Short Bio

Recently named a visionary in both Entertainment and Gaming by Global Gaming magazine, Ms. Tenner was also awarded “Event Pro" by her peers in the Live Event performance arena.  She is the recipient of the Nevada Governor's Tourism Award.  Lisa Tenner, founder of Tenner and Associates, Inc. a Las Vegas based branding and marketing company, focuses on talent- building and brand marketing skills in the corporate world.  Tenner takes pride in having created "The Queens of Heart”, as the charitable arm for the ladies event during the World Series of Poker.  Her accomplishments include the creation and production of Emerging Artists and Technology in Music, which launched the careers of many unsigned artists to major labels.  Tenner clients have included poker pros, Phil Hellmuth and Kathy Liebert among others.   Tenner has represented many companies including Jeep, Party Gaming, Harrah’s, VH1, Card Player Cruises, Hard Rock Hotel, Elle Magazine Global Gaming Expo and other global conference clients.  Recently the American Gaming Association appointed Ms. Tenner to the Advisory Board for their Table Games track. She is currently writing articles which will lead to her first book and is managing the British award winning singer/songwriter artist, Vince Freeman.  Lisa Tenner has been nominated in two categories for Women in gaming awards to be held in London on September 24, 2010. 

Long Bio

Lisa Tenner's long and circuitous route to her current professional acumen as a brand and marketing maven is a story of personal fortitude and unstinting vision. There is nothing in her early background and training that would forecast her rapid rise through music, entertainment, sponsorship, marketing and brand development. Unless you consider her natural vivacious personality, salesmanship, creativity and dogged persistence.

Raised in Southern California, Tenner was a highly regarded as a child ballerina, dancing annually with the New York City ballet on its visit to the West Coast, under the direction of George Ballanchine. Dancing with various regional troupes until the age of 18, she left ballet behind when she took her father's counsel that she had an aptitude for business and should concentrate her efforts there. While studying psychology at UCLA she decided to apply for a job at several leading stock brokerage firms in downtown Los Angeles to start getting some experience. Not interested in secretarial or receptionist positions, she asked to take the entry-level test to become a broker. All but one company refused her. She persisted. When she got her shot at Joseph Sebag & Co.she made the most of it, passing the exam with flying colors and in short order becoming the most successful securities trader in downtown Los Angeles. Leaving UCLA behind, she spent the next few years building up her successful clientele and reputation.

Anticipating a drop in the stock market in the next years, Tenner decided to make another career change. In 1974, she was offered the job as business manager of three of Los Angeles leading radio stations of that time – KHJ-FM, KHJ-AM and KRTH. In 1977, she joined a firm specializing in business management for entertainment companies, where she handled bookkeeping and managed the account of Lorimar TV, among other clients. Four years later she joined Satin Tennenbaum, a firm whose clients included Robin Williams, Carol O'Connor, and Jim Belushi, among others. There she supervised a team of eight bookkeepers and eight account executives, who managed the celebrity's assets. In 1983, she joined with entertainment industry business manager Ed Silver to service top bands Toto and The Tubes, Tenner’s entree to the music industry.

Tenner parlayed that experience into five years as principal in Nanas Stern Biers, a pre-eminent business management firm handling hugely successful rock bands Jane's Addiction, Warrant, KORN, Soundgarden, the Monkees  and events such as the Warped Tour. In 1991, she left to open her own firm in Southern California. She built a highly successful practice representing a wide variety of musical talent and behind the scenes music industry superstars, including producers, record label executives and talent managers. This diversified clientele gave her the comprehensive perspective that fueled her entry into a new arena of entertainment. Moving to Las Vegas and closing down her management practice, Tenner followed her instinct that there was a real need to bring together emerging musicians, their management and marketing teams and people who can help them climb the ladder of success.

Emerging Artists & Technology in Music (EAT’M) evolved into a conference, a series of showcases and a festival. It has helped launch the careers of Michelle Branch, Poppa Roach, and many more. Tenner has been honored with the Nevada Governor’s award for tourism based on the overwhelming success of EAT’M. But music was only the first arena where she would make her mark. Using the contacts and experience she gained in creating EAT’M, Tenner began consulting for a variety of clients in tourism, poker and entertainment -- creating award winning publicity generating events, securing media and corporate sponsorships, developing high visibility marketing tactics and programs, developing brand-driven campaigns and negotiating television deals, as well as producing the events and the shows. Among her successes are programs that have successfully showcased VH1, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, PartyPoker Million, the World Series of Poker, Elle Magazine, Card Player Cruises and dozens of others. Most recently she was retained on a long-term contract by the new Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

And while Tenner continues to seemingly be everywhere putting together events, branding and marketing programs for clients in Las Vegas and elsewhere, she also is guiding development of her own projects with various partners -- a reality TV show called Music Mogul, which would allow a number of contestants the chance to find, develop and showcase their own music stars, and a family film called The Winning Pair set in the poker world, to be produced in partnership with producer Randy Feldman, actor/producer Hector Elizondo and director Michael Lembeck. Tenner is often sought by leading conferences as a moderator, panelist and individual speaker. Among her recent engagements have been Global Gaming Conference, the EventPro Forum, and the Conference on Marketing presented by the International Institute of Research USA. Recently, the American Gaming Association appointed Ms. Tenner to the Advisory Board for their Table Games track.

Tenner’s creative instincts, marketing savvy, media contacts and her get-the-job done spirit, keep her in great demand. And when she is not in meetings, on the phone, producing events or cajoling sponsors, Tenner is cruising the world six times a year with her husband Mark Tenner, co-owner of Card Player Cruises.