Michael R. Burns
| Michael R. Burns | |
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| Born |
Michael Raymond Burns August 21, 1958 Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | B.S. Degree, Arizona State University; MBA Degree from John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA |
| Alma mater | UCLA |
| Occupation | Vice Chairman |
| Employer | Lionsgate |
| Home town | New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S. |
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Michael Raymond Burns (born August 21, 1958) is an American entertainment executive and Vice Chairman of Lionsgate, a film studio and global content platform. He joined Lionsgate's Board of Directors in 1999 and became Vice Chairman of the studio in March 2000. During his 17-year tenure, Lionsgate has grown from a fledging independent studio into a diversified global entertainment company.
Burns was born into an Irish-American family in Long Branch, New Jersey, on August 21, 1958. His father was an advertising executive and World War II combat veteran who landed on Iwo Jima. His family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where he was raised. He later attended Arizona State University, graduating with a B.S. degree in 1980. He earned his M.B.A. from UCLA.
Burns began his career as a sales representative for IBM, where he won recognition as a performance leader. Mr. Burns served as Managing Director and Head of the Office at Prudential Securities Inc.’s Los Angeles Investment Banking Office from 1991 to March 2000. He subsequently served for 18 years as a Wall Street executive, joining Shearson/American Express in 1985, where he first became acquainted with Jamie Dimon (the firm became Shearson Lehman Bros. in 1990). He was named to a series of progressively responsible executive positions during his nine-year tenure at Shearson, becoming a vice president at the age of 26 and a senior vice president at 29. He then joined Prudential Securities as a managing director at the age of 32, serving as head of Prudential’s Los Angeles investment banking office, where he specialized in raising equity within the media and entertainment industry.
Burns was recruited to join the Board of Directors of Lionsgate, an independent studio known for art house successes such as Gods and Monsters, Affliction and The Red Violin, in 1999. He and Feltheimer, a former Sony Pictures and New World Entertainment executive, orchestrated a $33 million preferred equity financing in December 1999. Following the recapitalization, Feltheimer and Burns formally joined Lionsgate as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, respectively.
Lionsgate soon generated a string of fiercely independent hits such as Monster’s Ball, which earned a Best Actress Academy Award for Halle Berry in 2002, Fahrenheit 9/11, the highest-grossing documentary film of all time, Crash, which surprised the Hollywood community by winning three Oscars, including Best Picture, in 2006, and Saw, acquired for $1 million from 90 seconds of video and a script, which went on to become the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time, generating $860 million at the worldwide box office.
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