Zachary Leonsis is President of Media & New Enterprises for Monumental Sports & Entertainment (Monumental), a fully-integrated sports, entertainment, media and technology platform located in the heart of the “DMV” in downtown Washington, DC.
Monumental is best known for its fan-facing brands including the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA 2K League’s Wizards District Gaming, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go, esports juggernaut Team Liquid, Capital One Arena, and Monumental Sports Network. Monumental also operates four additional venues including Eaglebank Arena, Medstar Capitals Iceplex, Medstar Health Performance Center, and District E.
Leonsis oversees all of Monumental’s media & network operations, team rights agreements, and media revenues. In addition, Leonsis also oversees all corporate development activities which include M&A, venture capital and private equity investment opportunities. Leonsis led the acquisition of NBC Sports Washington into Monumental and also led additional investments into companies including Team Liquid, Epic Games, Niantic, Dapper Labs, and more.
Leonsis launched and oversees Monumental’s esports division which includes Wizards District Gaming, Caps Gaming, and District E. Through his leadership in esports, Leonsis also represents Monumental on Team Liquid’s board of directors.
In 2020, Leonsis was a member of the board of directors of Acies Acquisition Corp which announced a successful business combination with social gaming company, PlayStudios. Leonsis partnered with Sports Business Journal to launch the industry-leading ‘Dealmakers in Sports’ conference hosted in Washington, D.C.
After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, Leonsis received his MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and is a founding member of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Advisory Board. He also joined the Advisory Board of the Georgetown McDonough School of Business in 2019. He received an appointment to serve on Virginia’s Governor’s Advisory Board on Service and Volunteerism in 2016, and is involved in a variety of nonprofit and charitable activities in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia communities.
The Washington Business Journal and Sports Business Journal have both recognized Leonsis for his work in revolutionizing the direct-to-fan regional digital experience by both honoring him in their prestigious ’Forty under 40’ lists. Sports Business Journal has also featured Leonsis as an ‘RSN Power Player’ and inducted him into their Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame. VenuesNow has honored him as one of their VenuesNow All Stars and SportTechie has featured him as one of their top 20 innovators.