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ROGER WILSON
President and Director, Broadway South

With 30+ years experience in the entertainment and business development arena, Roger Wilson is vested in his birthplace and the state of Louisiana.

Acknowledging the significance of 'home' post-Hurricane Katrina, Roger's most recent undertaking has found him on the state-wide stage. In 2006, following a run for New Orleans Councilman-at-large (see www.rejuvenola.com), Roger formed Broadway South L.L.C. to focus his energy, ability and community ties on the development of a new cultural initiative. This performing arts and economic development platform seeks to extend the state's current film-tax credit program to the producers of live entertainment, specifically those who initiate tours in Louisiana devoted to theater, opera, dance, musical concerts and variety entertainment.

Passage of the Broadway South legislation will facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment and significantly enhance the state's tourism industry. The enterprise will also encourage a new level of entrepreneurship - and the creation of more than 14,000 new jobs for those still wanting to come home following the storm.

In the wake of Katrina, Roger delivered a relief convoy of 18-wheeler trucks armed with food and emergency supplies to New Orleans. Working with the honorable Reverend Byron Clay, chairman of the A.P. Clay Bible College in Kenner, La., Roger's effort culminated in an additional $5 million in donations to those who needed it most.

In the late 1990's during the zenith of the Internet boom, Roger was the 'point man' for a consortium that raised more than $60 million for a high-profile entertainment startup company called IAM.com. In his business development role, Roger worked with former Disney president Joe Roth, noted director Spike Lee, and lead investor Lehmann Bros., among others. The company premiered with the first-ever three-minute commercial during the 2000 Academy Awards.

During the late 1980's-early 1990's, Roger developed and sold more than a dozen film screenplays to major Hollywood studios and wrote for noted television producers, such as David Milch of NYPD Blue and Anthony Yerkovitch of Miami Vice. Roger also performed in a host of film and television series, among them CBS' "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," based on the noted Rogers and Hammerstein musical. His acting 'break' came via the lead role in the 20th Century Fox comedy, "Porky's," a film that remains rooted in comedic legend to this day. His formal acting training began under the tutelage of esteemed drama teacher Lee Strasberg of the prestigious Actor's Studio in New York. Roger graduated Cum Laude from The Woodberry Forest School near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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