Gretchen Shugart
CEO,
TheaterMania.com

Gretchen Shugart, CEO, joined TheaterMania.com in January 2000 after providing investment banking advisory services to the company. Retained by TheaterMania.com’s founders to raise capital, Ms. Shugart agreed with their premise that the fragmented theater industry lacked an efficient way to provide a mass consumer audience with information and tickets. Working with other members of the small but committed team of TheaterMania.com, equity capital was raised to keep the company alive while marketing, promotion and ticketing services were developed and launched. In its early years, TheaterMania.com was able to survive the challenges of the dot-com bust and the post 9/11 economy to become a thriving online service provider.

Today, the consumer website TheaterMania.com has over 1,200,000 registered members purchasing tickets and perusing its comprehensive editorial coverage of live theater events throughout the U.S., London and Canada. The website is a leading provider of discount and full price tickets to Broadway and beyond. In addition, through its proprietary web-based ticketing system, OvationTix, the company provides online, call center and box office ticketing services to hundreds of performing arts venues and productions, festivals, exhibit halls and museums nationwide.

Ms. Shugart’s interest in the performing arts began at a young age. Raised in the South by a family that values the arts, Ms. Shugart moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study the violin. Instead, she pursued a BS degree in Management and Economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business. In 1982 she joined Manufacturers Trust Company and her 18 year corporate finance career included positions at Chase Bank, Bank of Montreal, and Communications Equity Associates.

Ms. Shugart resides in Westchester County and with her husband and two children. She is a board member of the National Corporate Theatre Fund and the Maurer Family Foundation.

Leslie (Hoban) Blake

Leslie (Hoban) Blake has covered both theater and film in print and on the radio (WFUVfm/NPR, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, BAMBILL, BACK STAGE) as well as online (THEATERMANIA.COM, BLACKFILM.COM, OFFOFFOFF.COM ) for more than a decade. She was theater critic for NPR's voice of Fordham, for two and a half year and currently covers page and stage to screen for Theatermania.com. 
 
     The former Contributing Film Editor of the Angelika Film Bill (yes, that Angelika!) and Film Editor of Flat Iron Magazine, has been reviewing film for OFFOFFOFF.COM off and on for more than five years. A published and produced playwright and theater director - most recently, Artistic Associate at the Blue Heron Arts Center - she is presently first Vice President of the Drama Desk, as well as as well as acting Press Liaison for the SDC Callaway Committee and an active member of The Dramatists Guild and The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. A former actress, she still proudly maintains her Equity card.

Brian Scott Lipton
Editor, Writer
TheaterMania.com

Brian Scott Lipton is Editor in Chief of TheaterMania.com, one of the country’s leading and most visited Internet sites for theater and entertainment-oriented features, news, reviews, and listings.

Also a top-level editor at, DNR, Soap Opera News, Encore, Accent, The 92nd St. Y Review, and Resident Publications, Brian has written articles for Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, IN New York Magazine, W, The New York Post, The New York Observer, Time Out New York, Where, Playbill, Metro New York, Art & Auction, The Newark Star-Ledger, New York Theatre News, Soap Opera Weekly, New Jersey Savvy Living, Cititour.com, and Corporate Finance Week, among other esteemed publications.

Previously a voter for the Tony Awards, he is currently a voter and/or nominator for the Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, and New York Nightlife Awards.  Brian was formerly a member of the Board of Directors of MAC and chairperson of its nominating committee.

A valued resource to the media, Brian has appeared on such television and radio stations as WCBS-TV, New York 1, and WOR, and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Page Six Magazine, as well as numerous other local and national publications.
Brian has taught journalism and publishing at New York University, Metropolitan College of New York, and Marymount Manhattan College, and has been featured on numerous academic and professional panels.

Living in Manhattan, Brian is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Tufts University.

Brian Scott Lipton may be contacted at Brian@theatermania.com

Jerry Portwood
editor,
New York Press and CityArts

Jerry Portwood is the editor of the alternative newsweekly New York Press and CityArts, New York's only free, arts-only publication, which he launched in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession and while everyone was mourning the death of print media. He also edits Chelsea Clinton News, the city's oldest, continuously published weekly newspaper, and The Westsider, which covers the West Side of Manhattan. All of these publications are run by Manhattan Media. Jerry is a graduate of Oglethorpe University, was a writer and editor at the alternative paper Creative Loafing in Atlanta, which he left to live in Barcelona for two years. He grew up in the Southeast and Okinawa, Japan.

Abby Fazio

This year is the 50th anniversary of New London Pharmacy. I can't think of a better time to reflect on my life and times at New London!

People always ask if my husband John and I founded New London Pharmacy.  We didn't.  In fact, you could say New London Pharmacy founded us. You see, John and I actually met at the pharmacy.  It was 1976.   At the time, I was a clerk, and he was my boss.  But in 1985, he convinced me to go to pharmacy school, which I did, graduating in 1991.  Did I mention we fell in love along the way?  Well, we did, and were married at a small seaside church in Corfu, Greece the small fishing village where I was born.  We have 3 children now and reside on Long Island.

 It's interesting to note that, along our journey, we had the wonderful opportunity to buy New London from its original owners.  And guess what?  We're lucky enough to still have on staff some of the same great people we worked with 30 years ago! In fact, our general manger, James McGee, is celebrating his 40th year with New London.

 Our store is approximately 4,000 square feet.  Our renovations began in 2003, officially inaugurating our vision of the store as destination where people could go for a more luxurious and holistic approach to beauty, wellness, and luxury.  But the idea, and our research, started in 2000.  That's when John and I visited the top pharmacies in New York.  Then we went to Europe, where we hit Berlin, Athens, Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris. 

 There was one particular pharmacy that just blew us away.  It was in Berlin, very open, very airy.  The pharmacy department was completely exposed, like an open kitchen, and interactive between patient and pharmacist. 

Call us crazy, but we found a German architect, German installers, and German workers.  And we imported them all for the most insane 3 weeks of our lives!  Everything got done in that little time -- despite the fact we never closed-you can't do that when you're a pharmacy.  Your regular customers depend upon you.   We had to do everything at night.  John installed the floor himself overnight with some of our amazing staff. 

 I'm still in love with our private consultation room.  We use it for medical and nutritional counseling.  I think our customers really appreciate not having to talk about their health issues in public if they don't want to.  I don't know why more US pharmacies have them.  They're the standard in Europe.
 
Since then, we've added the fragrance bar, the make-up counter, and our skincare displays.  And it's a never-ending cycle:  More and more brands are coming, in all categories, from dermatological and luxury lines to imports and organics. 

 We're literally expanding the New London Chelsea ‘empire’ vertically. That’s right; our second floor is now home to New London Luxe, our new home and lifestyle luxury emporium.  And, oh, yes: Our own brand!  In 2010 New London will debut a totally organic, natural skin care line that’s perfect for all skin types.

Abby Fazio and New London Pharmacy were featured in Robert Spector's ("The Nordstrom Way") most recent book: The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving (Hardcover)