Steven R. Berrard
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Thomas C. Byrne
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Thomas E. Aucamp
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Michael S. Bush
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Jack B. Lynn
Steven R. Berrard
Prior to co-founding New River, Mr. Berrard was the co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of AutoNation, Inc., the nation's leading automotive retail company. The operations of AutoNation include more than 400 automotive dealerships, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent-A-Car, and CarTemps U.S.A. In three years, Mr. Berrard guided AutoNation from a fledgling enterprise to the 83rd largest company on the 1999 Fortune 500 with over 80,000 employees. Mr. Berrard was also instrumental in the acquisition and subsequent spin-off of AutoNation's security alarm monitoring and waste disposal business.
Prior to joining AutoNation, Mr. Berrard served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Blockbuster Entertainment Group, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Viacom, Inc. As President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Berrard was responsible for the direction and operation of more than 70,000 employees at 4,500 Blockbuster stores located in 20 countries, Showtime Networks, Spelling Entertainment Group, Paramount Parks, and Virgin Interactive Entertainment.
Prior to his tenure with Blockbuster, Mr. Berrard served as President of Huizenga Holdings, Inc., and served in various positions with subsidiaries of Huizenga Holdings, including Waco Leasing Company and Port-O-Let International, Inc., where he was President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary. Prior to joining Huizenga Holdings, Mr. Berrard was employed by Coopers & Lybrand.
Mr. Berrard earned his BS in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University and is a member of the Board of Directors of HealthSouth (Audit and Compliance Committees as well as Chairman of the Finance Committee), Boca Resorts, Inc. (Chairman of Audit Committee), , Florida Atlantic University, and the Broward Economic Development Council. He also served on the Board of Birmingham Steel prior to its sale to NuCor in 2002. In 2001, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Mr. Berrard as a Commissioner of the North Broward Hospital District where he serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Management Information Systems Committee and the Architectural Selection Committee.
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Thomas C. Byrne
Prior to co-founding New River, Mr. Byrne was the Vice-Chairman of Blockbuster Entertainment Group, a division of Viacom, Inc. In this capacity, Mr. Byrne was responsible for Business Development, International Operations, Technology and Online Operations, including the company's non-retailing efforts, its worldwide acquisition program, and the operation of 1,600 stores in 27 countries. Additionally, Mr. Byrne was President of the Viacom Retail Group and represented Blockbuster in all cross-Viacom opportunities.
During his tenure at Blockbuster, Mr. Byrne and his group were responsible for acquiring and integrating over 100 retail businesses and engineered the company's successful entry into the media industry through the acquisitions of Republic Pictures, Spelling Entertainment and Virgin Interactive Entertainment and the eventual $8.4 billion sale to Viacom in 1994.
Prior to joining Blockbuster in 1987, Mr. Byrne was employed by KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Byrne has a BS and MA in Accounting from the University of Florida. Mr. Byrne was a certified public accountant, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Certilearn, Interstate Connections, Intralearn, ITC Learning Corporation, Pivotal Fitness, and the Private Equity Committee of the University of Florida Foundation.
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Thomas E. Aucamp
Prior to co-founding New River, Mr. Aucamp was Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Planning for Blockbuster Entertainment Group. In this capacity, Mr. Aucamp was responsible for leveraging the company's core assets, membership base, brand strength, and operations capabilities; most of these initiatives involved developing close working partnership with third parties, including FirstData, Lycos, AOL, MCI, Sprint, DirecTV and others. Mr. Aucamp spearheaded the creation of a loyalty marketing team, developed the "Membership Card Strategy", including the Blockbuster Gift Certificate Card®, and helped lead Blockbuster's partnering efforts in interactive and new media.
Prior to joining Blockbuster in January 1995, Mr. Aucamp was in the mergers and acquisitions department of W.R. Grace & Co., Inc., a diversified Fortune 100 company with interests in healthcare, packaging, construction products and specialty chemicals. Mr. Aucamp has additional transaction and development experience from his tenure at Ryder System and Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Aucamp has an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Harvard University. Mr. Aucamp was the 2002 Chairperson of the Florida Venture Forum.
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Michael S. Bush
Prior to joining New River Capital Partners, Mr. Bush was the Business Development Manager for Walt Disney Attractions Merchandise, the retail business unit to Walt Disney World. In this capacity, Mr. Bush was responsible for strategic planning, new store development, third party /participant analysis and transactions and special projects. During his tenure, Mr. Bush led several projects including the repositioning of Epcot merchandise, in-room shopping and the development of megastore concepts. Responsibilities included market research, competitive analysis, distribution, operations, construction, financial modeling and cannibalization issues. Mr. Bush also reorganized, consolidated and developed new business strategies for two fragmented segments of the merchandise business at Walt Disney World: Merchandise Guest Services (Mail Order) and Specialty Merchandise.
Prior to joining Walt Disney Attractions, Mr. Bush was a Senior Management Auditor for the Walt Disney Company. During this period, Mr. Bush audited and consulted on many business segments for the Walt Disney Company ranging from corporate finance to business unit operations. Mr. Bush was instrumental in the opening of Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando and the rehabilitation of the Contemporary Resort's California Grille.
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Jack B. Lynn
Prior to joining New River, Mr. Lynn specialized in the retail sector of the Assurance and Advisory Services division of Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Mr. Lynn successfully managed the audit engagements of high profile public companies and assisted in clients' due diligence activities and the subsequent integration of client acquisitions.
Prior to re-joining Deloitte & Touche, LLP, Mr. Lynn was a financial analyst with Claire's Stores, Inc., a public company with worldwide retail operations in the apparel, costume jewelry, and accessory market. He developed banking relationships, cost management initiatives, annual budgets and also participated in the analysis of potential acquisition targets and assisted in their successful integration into the Claire's group.
Mr. Lynn is a certified public accountant and has a Master of Science in Taxation from Florida International University and a BA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
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