R.E. Turner

Throughout his career, Ted Turner has won recognition for his entrepreneurial acumen, his sharp business skills, his vision that transformed television, his leadership qualities that won sports championships, and his unprecedented philanthropy.

Turner began his career as an account executive with Turner Advertising Company and entered the television business in 1970 when he acquired Atlanta's independent Channel 17. In 1976, Turner purchased Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and launched TBS Superstation, originating the "superstation" concept. The following year, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. acquired the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, and in 1980, Turner launched CNN, the world's first live, 24-hour global news network.

Over the next two decades, the company built a portfolio of unrivaled cable television news and entertainment brands and businesses, including CNN Headline News, CNN International, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. In the mid-1990s, Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema became TBS properties. In 1996, the company merged with Time Warner, Inc., and in 2001, Time Warner merged with AOL to create AOL Time Warner. The company later changed its name back to Time Warner, Inc.

Turner has also made his mark as one of the most influential philanthropists in the United States. His Turner Foundation, Inc., established in 1990, supports efforts to improve air and water quality, develop a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguard environmental health, maintain wildlife habitat protection, and develop practices and policies to curb population growth.

Turner created the Captain Planet Foundation in 1990 to fund hands-on environmental projects for children and youth. The foundation's objective is to encourage innovative programs that empower children and youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. In addition, the Turner Endangered Species Fund, launched in 1997, works to conserve biodiversity by emphasizing restoration efforts of endangered or imperiled species on Turner properties.

In 1997, Turner pledged up to $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation to support its four core priorities: women and population, children's health, the environment, and peace and security. In early 2001, Turner launched the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a foundation he co-chairs with former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) to eliminate the threat of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the global response. Turner later created two independent film production companies, Ted Turner Pictures and Ted Turner Documentaries, which produced the motion picture Gods and Generals and the critically acclaimed PBS documentary titled Avoiding Armageddon.

In 2002, Turner opened the first Ted's Montana Grill in Columbus, Ohio, with his partner, George W. McKerrow Jr., founder of the Longhorn Steakhouse chain. The Atlanta-based chain specializes in bison meat.

Turner has also served as chairman of Turner Enterprises, Inc., a private company that manages his business interests, land holdings, and investments, including the oversight of two million acres in 12 states and in Argentina and more than 50,000 head of bison. Through Turner Enterprises, Turner manages the largest commercial bison herd in North America on 15 ranches in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

Turner has received many honorary degrees, industry awards, and civic honors, including being named Time magazine's 1991 Man of the Year, Broadcasting and Cable's Man of the Century in 1999, and one of Time's 100 World's Most Influential People in 2009.