Board of Directors

Blaine Lourd, CEO and Managing Partner of Lourd Capital Management, has over 25 years of experience advising institutions and ultra-high net worth clients.  After time with E.F. Hutton, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Oppenheimer, and A.G. Edwards, Lourd became an Independent Registered Investment Advisor (2006) and founded Lourd Capital Management, which currently manages approximately $2.3 billion in assets.

The following article by Michael Lewis (The New New Thing, Moneyball) made a splash in the investment world upon its release and inspired many to emulate Lourd Capital’s approach: http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/11/19/Blaine-Lourd-Profile/

Lourd is married to Crystal Moffett and has three sons. He is a board member on the Cedar Sinai Department of Surgery Advisory Committee and the Motion Picture Television Fund Professional Advisory Commission. He is also very active in Los Angeles youth sports, coaching, and mentoring, and is a proud graduate of Louisiana State University.

Jim Toth is a Motion Picture Talent Agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an entertainment and sports agency based in Los Angeles with offices in New York, London, Nashville, and Beijing.  Toth works in the Los Angeles office and represents many of the world’s leading actors and actresses, advising artists on overall career development.

Toth has also worked with marketing clients such as Coca-Cola.

Toth began his career in the entertainment business in the CAA mailroom.  Prior to that, he worked as a financial consultant.  He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Loyola Marymount University.

Kevin Morris is the founding partner of the Century City, California entertainment law firm Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman. In his law practice he specializes in representing prominent actors, writers, and directors in the motion picture and television industries. He also advises and consults for a number of companies focused on distribution of entertainment content over emerging digital platforms. Kevin has served as managing partner of the firm since its inception and in that role he is responsible for the day-to-day operations as well as strategic planning.

Kevin graduated from Cornell in 1985 with a B.A. in Government and spent a semester at the London School of Economics. He attended law school at New York University, graduating with a J.D. in 1988. He is a producer of the Tony award winning musical “Book of Mormon” and a number of feature films, including the 1997 documentary, “Hands on a Hard Body” which has been adapted into a Broadway musical which opens in March 2013. He writes frequently about media and entertainment matters, and his articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

He has been a member of the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council since 2001, and is active with Mending Kids International, the Malibu High School Shark Fund and several other charitable organizations.

Rick George, who has spent nearly 25 years as a sports executive on the professional and collegiate level, was appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the Texas Rangers in October 2010. George, who joined the Rangers after a seven-year stint with the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, works closely with  CEO & President Nolan Ryan and members of the club’s business operations team.

George served as Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations for the PGA TOUR from June 2008 until joining the Rangers. He was responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the PGA TOUR, including Player Relations, Competitions, the Rules Committee, and Tournament Business Affairs. In that role, he worked closely with the tournaments and TOUR staff assisting in obtaining and renewing title sponsorships and working with the Tournament Business Affairs team to help tournaments with revenue generating opportunities.

Rick joined the PGA Tour, Inc. as the first President of the Champions Tour in January 2003 and was instrumental in helping grow revenues and increase sponsorships for its events. George added the responsibilities of Executive Vice President, Championship Management in December 2006 while continuing as President of the Champions Tour.

Prior to joining PGA TOUR, Inc., George was the President/CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, a 501c3 organization whose mission is to raise money for children’s charities through the production of golf related events, from August 1998-January 2003. He was a key part of rebranding the Foundation, increasing charitable giving for the Foundation and created numerous new initiatives in his role. His experience on the collegiate level includes positions as Associate Athletic Director for External Operations at Vanderbilt University from 1991-98; Assistant Athletic Director, Football Operations at the University of Colorado from 1987-91; and Football Recruiting Coordinator at the University of Illinois from 1983-87.  Rick serves on the Bayou District Foundation Advisory Council, the Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors for the North Texas Chapter of the National Sports Marketing Network, the Texas Rangers Foundation, and the j.k. livin foundation.

A four-year starter in football and a 1982 graduate at the University of Illinois, George and his wife Nancy have two daughters, Jenni and Christi and reside in Colleyville.

George King was named to his current post as Executive Vice President and General Manager in September 2010, overseeing all day-to-day operations of the club. He works closely with the team president and ownership with steering the team’s activities and represents the Express on the Pacific Coast League Board of Directors and in relationships with surrounding city and county leadership. Among his myriad duties he handles on-field relationships with the Texas Rangers, visiting teams and league officials. He is also involved in several charitable and civic organizations in and around the Central Texas community, including Dell Diamond Charities, and serves on the Board of Trustees for St David’s Round Rock Medical Center. George is also a principal with Ryan-Sanders Sports Turf, a full-service sports field and turf maintenance and construction specialty company headquartered in Round Rock.

King previously served as vice president and general manager of the Nashville Sounds, Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Under his stewardship Nashville underwent a complete business management and profitability overhaul during George’s tenure; he implemented significant marketing changes to reposition the club as a committed community asset and his role with the Sounds included helping the facilitation of a top-to-bottom facelift of the aging Hershel Greer Stadium. In one key community project during King’s participation in its management, the Nashville Sounds Foundation, through its “Play Ball!” project, directed more than $130,000 in cash and equipment donations to assist youth baseball affected by the devastation left by the 2010 flooding in Middle Tennessee.

No stranger to the Pacific Coast League, King served 10 years in the league office over two stints prior to his time in Nashville. He served as vice president of business and operations for his final four years with the league office where he King supervised all on-field baseball operations for the league, including Major League Baseball Player Development Contract affiliate relations, player roster and procurement compliance, MLB rules and policy adherence, on-field discipline, umpire deployment and management, and facility matters. He also oversaw team travel procedures and league rules, administration and finance and served as an ad hoc member of several league and Baseball committees.

While working with the PCL, King was heavily involved in the senior management of the Portland franchise when, as the result of a rescission of the team, the league managed its operations over two seasons. His duties in that capacity included contributions to the refitting of the club’s business model, sales and marketing strategies, and the oversight of its day-to-day management.

King’s professional career began on the operations staff of the Phoenix Firebirds in 1995. He later worked as the team’s media director until the club was forced to fold and relocate with the arrival of the Arizona Diamondbacks. King has held media positions with the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball’s Arizona Fall League. He also served as vice president and general manager of an independent club in the Western League in which capacity his duties included overseeing sales, operations and marketing in addition to player scouting and development.

King spent the fall of 2000 as Arizona Fall League Director of Baseball Operations, filling the position vacated upon Hall of Famer Frank Robinson’s promotion to the commissioner’s office. His duties there expanded to include player personnel management and on-field operations for all 30 MLB clubs.

Prior to working in baseball, George served nine years in the U.S. Navy, including five years deployed in Japan. Following dozens of ports of call and sea duty exercises around the globe aboard the USS Cook (FF-1083) and USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), King was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for distinguished service. Following his discharge, King was a general manager the Tosco Marketing Corporation in Phoenix and oversaw the daily operation of three retain markets in the Phoenix area.

King and his wife live in Round Rock with their four children. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management with an emphasis on finance and management which he proudly earned from the University of Maryland University College while still on active duty and while stationed in Japan.