Hollywood's Harvey Weinstein to Deliver Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference Keynote Address, October 18.

PHILADELPHIA -- Co-founder and co-chairman of Miramax Films will discuss his entrepreneurial experiences before East Coast's largest gathering of private equity investors

The Greater Philadelphia Venture Group (GPVG) today announced that Harvey Weinstein, co-founder and co-chairman of Miramax Films, will be the featured keynote speaker at the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference (MAVC), to be held October 17 and 18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Weinstein will discuss his entrepreneurial experience founding Miramax Films in 1979 with his brother Bob, created to market European and other films with difficult subject matter and seemingly limited commercial appeal. This philosophy led Miramax to release many critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films, and garnered 14 Academy Award 'Best Picture' nominations in 12 years for films such as Chicago, Shakespeare in Love, Life is Beautiful, Pulp Fiction, and The Piano. Harvey and Bob Weinstein's work also earned 23 Best Foreign Language Film nominations, a fellowship from the British Film Institute, and several Tony Awards.

"It is a pleasure to speak at the Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference," says Weinstein. "Starting a motion picture company from the ground up, I know first-hand how important investment capital is to a young business. The Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference has an outstanding reputation for helping companies find capital to grow and compete. I look forward to sharing my insights with fellow entrepreneurs."

Weinstein will speak on Tuesday, October 18, at 5:30 p.m., in the Grand Hall of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. His keynote will conclude two days of networking, idea-sharing, and "Featured Company" presentations for entrepreneurs and investors.

The 2005 MAVC luncheon will include a light-hearted performance by The Capitol Steps, a popular troupe of Congressional staffers who present their humorous take on the events and personalities of Capitol Hill, the Oval Office, and other global centers of power and prestige.

The Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference is the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group's pre-eminent annual event and the largest networking conference for the East Coast's private equity community. For 16 years, the MAVC has helped promising entrepreneurs forge relationships with top investors, investment bankers, commercial lenders, professional advisors and service providers to create some of the nation's most successful growth companies. Between 1998 and 2003, MAVC Featured Companies raised more than $2.6 billion in capital.

The 2005 MAVC will feature dual presentation tracks, Technology and Services, and Life Sciences, with presentations by more than 60 Featured Companies with tremendous growth opportunities.

For more information about the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Venture Conference, please visit www.MAVC.org, or contact Kristy Lash at 610-642-8253, or [e-mail].

About GPVG

The GPVG Vision is to be the catalyst organization promoting the Greater Philadelphia region's status as one of North America's top private equity markets. The GPVG Mission is to foster a world-class private equity and entrepreneurial environment for our constituents - private equity, institutional and angel investors, entrepreneurs and service providers - through the support of programs and infrastructure that generate compelling investment opportunities; frequent and pervasive networking opportunities; initiatives that raise the Greater Philadelphia region's positive economic profile; and effective, high quality private equity education programs.