Michael Neuman (born 1955) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born executive who has managed telecommunications and broadcast television companies in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He is the founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of WorldLinx Telecommunications Inc., and founder of MediaLinx which formed the ISP

Sympatico Bell Internet, originally and frequently still called Sympatico, is the residential Internet service provider (ISP) division of BCE Inc. As of May 3, 2012, Bell Internet had over 3 million subscribers in Ontario and Quebec, making it the larges ...

. He was CEO of satellite TV provider

Bell ExpressVu Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite ...

and acted as President of

Bell Mobility Bell Mobility Inc. is a Canadian wireless network operator and the division of Bell Canada which offers wireless services across Canada. It operates networks using LTE and HSPA+ on its mainstream networks. Bell Mobility is the third-largest wir ...

where he joined forces with Sir

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expresse ...

to launch

Virgin Mobile Canada Virgin Plus is a provider of postpaid and prepaid wireless voice, text and data communications services throughout Canada. They also offer home Internet and TV services in select areas of Ontario and Quebec. Launched as Virgin Mobile Canada on ...

. He was President of

Fortune 300 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by '' Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

company

EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based out of unincorporated Ara ...

, which operates

DISH Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...

in the U.S., and CEO of British telecom outfit iaxis prior to its sale to Dynegy Inc., in 2000.

Personal life

Neuman was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. He graduated from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

. He is married with two children.

Associated corporations

V Band

In 1984, Neuman founded and became Managing Director of telecom startup V Band PLC in the United Kingdom. The company sold and installed trading room telecom systems for financial institutions in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Square Mile. The company was sold to Telephone Rentals PLC in 1987. Neuman joined the board of V Band Inc. in 1988 as Vice Chairman and was appointed CEO later that year.

WorldLinx

In the early 1990s, Neuman founded and became CEO of WorldLinx Telecommunications Inc. (a subsidiary of

BCE Inc BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a co ...

), a data communications company. On behalf of BCE, Neuman led the formation of the Beacon Initiative, a 10-year, $8 billion upgrade to Canada's fiber optic network. Under Neuman, WorldLinx also launched a subsidiary, MediaLinx, which in turn launched

ExpressVu / Bell ExpressVu

In 1994, Neuman formed and led a new

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

business on behalf of a group of telecom and broadcast investors which became ExpressVu and later

, after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

. Under Neuman, ExpressVu distributed Canada's first national broadcast of High Definition programming, the country's first

satellite internet Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary satellites that can offer relatively high dat ...

service and the then-largest

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

programming line-up in the country,

NHL Centre Ice NHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable subscription out-of-market sports package controlled and distributed by Rogers Communications through Rogers Cable as of 2014. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, ...

. ExpressVu is now the third largest TV distributor in Canada. Neuman resigned from Bell ExpressVu in November 1999.

iaxis

In 1999, Neuman joined the British telecom firm iaxis as President and CEO with a mandate to build and operate a fiber optic network connecting the major capitals of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. iaxis NV was sold in 2000 to Dynegy Inc.

Teleglobe

In 2001 Neuman re-joined BCE as President

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

of the European subsidiary of BCE's Teleglobe Inc., a provider of global telecom services.

Bell Mobility / Virgin Mobile

In 2002, Neuman assumed leadership of BCE's

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...

operator

. In 2004, Neuman orchestrated the deal with

Virgin Mobile Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Ara ...

to form a new, jointly owned property,

, launched in February 2005.

DISH Network

In 2005, Neuman was appointed President and

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

EchoStar Corporation EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based out of unincorporated Arapa ...

, operator of the American satellite TV service provider

. He planned the marketing strategy of offering free satellite and television services to any town in the United States which renamed itself "Dish". A Texas town subsequently did so. Neuman resigned as President of EchoStar in February 2006.

Magna Entertainment

In 2007, Neuman became president of the horse racing company

Magna Entertainment Corp Magna may refer to: Companies * Magna (bicycle company) * Magna Corporation Magna Corporation was a publicly held company in Flowood, Mississippi, U.S.A. that served as a holding company. Its primary divisions were Mississippi Steel and M ...

, as the company's sixth president in seven years. Neuman resigned after five months, and the company filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

bankruptcy protection in 2009.CBC Article on Magna Entertainment Bankruptcy, 2009
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Elevest Corporation

Neuman founded the privately held Elevest Corporation in 1995, a

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

and

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

firm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neuman, Michael A Businesspeople from Toronto Living people 1955 births Canadian telecommunications industry businesspeople Canadian chief executives University of Western Ontario alumni Chief operating officers