In addition to making strategic investments, Walnut Hill Media will participate in the creation, production, distribution and other utilization of film, television, on-line, and other visual and audio content. With its extensive management experience, strong relationships in business, media and government, Walnut Hill Media will provide guidance related to its investments and for its partners; the company is also well positioned to play a role in the growing branded content market.

"At Walnut Hill Media, we have a clear mission to create sustainable business relationships that further the success of all involved. We recognize that this mission can only be fulfilled when an investment is made not only in a business idea, but in people," said Jeffrey Stewart.

"We're very excited about the creation of Walnut Hill Media and what it will do in the rapidly developing media space. With Jeff's leadership, his business sense and long-standing relationships with so many talented people across different business sectors, I am confident Walnut Hill Media will do highly successful work with great partners," said Jonathan Tisch.

The company has made an initial multi-million dollar investment in Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival and related entities. This investment will be used to expand Tribeca's media activities under the Tribeca Film brand and make the brand accessible to consumers on a global level.

Walnut Hill Media has also recently invested in the greatly anticipated first-run syndicated television show, Family Court with Judge Penny, which is being produced with 44 Blue Productions and distributed by Program Partners, Inc. This partnership originated from an introduction made by William Morris Agency, the agency representing the new show.

Family Court with Judge Penny is a family court show hosted by judge and former lawyer Penny Brown Reynolds. The series features Reynolds presiding over cases where a serious breakdown in the family unit is occurring. As an impoverished child raised by a single mother, Judge Penny brings her own perspective to each family case. As a minister as well, Reynolds has a unique approach in addressing the deeper family issues from the bench. Prior to its first week on air, the series was sold in over 80% of television markets in the U.S.

Walnut Hill Media is producing, with Plum TV, additional episodes of its own television series, Beyond the Boardroom with Jonathan Tisch, a series of one-on-one conversations with America's preeminent business leaders. The show will air nationally and on Plum TV. Beyond the Boardroom is sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Some of Tisch's Beyond the Boardroom past guests have included Ken Chenault, Barry Diller, Ann Moore, Dick Parsons, Ian Schrager, Howard Schultz, Donald Trump and Mort Zuckerman. As a CEO, Tisch brings his own insight into the life, work and demands of those he interviews allowing for conversations that are personal, candid and thoughtful. The interviews go beyond day-to-day business, revealing something unique about each CEO and what brought them to the top of their field. Jeffrey Stewart continues to serve as an Executive Producer of the program.

What is 'Walnut Hill'?

Tisch and Stewart, both graduates of Tufts University, named the company for the 20-acre plot of land, Walnut Hill, which today makes up the heart of their alma mater's campus. The land was donated approximately 150 years ago by American businessman, Charles Tufts, who wanted to "set a light upon the Hill," at one of the highest points outside of Boston. The Tufts values of opportunity, responsibility and community will be the guiding principles of Walnut Hill Media.

About Jonathan M. Tisch

Jonathan M. Tisch is Co-Chairman of the Board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, one of the largest diversified financial holding companies in the U.S., and is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiary, Loews Hotels. As Chairman and CEO, Tisch has engineered Loews Hotels' expansion and emergence as a leading luxury hotel chain by infusing the properties with a widely praised corporate culture that places a high value on partnerships. His leadership philosophy, explored in his best-selling book, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships, provides a blueprint for achieving enduring success through partnerships that empower employees, satisfy customers, contribute to communities, and improve the bottom line. His best-seller follow-up book, Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, nominated for a Quill Award as one of the five best business books of 2007, offers a detailed look at how the right customer experience can produce long-lasting success for any organization.

Recognized as a national leader of the multi-billion dollar travel and tourism industry, in 2003, Tisch was appointed to the United States Department of Commerce U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Tisch has served as Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable since 1995, and is the former Chair of NYC & Company, New York City's tourism marketing agency.

About Jeffrey Stewart

Jeffrey Stewart is a Partner and Managing Director of Walnut Hill Media. Prior to the company's creation, Stewart served as the SVP, Communications and Public Affairs for Loews Hotels & Chief of Staff to the Chairman. Prior to this role at the company, Stewart was Director of Development. Stewart has played an active role in the travel and tourism industry where he serves on the Board of Directors of the Travel Business Roundtable. A regular spokesperson for the industry, he has testified before the United States Congress and has been quoted in leading publications on the importance of a vibrant travel and tourism industry.

Following September 11, 2001, Stewart served as Staff Director of New York Rising, a special emergency task-force set up to stabilize and revive the $25 billion local travel and tourism industry. Stewart is on the board of New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. He is also on the Steering Committee of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) and serves on the Board of Tisch College at Tufts and the University's Alumni Council.

Stewart served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York. Prior to joining Loews Hotels, Stewart was the Finance Director and a senior aide to United States Senator Charles Schumer, raising more money at the time than for any other senate race in history.

Stewart graduated from Tufts University in Medford, MA in 1990 and from Fordham University School of Law in New York City in 1993.

About Jen Farley

Jen Farley joins Walnut Hill Media as a Vice President, Communications, reporting to Jeffrey Stewart. Most recently, Farley was a Communications Director for CBS News. Just prior to joining CBS in 2006, Farley worked for Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading global public relations firms, where she provided media strategy to clients including former President Bill Clinton and the William J. Clinton Foundation, Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation, several CEOs and companies on global consumer launches, brand positioning, earnings, internal communications programs and crisis communications.

Farley provided media counsel to several world leaders on special projects, including Prince Albert of Monaco on the creation of a consortium of America's great journalists; and King Abdullah II of Jordan and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, on their joint effort to bring together the world's greatest minds at one gathering, The Petra Conference, a conference of Nobel Laureates in Petra, Jordan. The conference is now in its fourth year.

Farley was a financial freelance editor for many years, a writer for Fox News and has been published in national newspapers. She also worked in investment banking in the late 1990s.

Farley graduated from St. John's University in Jamaica, New York in 1993 and received a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York City in 2002.

SOURCE: Walnut Hill Media, LLC

Walnut Hill Media 
Jen Farley, 212-521-2812