a team. No “I” in team.