Look up Brent in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Brent is an Old English place name and surname. The place name can be from Celtic words meaning "holy one" (if it refers to the River Brent), or "high place," literally, "from a steep hill" (if it refers to the villages in Somerset and Devon, England) (Mills 1991). The surname often indicates that one's ancestors lived in a place called Brent.

Brent has also become a regularly used given name in some countries, being among the thousand most common names for boys born in the United States since 1933.^[1] When used as a given name today, Brent is sometimes a short form of Brenton, but this was probably not the original inspiration for Brent's use as a given name, since Brenton's own regular use as a first name came many years after Brent was established in that role.^[2]

References[link]

This page or section lists people with the surname Brent. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

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Brent D. Benjamin is a justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. During his election campaign and subsequent tenure on the Court, his alleged relationship with the Chief Executive Officer of coal giant Massey Energy has subjected him to controversy. In June 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled that his refusal to recuse himself in a case involving Massey constituted a denial of due process. He served as the inspiration for John Grisham's 2008 novel, The Appeal.

Biography[link]

Justice Benjamin hails originally from Marietta, Ohio, but has made residence in West Virginia for the past 20 years. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from The Ohio State University. Before his election, he was a principal attorney with Robinson and McElwee, PLLC in Charleston, West Virginia. His 20-year practice at that firm involved general civil litigation in state and federal courts, including toxic torts and complex litigation. His civil rights practice focused on protecting children from physical and sexual abuse. He was elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in November 2004. Benjamin received 53% of the votes, McGraw received 47%. He began a 12 year term on January 1, 2005 and served a one year term as Chief Justice under the Court's rotation scheme in 2009. He is married, and has five children.^[1]

He has practiced in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and the Kentucky Supreme Court. He is a 1999 graduate of Leadership West Virginia. He is also a current member of the Hocking College Archaeological Mission, and has participated in archaeological excavations in the United States and Egypt.^[2]

During the 2004 Judicial campaign, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship spent $3 million dollars in a state-wide ad campaign to defeat then West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, whom Benjamin was challenging. According to the later United States Supreme Court opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, Blankenship's contribution was "more than the total amount spent by all other Benjamin supporters and three times the amount spent by Benjamin's own committee."^[3] In April 2008, Benjamin became involved when the case relating to Blankenship's company (Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.) came before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Despite calls for Benjamin to recuse himself due to Blankenship's involvement in Benjamin's 2004 campaign, Benjamin remained on the case and was twice part of the three to two majority that ruled on behalf of Massey Energy, reversing the 2002 verdict.^[3] Harman Mining's owner, Hugh Caperton, appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in June 2009 that elected judges must recuse themselves from cases where exceptionally large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias, and remanded the case to the West Virginia Supreme Court for a rehearing.^[4] Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy called the appearance of conflict of interest so "extreme" that Benjamin's failure to recuse himself constituted a threat to the plaintiff's Constitutional right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s dissent warned that the majority's decision would have dire consequences for "public confidence in judicial impartiality."^[3][5]

Benjamin's election and his involvement in Caperton v. Massey became the inspiration for the best-selling 2008 novel The Appeal by John Grisham, a dramatization of the dangers of conflict of interest in an elected judiciary.^[6]

References[link]

v t e Current statewide elected officials and legislative leaders of West Virginia U.S. Senators Jay Rockefeller Joe Manchin State government Earl Ray Tomblin, Governor Natalie Tennant, Secretary of State Darrell McGraw, Attorney General John Perdue, Treasurer Glen Gainer III, State Auditor Gus Douglass, West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Senate Jeff Kessler, President of the Senate John Unger, Majority Leader Mike Hall, Minority Leader House Rick Thompson, Speaker of the House Brent Boggs, Majority Leader Tim Armstead, Minority Leader Supreme Court Menis Ketchum, Chief Justice Thomas McHugh Robin Davis Brent D. Benjamin Margaret Workman AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

External links[link]

• West Virginia Biographical Page
• Justice for sale(American Radio Works)
• Washington Post article
• SCOTUSwiki entry for Caperton v. A.T. Massey, Inc. et al.
• Cornell University Legal Information Institute text of opinions
• Robinson & McElwee PLLC: a West Virginia Law Firm

Brent LaJames Petway (born (1985-05-12)May 12, 1985, in McDonough, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player. Because of his high jumps, and the ability to dunk, he has been given the nickname "Air Georgia". This is similar to Vince Carter, who was nicknamed Air Canada, while playing for the Toronto Raptors.

Petway won the inaugural NBA D-League Slam Dunk Contest at D-League Dream Factory Friday Night on February 15, during the 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend. Petway defeated his Idaho Stampede teammate Mike Taylor in the finals with an alley-oop, through-the-legs dunk.

Amateur career[link]

Petway attended and played high school basketball Griffin High School for two years, where he won a state championship, Eagles Landing High School for one year and Union Grove High School for one year. Petway played college basketball at the University of Michigan from 2003 to 2007. Petway averaged 5.8 points per game at Michigan.^[1]

Pro career[link]

Petway participated in training camp with the Portland Trail Blazers in the fall of 2007. Petway played in the NBA D-League during the 2007–08 season with the Idaho Stampede, a development team for the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle SuperSonics. He played with the 2008 Memphis Grizzlies Summer League team and then returned to the Stampede for the 2008–09 season.

He played on the Toronto Raptors Summer League in 2009. He then moved to the Greek League club Ilisiakos.^[2] In October 2010 he became a member of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters under the name Thunder Petwey.

References[link]

External links[link]

• NBA D-League Profile
• Draftexpress.com Profile
• Basketpedya.com Profile

This biographical article relating to a United States basketball figure born in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Brent Hoberman

Brent Hoberman, together with Martha Lane Fox, founded Lastminute.com in 1998, an online travel and gift business that floated at the peak of the dot-com bubble and managed to survive the subsequent burst of the bubble.

After building revenues more successfully than his peers, Hoberman was a survivor of the bubble and remained as CEO of Lastminute.com Ltd. The company was acquired by Sabre who purchased the company’s equity and bond debt for £577 million (including additional gross debt of approximately £79 million and estimated cash at bank in hand of approximately £72 million). In 2006, Hoberman handed over the CEO position to Ian McCaig, although he remained as Chairman and Chief Strategic officer until 2007.

Current business activities[link]

Brent Hoberman remained CEO of lastminute.com through 2005, until April 2006 when he handed over the CEO position to Ian McCaig and took the position of Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer. He stepped down as Chief Strategy Officer and Chairman in January 2007.^[1] Hoberman founded VC-backed internet startup, mydeco.com, an online furniture and interior design site providing 3D technology for consumers to design their own rooms online in 2007 ^[2] and the website launched in February 2008 ^[3] Hoberman is a Governor of the University of the Arts London and a Non-Executive Board Director of Guardian Media Group ^[4]. In 2007, Hoberman took on the role of Non-Executive Chairman of wayn.com - a travel and leisure social network. In December 2009, he stepped down from the board of wayn.com. He is also an angel investor in several internet companies including Viagogo, erepublik, Wayn.com and academia.edu. Hoberman joined The Business Council for Britain in July 2009. ^[5] In 2009, Hoberman was selected as one of the World Economic Forum's Global Young Leaders for the UK . In July 2009, Brent co-founded PROfounders Capital [1] with Michael Birch, Peter Dubens, Jonnie Goodwin, Rogan Angelini-Hurll and Sean Seton-Rogers. The fund invests in early stage internet investors, and in 2010 invested in start-up Made.com, a joint venture between mydeco.com and founder Ning Li.^[6]

Biography and Education[link]

Brent Hoberman was born on November 25, 1968. Hoberman was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, then Eton College and subsequently at New College, Oxford. He is married with two daughters and one son.

Inspiration and Motivation[link]

Hoberman says his mentors have been his father, and South African grandfather Leonard Shawzin who built an empire of over 650 clothes shops from a single store. He credits his entrepreneurial drive to the business successes of his father and grandfather, and says the catalyst for him starting his own business was being fired from his first job in investment banking for being "a prima donna".^[7] Hoberman has stated that he believes what makes a business successful is passion; in an interview with BBC 'The Bottom Line'^[8], he states his belief that the most successful small businesses are those where the founders remain passionate about their business, and are themselves part of their target market. He believes that by building a business to offer a solution to a problem you have yourself – as he did with lastminute.com and mydeco.com – founders stand a greater chance of remaining passionate and being successful.

Public and Political Activities[link]

Hoberman is a member of the New Enterprise Council, a group of entrepreneurs who advise the Conservative Party (UK) on policies related to the needs of business. [2]

References[link]

Sean Paul
Sean Paul at the International Reggae and World Music Awards.
Background information
Birth name	Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques
Born	(1973-01-09) January 9, 1973 (age 39) Kingston, Jamaica
Genres	Dancehall, reggae, R&B, ragga
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, producer, actor
Years active	1996–present
Labels	VP, Atlantic
Website	allseanpaul.com

Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques^[1] (born January 9, 1973),^[1][2] who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist.

Life and career[link]

1973–96: Early life[link]

Sean Paul was born in Kingston and spent his early years in Upper Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston.^[2] His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter.^[3] His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family emigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent.^[4][5] Sean Paul was raised as a Catholic.^[6] Many members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team. His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer. Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended the Wolmers High School for Boys, Belair School, Hillel Academy High School, and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology, now known as the University of Technology, where he was trained in commerce with a view to pursuing an occupation in hotel management.

[edit] 1998–2000: Stage One

Sean Paul's manager and producer Jeremy Harding first heard about the singer when his brother told him about seeing someone at a small open mic event in Kingston who sounded a lot like the popular dancehall DJ and toaster Super Cat.^[7] Harding eventually met the singer when Sean Paul came by his studio to ask for some advice. During the meeting Paul recorded a vocal over Harding's rhythm track and in the process created the song "Baby Girl".^[7] Sean Paul began hanging out at the studio every day, and the pair collaborated on several more tracks. When they recorded "Infiltrate" they decided they had something good enough to get on the radio. As Sean Paul started to attract local attention, Harding began looking after his affairs. He later told HitQuarters that his support of Paul's fledgling career initially led him assuming the roles of "DJ, manager, road manager and security guard."^[7] Sean Paul made a quick cameo appearance in the 1998 film Belly on stage performing. He made a very successful collaboration with DMX & Mr. Vegas (Top Shotter) as a soundtrack of the film. In 2000, Sean Paul released his debut album, Stage One with VP Records.

[edit] 2001–02: Dutty Rock

In 2002, he began working extensively with a team of producers and choreographers from Toronto, namely Jae Blaze and Blaze Entertainment and announced the release of his second album, Dutty Rock. Pushed by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and the Billboard Hot 100 topper, "Get Busy", the album was a worldwide success, eventually selling over six million copies. Simultaneously, Sean Paul was heard on Beyoncé's U.S. #1 single "Baby Boy" and Blu Cantrell's "Breathe", a chart hit in Europe. Both helped to push his reputation further still in the United States. He appeared on Punk'd, 106 & Park, Sean Paul Respect, Making the Video ("Get Busy", "Gimme the Light", and "Like Glue") and his music videos have been broadcast on MTV and BET. Paul's biggest hits included "Get Busy", "Like Glue", "Gimme the Light", "Baby Boy", and "I'm Still in Love with You".

[edit] 2003–05: The Trinity

Sean Paul in September 2005.

Sean Paul's third album The Trinity was released in on September 27, 2005. The album produced five big hits, "We Be Burnin'", "Ever Blazin'", "Give It Up to Me", "Never Gonna Be The Same" and the U.S. chart-topping smash hit "Temperature". The video of "Give It Up to Me" (featuring Keyshia Cole) was also featured in the movie Step Up in 2006. He was nominated for four awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, including male artist of the year, rap artist of the year, hot 100 single of the year, and pop single of the year for his hit "Temperature".^[8] He also won an American Music Award for "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me" beating Kanye West and Nick Lachey who were also nominated for the award. His song "Send It On" from "The Trinity" featured on the 2005 Vauxhall Corsa advert. Sean Paul often contributes his songs to various Riddim Driven albums (by VP Records). In March 2007, he returned to his native Jamaica to perform at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremony. Sean Paul appears on the game Def Jam: Fight for NY as part of Snoop Dogg's crew and again in the game's sequel, Def Jam Icon.

[edit] 2006–10: Imperial Blaze

The newest Sean Paul album entitled "Imperial Blaze" was released on August 18, 2009. The lead single, “So Fine”, which was produced by Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor, premiered on Sean Paul's official website on April 26, 2009.^{[9][dead link][10]} Speaking to Pete Lewis of 'Blues & Soul' magazine in August 2009, Sean Paul stated that 'Imperial Blaze' "Actually signifies 'The King's Fire'. It's that thing inside of you that gives you the desire to do whatever you do, and be the best in the world at it."^[11] The new album consists of 20 tracks including "So Fine", "Press it Up", "She Want Me", "Private Party" which are party tracks and also love songs such as "Hold My Hand" (feat Keri Hilson), "Lately", "Now That I've Got Your Love" among others. Producers on the album include Don Corleone, Jeremy Harding, and Sean's brother Jason 'Jigzagula' Henriques.^[11] All the full songs of the album have been added to Sean Paul's Myspace page^[12] on the day of release of the album.

Up until now there have been eight music videos: "Always On My Mind (with Da'Ville)", "Give It To You (with Eve)", "Watch Them Roll", "Back It Up" (with Left Side/Mr. Evil), "(I Wanna See You) Push It Baby" (with Pretty Ricky), "Hit 'Em" (with Fahrenheit and his brother Jason "Jigzagula" Henriques), "Come Over" with Estelle,^[13] and also the video of his first single, "So Fine" from the new album. He has recently been featured in Shaggy's video, "Save A Life", which also includes appearances from Elephant Man and Da'Ville, among others. In an effort to raise money for a children's hospital, Shaggy, Sean Paul and others will be having a benefit concert. All proceeds will go towards getting new equipment and technology 'For Aid to the Bustamante Hospital for Children'. In an interview in 2009 he says he is planning to release a new album in 2011. During the premiere for MNET's Big Brother Africa 5: All-Stars on July 18, 2010, he performed his songs "Temperature", "Hold My Hand", and "So Fine".

[edit] 2011–present: Tomahawk Technique

The first single Got 2 Luv U features vocals from American singer Alexis Jordan. It was released on the July 19, 2011 by Atlantic Records. The song was written by Sean Paul, Ryan Tedder and Stargate, and it was produced by Stargate.^[14][15][16]

She Doesn't Mind is the second single from the album. It was written by Sean Paul, Shellback and Benny Blanco and was produced by Shellback and Benny Blanco. It was released on the September 29, 2011 on NRJ & Skyrock (French radios), and to iTunes on October 31.^[17] Like its proceeder, "Got 2 Luv U", featuring Alexis Jordan, it topped the charts in Switzerland, but it debuted at that spot. Sean appeared on the Never Mind the Buzzcocks episode which aired on November 21, 2011.

Sean Paul is featured in the music video for the Simple Plan song Summer Paradise.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Stage One (2000)
• Dutty Rock (2002)
• The Trinity (2005)
• Imperial Blaze (2009)
• Tomahawk Technique (2012)

Mixtapes

• The Odyssey Mixtape (2009)

Filmography[link]