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Andrew D. Appleby
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Sports and Entertainment, LLC

Andy Appleby, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Sports and Entertainment, LLC, has more than 25 years of sports management experience. Since founding General Sports in 1998, Andy has led the effort to develop all of its operational divisions, subsidiaries and affiliated entities, as well as to create the General Sports Foundation. General Sports currently operates four business divisions - Team Acquisition & Management, GSE Capital & Management, Executive Placement and GSE Meetings & Events- as well as several subsidiaries (the Sports Executive Leadership Conference and General Sports Alliances, a naming rights and sponsorship sales agency) and affiliated entities. Andy leads General Sports with a wealth of administrative skills; with intelligent, innovative, experience-grounded decision-making; and, with an unmatched ability to lead a team toward common goals. Under Andy's leadership, General Sports has had a meteoric rise into the upper echelon of the sports and entertainment industry.

Through the Team Acquisition & Management division, Andy successfully completed the acquisition of the Derby County Football Club of the English Premier League in January 2008. Andy serves as the Club Chairman and is on the Club's Board of Directors. Andy also successfully completed the acquisition of the Fort Wayne Wizards Minor League Baseball team (Class A Affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in May 1999. Under the ownership of General Sports, the Wizards were named "Team of the Year" in the Midwest League in 2003 and 2004, and the team experienced attendance increases each year. General Sports sold the Wizards franchise in 2006.

Through the GSE Capital & Management division, Andy launched General Sports Venue in 2003, a company that specializes in sports venue solutions with an emphasis on synthetic turf. General Sports Venue held the exclusive licensing rights to the AstroTurf® brand of synthetic turf products in the United States.

Andy spearheaded the launch of General Sports Alliances, LLC in 2006. General Sports Alliances is fast becoming one of the most successful sponsorship agencies in the United States. Andy serves as Chairman of General Sports Alliances. Andy also founded the Sports Executive Leadership Conference in 2001. The Sports Executive Leadership Conference is the premier annual leadership and networking conference for the most senior executives in the global sports industry. He also co-founded the General Sports Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation in 2000. The General Sports Foundation's banner program is the Suite Dreams Project, which has a mission of creating healing environments for chronically ill children in homes, hospitals and the community at large.

Under Andy's leadership and vision, General Sports and Entertainment has had much success in its first 12 years. In 2000, he was named one of Detroit's "40 Under 40" by Crain's Detroit Business. In 2001, the General Sports Foundation's Suite Dreams Project was named as Detroit's Charity of the Year by Hour Detroit Magazine. In 2002, Andy was named the Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year for Eastern Michigan. Also in 2002, General Sports was named as one of Greater Detroit's Future 50 and one of Metropolitan Detroit's 101 "Best and Brightest Companies to Work For". General Sports also was the top winner in the Marketing category in the Detroit Regional Chamber's first annual "Best Practices" contest for a customer relations program developed using the Fort Wayne Wizards. In 2005, Andy was invited to join the Young President's Organization. Prior to founding General Sports, Andy helped lead the ascent of the Palace Sports and Entertainment organization to the top of the sports and entertainment world. Andy held a variety of positions from 1986 through 1998, culminating by becoming the youngest Senior Vice President in the history of the organization. During his tenure, the Palace of Auburn Hills was named national "Arena of the Year" eight times in ten years.

As Senior Vice President of Palace Sports and Entertainment, Andy oversaw an executive sales staff responsible for promoting and operating the Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit Pistons, Detroit Vipers Hockey Club, Detroit Shock of the WNBA, Meadow Brook Music Festival, and DTE Energy Music Theatre (formerly Pine Knob). Under Andy's leadership, Pine Knob was transformed from a rundown facility to the most successful amphitheater in the United States.

Andy's drive for top-level achievement has long been evident in his pursuits and successes. He was an All American high school wrestler, and he won three State Wrestling Championships. He went on to become the New England Wrestling Champion in 1981. He also was an All-State Cross Country Runner, and home course record holder.

Andy has a Masters Degree in Sports Management and a Bachelor of Science in English from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He serves on the Board of Directors for the General Sports Foundation/Suite Dreams Project. He resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan with his wife Kristiana, son Brock and daughters MacCall, Avery and Quinn.