BIOGRAPHIES

Keith Barish, Partner

Keith Barish is an entrepreneur, investor and marketing innovator. He has founded and built a substantial number of businesses in entertainment, real estate, and finance. Barish focuses on opportunities to rapidly determine and develop profit from national trends. Keith Barish began his diverse career while he was still in college. In 1965, at the age of 20, he founded Manufacturer's National Bank of Hialeah. In 1966, he founded an international real estate fund that became one of the largest purchasers of income properties in the United States. This fund eventually controlled over $1 billion dollars in commercial and residential real estate throughout the United States.

Throughout the 1970's, Mr. Barish was involved in finance and venture capital. In 1979, he decided to enter the entertainment industry. During his career in the entertainment industry, Mr. Barish was consistently a self-financing producer of major feature films. In 1979, Keith Barish set a new industry record when he paid $750,000 for the movie rights to Sophie's Choice. In 1986, Barish struck a $200,000,000 a year deal with Taft Broadcasting and Tri-Star Pictures which allowed him total creative authority over all of his productions. He produced 18 major feature films. Two of these ("Nine and a Half Weeks" and "The Fugitive") are among the 100 top box office films of all time. The Fugitive alone grossed over $1 billion. He was the industry leader in the development of marketing campaigns for his films. His films won or were nominated for 24 Academy Awards, and other industry recognition. Through Barish Productions, a variety of actors attained superstar status, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meryl Streep, and Kim Bassinger.

Mr. Barish founded, branded and served as the Chairman of Planet Hollywood. Keith Barish created an innovative brand launch strategy for the company and was credited for making Planet Hollywood, over a short period of time, one of the most highly recognized brands in the world. After completing the marketing and branding campaign, and having no involvement in the operations, he left Planet Hollywood in 1998.

After leaving Planet Hollywood, Mr. Barish founded KB Technology, which invested in and launched marketing campaigns for several technology companies. Keith Barish's charitable endeavors include such causes as pediatric cancer research, the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, The Special Olympics and Inner City Games, and the Make a Wish Foundation. Utilizing his celebrity relationships he has raised over $50,000,000 in charitable contributions for these and other causes. Mr. Barish now focuses his fulltime efforts to serve as a Managing Partner of the Barish Fund.

Keith Barish can be contacted via email through Sarah Knobelauch at sarah@barishfund.com.