Biography
Lisa Tenner is a television and film producer with roots in the entertainment industry from a young age. Born and raised in Los Angeles, her father, Morris Ratner, promoted boxer Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) through United World Enterprises in the early 1960's and owned restaurants in Los Angeles frequented by celebrities and politicians. Lisa herself was a performer, dancing ballet annually with the New York City Ballet from the age of 10 until she attended college at UCLA where she studied accounting and psychology. Upon graduating, she became an institutional trader with several NYSE brokerage firms including Joseph Sebag, Morgan Olmstead, Bateman Eichler and Stern, Frank, Meyer and Fox.
While working as a trader, Lisa was offered an opportunity to work as a business manager with RKO Enterprises and eventually joined the management firm of Nanas, Stern, Biers, Neinstein and Co. She went on to start her own firm in 1989 as one of the few female business managers in Los Angeles at the time. Her client roster grew quickly to include Turner Broadcasting, Jane's Addiction, Warrant, KORN, Soundgarden, the Monkees, Toto, Kevin Lyman and the Warped Tour as well as several producers, record executives and personal managers. By the mid 1990's Lisa moved to Las Vegas to marry and expanded her business into an entertainment branding and marketing company, Tenner & Associates, Inc. She immediately made her mark as the creator and producer of EAT'M (Emerging Artists & Technology in Music), a showcase and conference platform that launched the careers of Papa Roach, Michelle Branch and Slipknot. The music event was the first of its kind in Las Vegas to feature 150 artists, 10 keynote speakers, 34 panels and 98 speakers. 24 bands were signed to major labels from the event. It inspired the city's current reputation as the music entertainment capital, which now features the top music festivals in the world. Lisa has been an influential member of the NARAS' music pro program for 30 years, a nonprofit organization comprised of a myriad of music industry professionals where she serves as a Grammy Pro mentor to young artists. Her company has launched successful marketing campaigns for national brands such as Jeep, Caesar's Entertainment, Hard Rock Hotel, Elle Magazine, VH1, The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Harrah's Entertainment and Global Gaming Expo.
In 2008, Lisa was invited by the multi award winning Executive Producer, Jamie Hammond, to join the Emmy award-winning television series BizKid$ as Director of Branding and Marketing. She has since worked as producer and casting director on The Ultimate Poker Challenge and Executive Producer of VH1's Celebrity Rock n Roll Poker Tournament. Lisa ventured into film in 2019 with writer and producer Todd Myers at Dragonfly Films as a consultant and music supervisor on the award winning feature Lasso, starring Sean Patrick Flannery and Lindsey Morgan. In 2021, Lisa Executive Produced the award winning feature Shellfish written and directed by Hunter Hopewell who was also lead actor. She has recently teamed up once again with Executive Producer, Jamie Hammond to work as co-executive producer, supervising producer and music supervisor on the television docuseries, Opportunity Knock$, scheduled to be released fall 2022. Her company will be creating and executing the brand campaign strategy. Lisa is also in development on a music competition show of her own creation, Last Band Standing.
As Adjunct Professor, Lisa has taught Entertainment Industry studies at UCLA and Internet Studies at Harvard University. She is a speaker and author of multiple books including Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry, published by the Practicing Law Institute.
