John Ledford

John R. Ledford II (born August 19, 1968 in Houston, Texas) is an American entrepreneur, co-founder and former president of ADV Films (before the company's split).

Originally an avid fan of video games, college dropout Ledford founded a company, Gametronix, 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 A.D. Vision (which had been doing business as ADV Films). Within a year, he was making enough profit off anime licensing and distribution that he dissolved Gametronix and focused his attention on ADV. Within a decade, the company had cemented its status as a major distributor of anime in North America, and had diversified into releasing live-action films on DVD, promoting original film releases, a venture into extreme wrestling with Combat Zone Wrestling, and even inaugurating a cable network (The Anime Network).