Management
Jeffrey D. Warshaw
Chief Executive OfficerJeffrey has 35 years building, acquiring, operating and investing in media businesses. Starting at age 19, Mr. Warshaw has run a number of successful entities with a focus on creating strong market positions and exceptional management teams. At age 28 in 1993, Mr. Warshaw founded Connoisseur Communications Partners, an owner and operator of radio stations, starting with an initial investment of $250,000, partnered with Tinicum Investments and later Abry Partners, LLC. Through disciplined acquisitions and operating management, Connoisseur Communications Partners grew to 39 radio stations and was sold in 2000 to Cumulus Broadcasting for over $250,000,000. Following the sale of Connoisseur Communications Partners in 2004, Mr. Warshaw founded Connoisseur Media, a multi-platform local media company with radio, streaming, and digital and traditional advertising agency businesses. Connoisseur Media’s radio operations, which have been assembled and grown, have the highest average market shares of any top radio group in the country. Mr. Warshaw was a pioneer of combining digital with legacy media, founding Ferocious Media as a division of Connoisseur Media in 2010. Over the course of his career, Mr. Warshaw has led numerous equity and debt raises for his companies. Mr. Warshaw has also successfully partnered with investment funds (Farallon, Abry, MatlinPatterson) to invest in media debt and assets. An important part of the success of these investments has been Mr. Warshaw’s ability to operate these media businesses. In addition, from October 2017 to November 2019, Mr. Warshaw served on the board of Horizon HVAC, which was sold to New Mountain Capital in November 2019, resulting in an excellent return on equity in 2 years. Mr. Warshaw currently serves on the Board of the National Association of Broadcasters, is Chairman of the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council, a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Radio Advertising Bureau, Board Member of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and Board Member of Phiphen Pictures. Mr. Warshaw has received many honors, including the Ward L. Quall Leadership Award from BFOA. Mr. Warshaw received a B.S.E. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.
Michael O. Driscoll
Chief Executive OfficerMichael has 38 years of experience in financial and Investment Management and currently serves as the EVP/CFO and Co-Founder of Connoisseur Media, where he started in 2004. He is responsible for managing the financial and administrative aspects of the Company including: finance and accounting, acquisitions, divestitures, financing transactions, financial structuring, insurance, taxes and also human recourses. Over the last 24 years of his partnership with Mr. Warshaw, he has been involved with numerous equity raises, financings and transactions exceeding well over $1 billion. Driscoll was responsible for due diligence and was involved in negotiating with lenders, investors sellers and buyers. Prior to Connoisseur Media, he was the CFO of Mr. Warshaw’ s Connoisseur Communications Partners from 1996 to 2001, where he managed finance and administration and played a critical part in the company quadrupling in size and was involved in the sale of the company for more than $250,000,000 in 2000. Prior to working with Mr. Warshaw, he was the SVP/CFO at US Radio, Inc., for 10 years from 1986 to 1996. US Radio Inc., which at the time, was the largest minority-controlled radio company in the industry, was primarily owned by a Blackstone merchant banking fund when it was sold in 1996 for $140,000,000. In 2020, he was named by Radio+ Television Business Report as one of the best finance leaders of 2020. Driscoll has a B.S. from the University of Connecticut, a M.S.M. from Purdue University, and a CFA from the CFA Institute.