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Meet The Investors Of OK Hockey

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 24, 2008

Oren Koules

Koules made his fortune as a Hollywood producer whose biggest hits include the grisly "Saw" movie franchise and the Emmy-nominated television series "Two and a Half Men." He co-founded, with Mark Burg, the Evolution Entertainment management/production company in 1998 and Twisted Pictures production company in 2004. A Chicago native, Koules played minor-league hockey for four years and spent eight years as a commodities trader in Chicago before getting into the movie business.

Len Barrie

Retired from a 14-year career in professional hockey that included 184 NHL games, Barrie is CEO and president of Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, British Columbia. He is the resort's majority shareholder responsible for the planning and build-out construction of the 1,300-acre residential, resort and commercial construction project. Bear Mountain, which has achieved more than $500 million in real estate sales, includes a 19-hole Jack and Steve Nicklaus-designed golf course, a five-star Westin hotel and spa and a village center. He was born in British Columbia.

Mark Burg

Burg is Koules' business partner and co-founder of Twisted Pictures and Evolution Entertainment. A filmmaker with a 20-year track record, his early producing credits include "Bull Durham," starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Burg served for several years as president of Island Pictures. Since launching Evolution with Koules in 1998, his greatest success has come with the "Saw" movie franchise and the award-winning "Two and a Half Men" television series.

Russell Belinsky

Belinsky is an investment banker, senior managing director and co-founder of Chanin Capital Partners. He has experience in all phases of domestic and international financial restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate financings and expert testimony. He handled most of OK Hockey's banking issues during the sale of the Lightning. He is a member of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, the American Bar Association and the California Bar Association.

Jordan Zimmerman

Zimmerman is the founder and chairman of Fort Lauderdale-based Zimmerman Advertising, the 15th-largest ad agency in the United States with published billings in excess of $2 billion. Zimmerman also is a part owner of the NHL's Florida Panthers. His agency represents such clients as Nissan, Six Flags, AutoNation, Crocs, Papa John's, the Miami Dolphins and Target. He was honored in 1991 by the University of South Florida as Entrepreneur of the Year. Zimmerman lives in Boca Raton.

Richard C. Lehman

Lehman is a St. Louis orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine. He is a member of the NHL's Board of Governors and the medical director for the NHL's Florida Panthers. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1980. He played tennis at the University of Minnesota in the 1970s, earning academic All-America honors.

Irwin Novack

Novack is the chief executive officer of Pinellas Park-based Kane's Furniture. He is a board member for the Vincent Lecavalier Foundation and the Tampa Sports Commission. He has a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Massachusetts, attended the Suffolk University Law School in Boston, and obtained a master's of professional accounting from the University of Hartford.

Craig Sher

Sher is executive chairman of The Sembler Company of St. Petersburg, a shopping center development and management firm. A native of Minneapolis, he has a bachelor of science degree, master's degree in communication and master's degree in business from Northwestern University.

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