Serial Entrepreneur
By Meredith Mulligan on June 16th, 2010
Photography by Craig Denis
Sean Wolfington was destined to be a pioneer. One of those self-motivated leaders who forges paths for the development of unchartered industries. One of those self-taught types who revolutionizes industries through brilliant insight and an ahead-of-the-game mentality. That is who Sean Wolfington was meant to be, and at just 39 years old, he has become all of that and more. Wolfington’s résumé runs the gamut from CEO of Wolfington Companies, film producer, digital marketing expert, and automotive pioneer, to all-around family man. He is an entrepreneur in every sense of the word, with experience in the realms of technology, finance, real estate, film, auto, and charity.
The Miami Heat recruited three of the top players in the NBA and are never boring to watch. World leaders, celebrities and athletes gather at the American Airlines Arena to watch and see if the Heat will live up to the Hype. View Photos
Puff Daddy and Sean Wolfington at dinner after the Miami Heat game
Lebron James & Dwayne Wade debate with ref about technical foul
The Bryan Brothers and Sean Wolfington at the Icon Brickell Tennis Daily Party
The Bryan Brothers, Melky Jean (Grammy Nominated Artist and Sister of Wyclef Jean), Ana Wolfington and Sean Wolfington at the Tennis Daily party at the Icon Brickell
The First-Ever Tennis Social Network Just in Time for Sony Ericsson Open
Photo credits: Manny Hernandez
The Bryan Brothers and the tennis elite united at Icon Brickell for the launch party for TennisDaily.com, hosted by The Bryan Brothers and Sean & Ana Wolfington. The social networking site is similar to that of Facebook but solely for professional tennis players and enthusiasts. Read More
Sean Wolfington, Alec Baldwin and Charles Aiesi at Tony Bennett's dinner gala
By Haute Living on October 5th, 2010
Sean Wolfington and Ana Wolfington supported Tony Bennett and Susan Benedetto’s fourth annual Exploring the Arts (ETA) gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City to raise over $100 million to support art education. Read More
Luxurious aerial view of the property. Sean Wolfington and Ana Wolfington bought Cher’s former mansion on the island of Key Biscayne.
MIAMI, May 6 — While most of the market has been deeply impacted by the recession there are a few homes that have increased in value since the bubble popped. High-end celebrity-owned real estate sales, whether previously or currently held, are surprisingly strong with prices reflecting a steady increase. “There’s a shortage of trophy properties on the market and we are seeing an increasing number of wealthy foreign buyers from Latin America and Europe looking to capitalize on the weak U.S. dollar,” said Daniel De La Vega, Broker of ONE Sotheby’s Realty. Read More
Shakira will let her fans help pick a different opening act for each city on her tour next year. The Colombian superstar will allow artists to upload videos of performances to her Web site when the “Opening Act” contest starts. Fans will vote for the finalists, and winners will be chosen by Shakira’s team. Sean Wolfington, her digital-business partner, told us, “The artists will open for Shakira live in big cities and virtually through a video performance in smaller markets. There are a lot of talented artists, and Shakira wants to help them by giving them part of her stage.”
Eduardo Verastegui (actor), Tony Bennett (15 Grammys), Alejandro Sanz, (17 Grammys, most of any Spanish musician) and Sean Wolfington (financier + producer) gathered at Bella's NY party to celebrate Bella becoming the #1 Rated Film of 2007 by RottenTomatoes, the biggest film review site in the world. Bella was also #1 rated movie by Yahoo, Fandango and the New York Times Readers' Poll while in theaters. Alejandro Sanz made a song for the film and Tony Bennett presented the "Tony Bennett Media Excellence Award" to the filmmakers.
Miami is the “Gateway to Latin America,” so it is not surprising that the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) has grown into a premier event for Latin-inspired works. One such film that is sure to make a splash at this year’s festival is Bella, a heartwarming story about life, relationships and our capacity for love in the face of the unexpected.
The making of Bella, with Producer/Financier Sean Wolfington, Writer/Director Alejandro Monteverde, Actor/Producer Eduardo Verastegui, and Actor Ali Landry.
Tony Bennett is one of the most celebrated music artists of our lifetime, and great supporter of the film Bella. During his decades-long career he has won numerous awards, including multiple Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also an accomplished painter and supporter of fine arts.
Audio excerpt from Kathie Lee Gifford’s new book, “Just When I Thought I Dropped My Last Egg”. Kathie Lee Gifford is a television hostess, singer, actor, noted for her 15-year run (1985–2000) on the talk show “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee”, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin. She has received 11 Emmy nominations.
Sean and Ana Wolfington hosted an event with the Bryan Brothers, the #1 ranked tennis team in the world, to launch the Tennis Ap. The event included a musical performances by the Bryan Brothers and Adriana Lucia, Grammy nominated artist. The event went to benefit VegasTennis.com’s Marty Hennessy Jr. Tennis Foundation started by Ryan Wolfington- whose mission is to help at risk youth rise above their limited circumstances to achieve their fullest potential.
The Bryan Brothers, the #1 ranked tennis team in the world hosted an exclusive launch event to debut the “TENNIS App,” the latest application for everything tennis available for mobile phones. The launch coincided with the Sony Ericsson Open and the Bryan Brothers were joined by friends and celebrity guests at the ocean front residence of Sean and Ana Wolfington on Key Biscayne. Guests included top 10 ATP players Robin Soderling and Fernando Verdasco, WTA #2 ranked woman Caroline Wazniaki and top 50 ranked, up and coming American player John Isner.
Sean Wolfington, Michael Bay, Matt Damon, Shakira, Donald Trump, Gloria & Emilio Estefan, and many others were recognized in the Haute 100 list which identifies the top 100 most influential leaders.
The rookies behind the indie hit “Bella” share lessons learned on the road to box office success.
When we set out to make our first film, Bella, we asked a lot of people in the business for their advice. While many people offered incredibly valuable insights into different parts of the business we could not find anyone who could summarize the entire process in simple terms we could easily understand.
Sean Wolfington is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur
Sean Wolfington, chairman and CEO of The Wolfington Companies, is an entrepreneur with businesses in the technology, marketing, real estate and film industries. At the age of 34, Wolfington was a finalist in Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” and was named the 2010 “Entrepreneur of Year” by Haute Living magazine. By the age of 40, Wolfington built and sold four market leading digital marketing companies which had a combined enterprise value of nearly $500,000,000. Wolfington currently owns interests in a group of companies in the technology, automotive and entertainment industries.
Wolfington’s companies include Tier 10 Marketing, Level 5 Advertising, Team Velocity Marketing, the Automotive Advertising Network, Car-mercial, Call Revu, the American Dream Network, DealerAppVantage, Intellacar, GroupCars.com, DrivingLoyalty and BusinessRater.com and The One Media.
Wolfington was an owner and chairman of the board of Vin Solutions, the 33rd fastest growing technology company on the Inc 500 list, before Autotrader bought the company in June 2011. Before the sale of VinSolutions to Autotrader, Wolfington founded some of the leading digital marketing and consulting companies including BZ Results (bought by ADP in 2006) and Automark and Cyber Car (bought by Reynolds and Reynolds in 2001). BZ Results was recognized as the “Innovative Company of the Year” for being one of the pioneers of digital marketing in the automotive industry and enabling billions of dollars of retail sales over the Internet. BZ was the first company in the automotive industry to offer an all-in-one digital marketing solution that included search, display ads, email, mobile marketing, websites, CRM and outsourced business services for mail, phone and email campaigns.
Wolfington’s automotive technology and digital marketing companies have worked with 15 automotive manufacturers, 76 of the top 100 dealer groups, and over 5,000 retailers in 18 countries. Wolfington’s current clients include automotive manufacturers, associations and retailers along with global brands, media companies, films and international musicians.
Beyond automotive, Wolfington’s companies have marketed feature films Bella, Narnia, Blind Side, Charlotte’s Web, the Mighty Macs and architected the digital marketing strategy for Grammy Award-winning musician Shakira, the producer of one of the most viewed YouTube video in history with 420 million views. Wolfington owns a film production company, the One Media, and is credited with producing three major motion pictures: “Self-Medicated,” the most award winning film of 2006 (38 awards), “The MightyMacs” and “Bella”. The “Mighty Macs” was the #1 top grossing film in its category when it opened in October of 2011 and “Bella,” a film that Wolfington financed, produced and distributed, won the largest festival in the world (Toronto International Film Festival), was honored with the prestigious Legacy Award from the Smithsonian Institute and received the prestigious “Golden Tomato Award” for being the #1 Top Rated Film in 2007 by the largest film review site in the world (www.RottenTomatoes.com). “Bella” was also the #1 top-rated film by the users of Yahoo!, Fandango and the New York Times Readers Poll during its theatrical release, and was the #1 grossing film of 2007 in its category of Latino themed films.
Wolfington is the chairman of The Wolfington Charitable Foundation which actively supports charities that serve the poor and defend the defenseless. In 2008, Wolfington was honored with the President’s Service Award for his work to serve others and received the Legacy Award from the National Council for Adoption.
Wolfington is a twin and supports his brother Ryan Wolfington’s foundation that transforms the lives of underprivileged kids by teaching them about life through the game of tennis. Sean Wolfington currently resides on the island of Key Biscayne, Florida with his wife Ana and their four children.
