John Ledford
John Ledford (born
1969) is an
American entrepreneur, co-founder and president of
ADV Films.
Originally an avid fan of
video games, college
dropout Ledford founded a company, Gametronics, in 1990 as an importer of video game systems and cartridges. By 1992, he and
Matt Greenfield had switched their focus to
anime, and founded ADV Films. Within a year, he was making enough profit off anime licensing and distribution that he dissolved Gametronics and focused his attention on ADV. Within a decade, the company had cemented its status as the number one distributor of anime in North America, and had diversified into releasing live-action films on
DVD, promoting original film releases, and even inaugurating a cable network (
The Anime Network).