Jonathan Towers (43) is a partner in Collegia Capital, LLC as well as the CEO and Founder of Towers Productions, Inc (TPI).  Since its founding in 1989, Towers has created more than 300 hours of high-quality non-fiction television programs for its clients, which include A&E, CNN, Food Network, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, PBS, and The Weather Channel.  TPI is a full-service production company, handling all facets of production from initial research through post-production.  It currently employs 70 people full-time in its Chicago headquarters—a facility of approximately 28,000 square feet.  Revenues in 2002 were approximately US $10 million.

Mr. Towers graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1982. That year he became a Writer/Producer for the former Satellite News Channel in Stamford, Connecticut.  In 1983 he became a staff writer at CBS News in New York, where he wrote morning radio broadcasts for the legendary anchor Charles Osgood. In 1986, he joined CNN as a general-assignment on-air correspondent, where he worked until 1989, first in Dallas and then in Chicago.

In 1989, with an investment of $10,000, he founded Towers Productions.  Over the past 14 years Towers has grown into one of the nation’s leading documentary production houses.  The company’s first major success was the award-winning "American Justice" series on A&E, which debuted in 1992 and - with more than 200 episodes to date - is one of the most successful programs in the history of cable television.

In 1993, Mr. Towers was nominated for a National Emmy Award for Investigative Journalism, as well as a CableAce Award for documentary writing.  In 1998 Crain’s Chicago Business magazine named Towers one of the city’s top "40 under 40" business leaders.  That same year, American Justice was awarded a Gold Medal in the New York Festivals for "Best Public Affairs Program Series."  In 2001, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) nominated an episode of the series for its prestigious Image Award.