ACG LA|Entertainment and Media Webinar

Steve Cousineau is a Vice President at TCG. Steve joined The Chernin Group, LLC in 2010 shortly after its inception where he focused on investments, strategy, and corporate development. At The Chernin Group, Steve served on the team responsible for building the company’s control and minority investment portfolio, the online video-focused Otter Media, strategy and analysis for the companys film and television business Chernin Entertainment, and the company’s Asia Pacific-focused investment affiliate CA Media. Prior to joining The Chernin Group, Steve spent three years at United Talent Agency in its television literary department. Steve was named as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders by Variety Magazine in 2018, and he is on the board of directors of MeatEater and a board observer for Exploding Kittens. 

Steve is currently on a secondment with TCG portfolio company Exploding Kittens, a leading games and entertainment company, where he is serving as the company’s Head of Strategy, Business Development, and Finance. In his role at Exploding Kittens Steve is focusing on leading strategy and business development as well helping the fast-growing company position it’s finance, accounting, and operational capabilities to support the company’s continued growth. 

Steve graduated from M.I.T. with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Management Science with a focus on Finance.

Lauren is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at TCG where she oversees all legal, compliance, IT and human resource matters. Since joining The Chernin Group, LLC in 2015, Lauren has represented the company as its General Counsel in a wide variety of areas, including corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, compliance, employment, intellectual property, and litigation. Prior to joining organization, Lauren was the EVP, Corporate Affairs and Deputy General Counsel at Relativity Media where she was responsible for representing Relativity Media during its growth from a startup production company to a fully-integrated media and entertainment company. Lauren began her career as an Associate for Sidley Austin LLP. Lauren has been recognized in Variety’s Legal Impact Report multiple times as a “Game Changing Attorney” and was named one of the “Best and Brightest of the Next Generation of Entertainment Attorneys.” 

Lauren graduated magna cum laude with a BSM in Legal Studies in Business from Tulane University before receiving her JD from the USC Gould School of Law.

Paul touts an impressive finance and operations background prior to Project X. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer of RatPac Entertainment. There, he oversaw all corporate, business, legal, financial and day-to-day operations of the company, including the repurchase by Warner Bros. of a 75-picture library in which RatPac invested in excess of $1.2b in production funding. Paul also acquired and set for distribution a number of documentaries, including the award winning Holocaust documentary Night Will Fall for HBO, the  climate change documentary Before the Flood starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the Netflix docu-series Cocaine Cowboys: Los Muchachos. 

Prior to RatPac, Paul was Executive Vice President in Charge of Business Affairs for Paramount Pictures where he structured, negotiated and administered slate financing, co-financing and distribution agreements as well as acquisition and major talent agreements for Paramount's live action, animated and micro-budget theatrical motion pictures.

Prior to Paramount, Paul was a partner in and oversaw all business and corporate operations of Spyglass Entertainment Group. Paul negotiated all distribution, acquisition and talent agreements and handled Spyglass' studio relationships including the company's non-exclusive first-look production and co-financing arrangement with Columbia Pictures as well as the company's ongoing co-financing partnerships with The Walt Disney Company, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks. Paul structured Spyglass' $250,000,000 revolving credit and production facility and developed programs to exploit the company's growing library and subsidiary, ancillary and new media rights. Prior to Spyglass, Paul worked as a theatrical business affairs attorney for DreamWorks SKG. Paul began his career as a transactional entertainment associate at Hill, Wynne, Troop and Meisinger.

Paul is a member of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is Executive Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School and a Trustee of deToledo High School. Paul earned his JD from Loyola Law School, where he was a staff writer and business editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal, and his B.A. in Psychology from UCLA.

Mr. Wan has over 30 years of successful private equity and venture investment experience. Mr. Wan co-founded Causeway, an investment fund focused on sports, fitness and related industries, in 2013. Prior to forming Causeway, he was a co-founding partner of Three Arch Partners from 1993 to 2013, a healthcare-focused investment firm that raised over $1 billion of capital commitments across five funds. Prior to Three Arch Partners, Mr. Wan was a general partner at Brentwood Associates, a private equity firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Mr. Wan has served on numerous public and private company boards. Mr. Wan is a co-owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, English Premier League’s Leeds United, and esports team, Team Liquid. Mr. Wan received his BS in electrical engineering from Yale University and his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Andrew Apfelberg is a corporate and finance attorney for middle-market companies throughout the United States.

Often acting as their outside general counsel, Andrew provides advice on a business’ significant transactions whether it’s a merger or acquisition, private equity or other financing, joint venture or licensing deal.  He has a considerable depth of experience in the branded consumer products, manufacturing & distribution, new media and technology industries.

His strong business and finance background comes from his USC’s Marshall School of Business education and working in investment banking prior to going to law school. This experience enables Andrew to more effectively structure transactions and negotiate agreements to maximize the value to the client and increase the likelihood of getting the deal closed.

Andrew is a recognized leader having served on the law firm’s management committee as well as leading non-profits including Los Angeles-based Change for Children’s Foundation which he co-founded. He is the former President of Association of Corporate Growth (ACG) Los Angeles chapter and currently holds a variety of leadership positions in the global ACG organization including serving as a member of its board of directors. He co-chairs ACG Los Angeles’ annual business conference.